Omar Musa
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| Omar bin Musa | |
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| File:Omarbinmusa liveinjaipur.jpg
Omar bin Musa live at Jaipur, India in 2011
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Omar bin Musa |
| Born | 9 January 1984 Queanbeyan, New South Wales, AUS |
| Genres | Hip Hop, slam poetry, spoken word, |
| Occupation(s) | Poet, rapper, songwriter, author |
| Instruments | Vocals, |
| Years active | 2002–present |
| Website | http://herecomethedogs.com.au |
Omar bin Musa (born 9 January 1984) is an award-winning author, poet and rapper from Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia. He won the Australian Poetry Slam in 2008 and the Indian Ocean Poetry Slam in 2009. He has released two solo hip hop records (The Massive EP and World Goes to Pieces), two self-published books (The Clocks and Parang) and a self-titled album with international hip hop group MoneyKat. His debut novel Here Come the Dogs was published in 2014. Here Come the Dogs was long-listed for the Miles Franklin Award [1] and Musa was named one of the Sydney Morning Herald’s Young Novelists of the Year in 2015.[2]
Contents
Early life
Musa is the son of Australian arts journalist Helen Musa and Malaysian poet Musa bin Masran. He is of Suluk, Kedayan and Irish ancestry. He studied at the Australian National University and the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Career
Musa has combined hip hop music and poetry throughout his career. He was runner up in the 2008 Australian Poetry Slam, before winning in 2009 at the Sydney Opera House.[3] He went on to win the Indian Ocean Poetry Slam in 2010. In 2010 he also did support for Gil Scott-Heron in Munich, Germany. In 2011 he was a guest panellist on ABC's Q&A. In 2013 he received a standing ovation at TEDxSydney at the Sydney Opera House.
He has been a guest at numerous international writers festivals, including Jaipur Literary Festival in India and the Ubud Readers and Writers Festival in Indonesia, as well as touring extensively in Asia, Europe and Australia.
He has performed and collaborated with numerous musicians and hip hop artists, including Daniel Merriweather, Horrorshow, Mantra (rapper), Akala, Soweto Kinch, Impossible Odds, The Last Kinection, Hau Latukefu from Koolism, Candice Monique, The Tongue, Lotek, Koolta and Geoff Stanfield.
Musa has published two books of poetry, The Clocks and Parang. Parang , meaning "machete" in Malay, deals with Musa's Malaysian heritage, migration and loss, and includes his well-known spoken word poem "My Generation". "Parang" received praise from Man Booker Prize shortlisted authors Mohsin Hamid and Jeet Thayil. Although it was originally self-published, it is now published by Penguin Books (Australia).
Musa's debut novel Here Come The Dogs was published by Penguin Books (Australia) in July 2014. Here Come the Dogs centres around the lives of three disaffected young men in small town Australia. The Guardian Australia described it as examining "race, identity and the unrealised dreams of disempowered Australian youths".[4]Here Come the Dogs received praise from novelists Irvine Welsh and Christos Tsiolkas. It was published in the U.S.A. by The New Press in January, 2016 and was described by the Los Angeles Times as "rousing" and "searing", saying that "with compassion and urgency, "Here Come the Dogs" excavates the pain of those who struggle to remain part of a ruthless equation that has been determined by others." [5]
"Here Come the Dogs" was nominated for many awards, such as the Miles Franklin Award and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and won the People's Choice Award at the ACT Book of the Year Awards. Musa was named one of the Sydney Morning Herald's Young Novelists of the Year.
Musa's work often deals with issues such as migration, racism, violence, masculinity and loneliness.
Influences
He cites rappers Andre 3000, Masta Ace, Common and Nas as influences, as well as poets Anne Sexton, Dorothy Porter, Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Federico Garcia Lorca, and novelists Haruki Murakami, Cormac McCarthy and Roberto Bolaño.
Bibliography
Books
- The Clocks (2009)
- Parang (2013)
- Here Come the Dogs (2014)
Discography
Albums
- MoneyKat (2012) (distributed by Obese Records)
- The Year of the MoneyKat (2011)
- World Goes to Pieces (2010)
- The Shrappers Mixtape (2010)
- The Massive Mixtape (2010)
- The Massive EP (2009)
References
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- ↑ http://www.latimes.com/books/la-ca-jc-0117-omar-musa-20160117-story.html
