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Performance poets speak their minds
Ndaba
Dlamini
September 04, 2008
http://www.joburg.org.za/content/view/2920/266/
Poetry and music come
together at Speak the Mind, where local and international wordsmiths
take to the stage for a single show at the Bassline in Newtown on
Saturday, 13 September.
A regular and popular
feature of the annual City of Johannesburg Arts Alive programme,
Speak the Mind this year features a wide range of artistic genres
and poetry variations from Africa, the Caribbean and the United
States.
Local lyricist Ntsiki
Mazwai will take part; and Mazwai, aka MaMiya, who uses music to
translate and enhance her poetry, will share the stage with counterparts
Bianca Williams and slam poet and graffiti writer Creamy Ewok Baggends.
The Khoi Khonnexion collective,
comprising Jethro Louw, Glen Arendese and Garth Erasmus, will deliver
a uniquely African performance, using indigenous Khoisan musical
bow and arrow as a trance musical instrument in harmony with guitars,
reggae-dub rhythms and backing chants to enhance their poetic delivery.
Phillipa Yoa de Villiers,
Pikita Ntuli and Matodzi "Gift" Ramashia will round up
the South African posse, while music will come from DJ Khenzero,
Pops Mahommed and Kwani Experience in an unplugged session.
Poets from Zimbabwe,
Angola and Kenya will represent the rest of the African continent.
Zimbabwe's Underground
MC, a social activist and spoken word poet; Leslie Tongai, aka Outspoken;
and the teacher and social activist, Cosma Mairosi, will vent their
thoughts about their troubled country through protest poetry.
Nastio Mosquito, who
sees himself as a psychologist and teacher, will provide a Lusophone
perspective to speak the Mind. Mosquito hails from Angola and uses
poetry as a form of self-expression.
American artist Georgia
Me (GA Me), who has been called the queen of the spoken word, will
deliver her trademark, tell-it-like-it-is gems. Georgia Me's past
performances include Vagina Monologues in Edinburgh's Royal Playhouse
and Soul of Black Folks 100th Anniversary at Columbia University.
She is also a regular
feature at the Def Poetry Jam sessions, an HBO television series
consisting of performances by established and up-and-coming spoken
word poets.
Born in Trinidad and
Tobago, Brooklyn-based Roger Bonair-Agard is an author, artistic
director and co-founder of the LouderArts Project, an organisation
dedicated to the evolution of poetry through the craft of writing
and performance.
This veteran performance
poet is expected to wow the audience with his energetic and inspiring
work. Like Georgia Me, Bonair-Agard is a favourite on the Def Poetry
Jam circuit; a decade ago he was named the Nuyorica Poets Café
Fresh Poet of the Year. He was also the national Slam Champion in
1999 and 2000.
Another veteran slam
poet, Thabo "Flo" Mokale, will host Speak the Mind, which
promises to be a sizzler. Speak the Mind is on at the Bassline in
Newtown on 13 September as part of the annual Arts Alive festival.
Tickets are R50 at Computicket and R40 at the venue.
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