Spoken word galore at Maitisong
Dumisani Ncube | Tuesday March 28, 2017 15:45
The activities have been put in three categories, which are the poetry slam, Word nerd acoustic café, which will be a performance show by poets and musicians and lastly the workshops.
The spoken word activities, which will start on April 3 till April 8, will be graced by a number of experts and performers.
“The poetry slam has become a traditional feature at the festival and the audience participates in choosing a winner. Eight poets will turn their words into swords and battle to make it to the final of three rounds with prizes to be won by the top three,” said Mandisa Mabuthoe, the Spoken Word @ Maitisong Festival coordinator.
She stated that individuals who are interested in taking part in the poetry slam should post an audio recording of a poem on gilbertshouse@outlook.com. The slam will be held at Dros on April 6.
The spoken word will have different workshops such as the hip hop workshop that will be facilitated by Zimbabwean rapper Ngoni ‘Upmost aka myBruthazkeepa’ Tapiwa. Mabuthoe will facilitate a creative writers workshop. Registration for both workshops can be done by sending an email to gilbertshouse@outlook.com, which will be consisting of the artist’s full names and contact details. Both workshops will be held on April 5 and 6 at the Word Nerd Café located at Maru-a-pula School.
“These workshops are designed to share skills between artists and enhance their craft.” Still as part of the spoken word activities, there will be a series of film screenings, childrens’ storytelling and book readings. Veteran author Barolong Seboni and Indian author Shivaji Das will read books during the book readings. Performance show dubbed Word Nerds Acoustic Café, which is the favourite for many spoken word followers, will be held at Dros on April 8, the last day of the spoken word activities.
“It is an intimate acoustic concert, featuring seasoned local and international poets and musicians. It serves to draw the audience into the enchanting world of spoken words, accompanied by acoustic guitars and percussion instruments,” said Mabuthoe.
The event will have a fusion of poets, musicians and emcees such as Mabuthoe, Kgotla Molefe, Abigail Isa and Tafnaz The Acoustic Badboy, Upmost/myBruthazkeepa and Nomadic.