By Versfeld & Associates
Published September 21, 2013
The 17th Poetry Africa, an international poetry festival scheduled for October 14-17, 2013 in Durban, South Africa, promises to be an exhilarating showcase of diverse voices and sounds.
The festival’s line-up, released by Centre for Creative Arts (CCA) of University of KwaZulu-Natal who organise and present the event, features a ground-breaking poetry project; a 12-track recorded album entitled Insurrections that features poets and ethnomusicologists from India and South Africa. The project sees the rich sounds of the Indian music tradition blend with South African instruments accompanying radical poetry from both countries.
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The Insurrections ensemble will be performed by musicians Sumangala Damodaran (India), Jürgen Brauninger (South Africa), Neo Muyanga (South Africa), Pritam Ghoshal (India), Brydon Bolton (South Africa), Bettina Schouw (South Africa), Sazi Dlamini (South Africa) and Paki Peloeole (South Africa).
The poetry contingent for Insurrections will comprise Ari Sitas (South Africa), Malika Ndlovu (South Africa), Sabita TP (India) and Vivek Narayanan (India). The ensemble will perform on Thursday, October 17, 2013.
Keeping with the musical theme of this year’s edition, the festival will feature five poets who also work as recording musicians. Kabomo Vilakazi is a singer, songwriter and actor who also features in South African poetry circles. Nominated four times for the South Africa Music Awards (SAMAs) and a former editor of youth culture magazine Y-Mag, his credentials in the entertainment industry are indeed formidable.
Kalawi Jazmee artist, Busiswa Gqulu, returns to Poetry Africa in the middle of her impressive reign on the music charts throughout Africa. She first graced the Poetry Africa stage as part of the all-women poetry collective, Basadzi Voices, in 2008 and has also performed solo in 2010.
South African poet Natalia Molebatsi is also a writer, facilitator and programme director who recently founded a South African-Italian music project with the band, Soul Making. Her poetry is published in the books, We Are (2008) and Sardo Dance (2009).
Durban-born poet, performer and MC, Ashleigh La Foy, is well-known on Durban stages for both her poetry and her musical prowess. Having earned her stripes as a rapper, she will indulge Durban audiences with her poetic oeuvre ahead of her much-anticipated debut album.
Hailing from the Eastern Cape, Pura Lavisa is a writer, performer and poet whose musical arrangements incorporate percussion and African sounds. Lavisa will be presenting a collection of poems mostly in isiXhosa.
Returning to the Poetry Africa stage, well-respected Soweto-born dub-poet and writer, Lesego Rampolokeng, will deliver an infectious brand of poetry influenced by Black Consciousness and rooted in the lived experience of people on the margins.
Also from Soweto, Khulile Nxumalo will present works from his first title ten flapping elbows, mama and his latest collection fhedzi, published by Die Hard Press. Critically acclaimed, Nxumalo was twice named the recipient of the DALRO prize for poetry.
Nigerian-born poet Kole Odutola will also be reading his latest work at the festival. Odutola teaches in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures at the University of Florida in USA and has published extensively both in academia and literature.
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Another participant with a background in teaching languages is Kobus Moolman, based at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban. Moolman’s latest collection, Left Over, is currently enjoying rave reviews in the press and his performance will allow an eager Durban audience a chance to celebrate his vast canon of works.
Johannesburg-based performance and slam poet, Mandi Poefficient Vundla, forms part of the Word n Sound collective and is featured on the online and print publications of Poetry Potion. Crowned ‘Queen of the Word and Sound Mic’ in 2012, she has graced numerous poetry stages including Arts Alive and Jozi Book Fair in South Africa.
Another young female voice featured in the line-up is Sanelisiwe Ntuli, a wordsmith from Hammersdale who writes and performs in isiZulu. Ntuli is a graduate of the Kwesukela Storytelling Academy and regularly features as a storyteller and voice artist on educational programmes of Ukhozi FM.
Also writing in isiZulu is Professor Langalibalele F. Mathenjwa, holder of a Doctor of Literature and Philosophy from University of South Africa (UNISA). He is a published writer of isiZulu poetry, novels, short stories and folklore and chairs Usiba Writers Guild, South African Geographical Names Council, IsiZulu National Language Body and the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names-Africa South Division.
Four poets from the Irish poetry collective, O’Bheal, will present their work at the festival. This contingent consists of Paul Casey, Afric McGinchey, Billy Ramsel and American-born Raven.
Completing the international line-up will be Ian Kamau (Canada), Barnabe Laye (Benin) and Raphael d’Abdon (Italy/South Africa).
Kamau is a writer, visual artist, hip hop and spoken word artist from Toronto whose discography lists five collections, including the popular album, One Day Soon (2011). He will be presenting additional workshops in advance of the festival.
A poet and novelist, Laye has published a dozen books and is the recipient of the Nelligan Prize, his lifetimes work. His most recent work is entitled Poems in Absent, a Long Wait (2010).
D’Abdon is an Italian scholar, writer, editor and translator and a post-doctoral fellow in the English Studies Department at UNISA. As an editor, D’Abdon recently published Marikana – A Moment in Time, as well as an anthology of poetry about the massacre of striking miners by South African Police in 2012 and his own collection, Sunnyside Nightwalk.
The festival’s community outreach programme will see poets visit more than 20 community centres, campuses and tertiary education departments across Durban and beyond. In addition, participating poets will visit 20 schools to discuss reading, writing and the performance aspects of poetry.
The CCA is a special project of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Cheryl Potgieter, in the College of Humanities at UKZN.
