INTERNATIONAL performance artist, singer-songwriter and poet Patti Smith is to stage an exclusive gig in Suffolk this weekend.

The 64-year-old will be appearing at Snape Maltings Concert Hall on Saturday for “an intimate evening of song and spoken word performance”.

As part of the improvisational concert – entitled Max: A Tribute by Patti Smith – she will be “responding” to WG Sebald’s book-length poem After Nature.

The concert is being staged by Aldeburgh Music through the Artevents organisation as part of its national arts project, The Re-Enchantment, which aims to “explore our relationships to place”.

Smith, a member of the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame, is regarded as a driving force behind the New York City punk-rock movement in the 1970s, thanks to her highly influential debut album, Horses.

She became known as the “Godmother of Punk” and was regarded as a leading light in the feminist movement.

She gained an army of fans with her confrontational style and striking live performances and has inspired a generation of musicians and artists.

Her only recognised chart hit remains the Bruce Springsteen-penned song Because The Night, which reached number five in 1978.

In later years she has continued to write and perform music as well as holding art exhibitions and holding poetry readings.

She appeared at the Latitude Festival in Suffolk in 2006.

The mother-of-two is also an activist for a number of causes. She is a supporter of the Green Party and campaigned fiercely against the Iraq war.

Smith released an acclaimed memoir, Just Kids, last year, drawing on a career that has spanned five decades.

Her concert in Suffolk is one of just a handful of UK gigs this year.

Tickets for the concert at Snape Maltings can be bought by calling 01728 687110 or contacting boxoffice@aldeburgh.co.uk.

n See Saturday’s EADT for a feature on the 10th anniversary of the Aldeburgh Literary Festival.