University of Pittsburgh
November 2, 2006

Pitt to Feature Baba Brinkman in "The Rap Canterbury Tales" Nov. 8

Brinkman will perform "The Miller's Tale," "The Pardoner's Tale," and "The Wife of Bath's Tale" in hip-hop style
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PITTSBURGH-It might not be how English poet Geoffrey Chaucer imagined his much-studied Canterbury Tales to be presented, but setting the verse in hip-hop style just might be the way to interest and enlighten a younger audience. The University of Pittsburgh Medieval and Renaissance Studies program will feature Baba Brinkman in "The Rap Canterbury Tales" at 4:30 p.m. Nov. 8 in the Alumni Hall auditorium, 4227 Fifth Ave., Oakland.

The free public event is a recreation of Chaucer's 14th-century poem, in which a group of pilgrims traveling from London to Canterbury enter into a tale-telling contest. Brinkman first performed his hip-hop version of the tales at the Edinburgh Festival in 2004. At Pitt, he will perform "The Miller's Tale," "The Pardoner's Tale," and "The Wife of Bath's Tale." He also will relate the history of hip-hop culture and freestyle battling to Chaucer's storytelling competition and his treatment of poetic form in The Canterbury Tales.

Pitt's School of Arts and Sciences, Department of English, Cultural Studies Program, and Poetry Club are cosponsoring the program.

For more information call 412-624-3246 or email jwaldron@pitt.edu.

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11/3/06/tmw