By Ogova Ondego
Published October 18, 2013
The spoken word journey, that began in Johannesburg in May 2013, reached Nairobi on October 16, 2013 as it races towards its destination in Abidjan on December 5, 2013.
Participating in the Goethe-Institut-organised Spoken Word performance held at Nairobi’s Imax Cinema in the evening of October 16 were Checkmate Mido, Kennet B, El poet, Wanjiku Mwaurah, Monaja, Dennis Inkwa, Raya Wambui, Oballadan, Asali, Namatsi Lukoye and guests Rehema Nanfuka from Kampala and Julian Heun from Berlin.
The Jury, comprising James Wamathai, Cindy Ogana and Sitawa Namwalie announced that Raya Wambui had won the contest. She was followed by Dan Oballa in second position with Wanjiku Mwaura coming in third.
Wambui–as is the tradition of the competition that gives the winner the opportunity to perform at the next station–shall be expected to travel to Bamako.
The Spoken Word Project: Stories travelling through Africa was initiated by the Goethe-Institut’s southern Africa’s regional head office in South Africa six months ago. The project is designed to connect spoken word artists all over Africa through online and live fora.
The Nairobi performance brings to six the number of cities in which Stories from Africa have so far travelled to. They include Johannesburg (South Africa), Antananarivo (Madagascar), Yaounde (Cameroon), Luanda (Angola) and Kampala (Uganda). The next stop in November will be Bamako (Mali) and then Abidjan (Ivory Coast) in December, 2013.
