Ifa Halima Bumi

BY EMELINA MINERO
Lesbian.com

Electronic dance music (EDM) producer, artist and poet Ifa Halima Bumi fuses poetry and EDM, creating her own sub-genre, trancoetry. In 2009, Bumi released her first trancoetry CD, touring her music across queer festivals and venues, including Sappho Salon, Lickalotta Fest and Mondo Homo. In 2012, she released four trance singles and is ready to create her second poetry-infused EDM album.

“The first album fell under the lesbian erotica genre. I wrote about my experiences based around love, lust and heartbreak. For the second album, I am excited to have the opportunity to create art with others,” said Bumi.

Bumi has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help raise money for her second album and wants your involvement. Beyond asking for monetary contributions, she wants you to help create it. You can submit song titles to help name ten songs on her CD. If your title is chosen, you will receive a mention in her promo video.

Bumi’s goal is to raise $14,444 to fund studio time, mastering, mixing, collaborating with musicians, duplication and artwork. For making a pledge, you can get a variety of perks ranging from a digital download of the album to an autographed poster to VIP access to the pre-release exclusive listening party.

“I am excited about all the elements with the new album falling into place and the limitless possibilities; most important, being a part of something bigger than me. I hope my music and career light encourages other women and girls to challenge power, originality and creative thinking,” said Bumi.

Also, a percentage of all proceeds will go to two organizations that support women in music: Women’s Audio Mission (WAM) and Gender Amplified.

WAM is a San Francisco-based nonprofit dedicated to the advancement of women in music production and the recording arts. They provide hands-on training, experience, career counseling and job placement for women and girls in media technology for music, radio, film, television and the internet.

Gender Amplified celebrates and supports women in music production, offering training in technical skills to help girls and young women get involved behind the scenes as music producers, as well as gives them the skills to help with employment in a wide range of scientific and arts based fields where women are traditionally underrepresented.

“Today, the international EDM circuit is dominated by men like Skrillex, Swedish House Mafia, Tiësto, Armin Van Buuren, Markus Schulz and Avicii. We have some amazing women behind the decks and mixing boards, such as the Nervo twins, Audrey Napoleon, Annie Mac, Krewella and many more who are making a statement. It’s unfortunate, even with the rise of female DJs and producers, that there is still a large gap in inequality between celebrated men and women in the EDM industry. Look closer at who headlines major EDM music festivals. The imbalance definitely exists. That is why it is important that we support organizations that support women in music. Especially those organizations that push the envelope educating and embracing creative opportunities through the use of technologies,” said Bumi.

It’s great to see artists who support others in the community and who foster collaboration. You can listen to Bumi’s music on SoundCloud and you can support Bumi by making a donation to her GoFundMe campaign.

The post Ifa Halima Bumi fuses EDM, poetry to create ‘trancoetry’ first appeared on Lesbian.com.

No need to fret if the impending Valentine’s holiday finds you at a loss for words. Whatever your particular variety of lesbian love, be it unrequited, mutual or fading fast, there are countless poems, sonnets and quotations to help express your passion as you mark the occasion.

From Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “Sonnet XLIII from Sonnets from the Portuguese” (“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”) to Shakespeare’s “18th Sonnet” (“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?/Thou art more lovely and more temperate”) you’ll find no shortage of poetic prose to assist in articulating your sapphic adoration.

First offered in 1794’s “A Selection of Scots Songs,” Robert Burns’ playful offering “A Red Red Rose” is one of many verses which employ the use of similes to express adulation (“O my Luve’s like a red, red rose/That’s newly sprung in June;/O my Luve’s like the melodie/”That’s sweetly played in tune”).

Percy Bysshe Shelley invoked the elements of nature to illustrate his admiration in “Love’s Philosophy” (“The fountains mingle with the river/And the rivers with the ocean,/The winds of Heaven mix forever/With a sweet emotion;/Nothing in the world is single;/All things by a law divine/In one spirit meet and mingle./Why not I with thine?”)

