Calm before the 2010 DFL Festival’s ‘A lover + Another’ poetry storm…
August 20, 2010 – I paid a visit to some of the finalists of the DFL ‘A lover + Another’ Johannesburg Competition as they were going through their paces of rhymes and verses and getting their pictures taken (I think it’s contagious, am also becoming somewhat poetic here).
Well, it all comes down to tomorrow (Saturday 21 August 2010) in the Great Hall as the battle lines are drawn, the war paint put on and chants and ‘war cries’ are heard.
Lesson 1 - All poetry is music and all music starts as a poem
So there I am conducting last minute interviews with the finalists when here comes Lesedi (19), a music student who says that for her, poetry gives her exposure and that she has written lots of it but never had the guts to perform.
She says for her, “poetry is a way of expressing myself” and since she is a music student I asked her how her academic life linked to her poetic nature, to which she coolly responded by saying that all music is poetry. Lesedi does not believe that it is the competition that matters, but that getting into the Joburg finals was a pleasant surprise for her and she believes she’ll fare well against her fellow poets. She is inspired by Jennifer Hudson musically and Stacy Ann Chin, a Jamaican-American author and poet who had a couple of fantastic performances here at Wits last semester.
Lesson 2 - Poets actually can fly aeroplanes
Introducing Taxan, he is an Aircraft Engineering student at a local college and he says that what he is doing academically/professionally is a “fallback” meaning that if he does not make it in the poetry circles, he will become an Aircraft Engineer.Taxan says he “does not believe there’s good or bad poetry”, rather all poetry has its own beauty and meaning like art, it’s beauty can be in its abstractedness rather than what is actually on the surface. In rap, he says there’s ‘Dope (Great)’ and ‘Whack (Bad)’, in poetry those rules don’t apply. According to Taxan, this is the most competitive contest he has ever been in he is inspired by Saul Williams.
Lesson 3 - Lawyers are poets too
Koketso (19) is a 3rd year Law Student. She says for her, “Law is restrictive, in poetry there’s room to find yourself”. In a nutshell, I was convinced that poetry is in your blood, no matter what you eventually do in life. She says the experience of being part of ‘A lover + Another’ has been both a revelation and shocking experience that she’s made it this far and she says she’s happy to be among so many other voices but at times feels dwarfed by the amount of poetic talent around her in the competition, but all the same she’s looking forward to it. Her inspiration is a Mr Hugget, her former English Teacher (no doubt he would be proud to listen to Koketso’s poetry)
Lesson 3 - Poetry and human rights cannot be separated
Enter Robin (19) from San Francisco, Carlifornia (USA). He is a Human Rights exchange student. He says he learnt to appreciate poetry back in high school and when he came to South Africa, he never thought he would be doing any ‘spoken word’ but surprisingly found himself writing a poem in one night for the competition and thus finds himself in the finals. He says he feels honoured to be among so much talent and he is looking forward to the competition. He wouldn’t mind if he won the cash prize though because he has some ideas for the money.
Lesson 5 - Sinenhlanhla (her name is poetic already)
Ok, I will not try and pronounce her name in public but she is a B.A English, Media and Psychology student and she’s “been doing poetry forever” in her own words. It is her first time to compete and she is inspired by all music “except House and Kwaito”. Her other inspiration is Paolo Nutini -he’s not Italian Mafia but rather a Folk Music singer. Sne’ as her friends call her says that she’s looking forward to the competition and that “it’s too late to chicken out”.
These are just some of the crème de la crème of poetic talent that will take to the stage on Saturday August 21, 2010, at 13:00 hrs in the Great Hall.
Guys and Gals, you don’t want to miss this so come one come all and be blown away by ‘A lover + Another’, who knows tomorrow might just be the day. It’s all happening as part of the 2010 DFL Festival under the theme sex actually watch this space for more details.
Written by Tonderai Chiyindiko (DFL Festival Blogger-in-Residence)