Manu van Kersbergen is someone who revels in merging the ultimate expressions of music and language. Following his graduation as an anthropologist, he made a name for himself as a spoken word artist with the album De Vloek op de Overvloed (‘The distress of excess’) With his blend of music, spoken word and other linguistic recitals, he regularly appears on stages throughout The Netherlands and Belgium; from Lowlands to Paradiso and the Oerol festival. MANU’s drive and energy know no bounds: he was the presenter of the Spoken radio show, the chief editor of the literary magazine Spunk, and developed the TV format for Spoken Word Sessies in conjunction with the network Omroep Human. In addition to all this, he created the performance The Herontdekking Van De Hemel (‘The Rediscovery of Heaven’), which earned him a nomination for the Annie M.G. Schmidt Prize together with the music collective .multibeat, and founded a platform for controversial word artists. We’re not done yet either, as he also manages to find time to teach at the ArtEZ conservatory. If all that has made you curious, then come and experience the one-man whirlwind that is MANU for yourselves!