If unrequited love is what you’re looking to convey — and we’ve all been there at some point, right? — look no further than Robert Browning’s “You’ll Love Me Yet! — and I Can Tarry” (“You’ll love me yet! — and I can tarry/Your love’s protracted growing:/June reared that bunch of flowers you carry/From seeds of April’s sowing./I plant a heartful now: some seed/At least is sure to strike,/And yield-what you’ll not pluck indeed,/Not love, but, may be, like!”). It holds a special appeal for lesbians who love gardening, as well.

If you’re tending to a broken heart for the holiday, you may find solace in Walt Whitman’s “Sometimes With The One I Love” [“Sometimes with one I love, I fill myself with rage, for fear I effuse unreturn’d love;/But now I think there is no unreturn’d love — the pay is certain, one way or another; /(I loved a certain person ardently, and my love was not return’d; /Yet out of that, I have written these songs.)”].

But perhaps the best way to express your lesbian love on Valentine’s Day is to apply the modest, straightforward approach taken by Michael Shepherd in “Love’s Grammar Book”:

“I love you.

That’s it, really.
all there is to say.
sums it up.
in a nutshell.
the long and the short of it.
the be-all and the end-all.
I know what I mean;
you know what I mean.
more or less.
we know what I mean.
most of the time.”

Happy Valentine’s Day!

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The post A verse for every lesbian Valentine first appeared on Lesbian.com.

A visual poem by JD Kamran, produced by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), “I” is a poignantly expresses the pain, strength and resilience of LGBT Iranians.

The post Visual poem explores LGBT life in Iran first appeared on Lesbian.com.

Spoken word artist Denice Frohman performs at the “Women of the World Poetry Slam” in Minneapolis earlier this year. Her piece sheds light on the relationship between heteronormative culture and queer identities. An incredible performance!

The post ‘Dear Straight People’: Powerful spoken word poetry first appeared on Lesbian.com.

Staceyann Chin performing “Border/Clash: A Litany of Desires” with her characteristic intensity and passion. (Photo: Richard Termine)

BY GLENNISHA MORGAN
Huffington Post Gay Voices

Over a decade ago, Staceyann Chin burst onto the scene with Russell Simmons’ “Def Poetry Jam” on Broadway. Sharing the stage with other prominent poets and hip-hop artists, she garnered a Tony Award for her performance.

Chin, known for candidly revealing her frustrating childhood in Jamaica — a country known for homophobia — said she became aware of a growing interest in her experience as a Jamaican lesbian immigrant. In 2010, she released her critically acclaimed memoir, “The Other Side Of Paradise.”

Read more at Huffington Post Gay Voices

The post Interview with outspoken poet Staceyann Chin: ‘We have to challenge each other to talk’ first appeared on Lesbian.com.

Akinfe Fatou’s new poetry collection, “Swoon,” presents tangible physicality, organic sensuality, and multi-layered intimacy intended to arouse and to empower. “Swoon,” the follow-up to her 2008 collection, “Once as Lovers,” moves away from that first book’s overt sexual preoccupation and toward a more complex idea of the sensuous. But first and foremost, it is poetry about the body and everything that comes with it. “We are spiritual beings, but we’re in the physical,” Fatou says. “That’s how we relate, flesh to flesh, as opposed to that spiritual connection right off the bat.”

“Swoon” certainly puts readers in mind of the flesh: “I kiss the blood / And raise the flesh / You left behind / […] I tasted your skin,” reads “Square of 5th’s,” one of Fatou’s own favorites in the collection. Another of her favorites, “Evenings Like These,” presents a quieter but no less tangible vignette of physicality: “All the lovers / Nudging one another / […] Pretending to read / Each other’s palms.”

Read more at Curve

Curve, the nation’s best-selling lesbian magazine, spotlights all that is fresh, funny, exciting, controversial and cutting-edge in our community.

The post Poet Akinfe Fatou wants to make you ‘Swoon’ first appeared on Lesbian.com.