Not many can claim to have as much command over the English language as Callahan Connor. Going by the name C–Command, the spoken word artiste, rapper, theatre personality and performance poet is a literary conjurer with an uncanny skill of constructing rhythmic rhyme-scapes and worlds out of mere words.
In the city recently to make verbal magic at The Humming Tree and Urban Solace, Callahan narrates to MetroPlus the story of his life and why he loves the verse.
Pumped to be in India for the first time, Callahan is visibly struck by the country’s vibrancy and words it perfectly.
“It fills the senses and demands a kind of contact and sensitivity. I’ve been getting special thrills with journeying through the cities on rickshaws; the colours, sounds and people – it’s different from what I’m used to in Canada. The spectrum of life is very moving.”
In terms of artistic resonance, he adds that he’s had his mind blown by Indian classical music, “particularly, Carnatic music. And the mathematical approach to rhythm. As a rapper and spoken word poet, that’s my area of interest, but to experience this refined, sophisticated and complex system that I’ve not known before – I can understand so much through it that it has brought a deep satisfaction to my soul.”
A word juggler, by profession, Callahan says his work is the expression of the weird things in his head. “They are random idiosyncrasies cultivated in my mind. My show comprises my weird hang-ups and the transcendence, liberation and joy resulting from those hang-ups expressed through the creative ecstasy of words.”
With a rich background in theatre where Callahan has played many villains, heroes and madmen, the spoken word wizard has also dabbled in warrior clown techniques in Chinese Opera. A champion of poetry slams, the bard’s performance poetry show goes by the title ‘The Living Shh’ and loves taking his audiences through a psychedelic and bizarrely entertaining odyssey of literary enchantment.
Where did it all begin? He says his origin story is pretty bizarre. “I was in my last year of university studying theatre performance and also taking some electives in linguistics and ancient languages. One night, I had a dream of strange scenarios. It turned into a lucid dream, where I was aware I was dreaming and in control. My mind started to surprise me and I began to corroborate the scenarios. At the end, I started retelling them to myself and it took the form of a freestyle rap.” He recalls that he had never experienced that kind of freedom of thought and language before. “It was thrilling and deeply satisfying. After I woke up I wanted to find that secret power of creative movement again.”
Three years since that fateful dream, Callahan says he had never done anything like it before apart from the occasional poems out of angst or the dramatic monologue. “This sort of fusion of rhythm and rhyme is what led me to where I am now.”
The experience of the past three years has enriched him in many ways.
“I got to travel and connect with myself, people and the poetry slam community in Canada. It brought me in contact with many artistic voices and ways of dealing with reality and finding one’s voice. It was inspiring to add my voice to this strange community of poets, wizards and word sorcerers.
They helped me reach a state of flow within feelings of infinite potentials in one’s own language and to say and combine words in a new way since everyone has their own infinity in their language. This poet path has led me to create strange puzzling word combinations and weird rhythms which have brought a momentum to me, my feelings and sense of what I’m doing and where I’m going. Often it feels unpredictable and random, but there’s something about committing to your voice and finding your path that is magical, beautiful and special.”
Callahan doesn’t forget his roots though. “Theatre was the world I was familiar with and grew up as an actor. Theatre is often the study of what is interesting, compelling and watching various conjugations of conflict within and without people. I do try to bring that to poetry. There’s also this element of music – rhythm and rhyme. I used to compose simple songs as a child. But this new world of poetry has helped me combine both worlds fantastically.”
He goes on to point out that there’s a beautiful intention in poetry slams to make poetry accessible and engaging as well as to make poets accountable to not be boring. “When people watch me, I want them to experience the joy of their own minds and emotions moving along, following the strange and surprising path of thoughts that I’m taking them through. I want them to be thrilled at the possibilities of an agile and liberated way of thinking and escape their conditioned programming. I want them to experience new freedoms of movement.”
Callahan’s message to aspiring poetry slammers sees him summon it from his innermost thoughts.
“It’s the most difficult and important thing to do – inspire young voices. You and the world both benefit when you find and share your voice. When you commit to your own path, it opens up possibilities you can’t even see from where you are because it inspires other people to commit to their paths too.”
