Opportunity for South African Poets

Two years ago, Badilisha Poetry XChange travelled across African cities to meet and record the

work of the poets in those cities. The 2015 #BPXRoadTrip visited eight cities in South Africa,

Botswana, Tanzania and Ethiopia. During the road trip, Badilisha interacted with over 246 poets and

recorded 184 of which 100 are now featured on our growing archive.

We’re pleased to announce a new edition of our poetic journey. Badilisha is going on the road

again, this time with the specific intention of meeting with emerging and seasoned poets working in

indigenous languages. Our aspiration is to marry the language diversity of the continent with that

represented on the Badilisha platform. We are specifically targeting poets who write and recite

in Setswana, Sepedi, Sesotho, Zulu, Afrikaans, and Ndebele. To do this, we will be travelling

to Mpumalanga, Eastern Cape, North West, Northern Cape and the Free State in South Africa.

We will announce the specific tour dates for each province via Facebook and Twitter.

In the meantime, poets from the abovementioned provinces or whose poetry is in any of the

languages mentioned, please submit the following via email to palesam@africacentre.net:

Two written poetry samples (in any of the eligible languages)

One audio poetry sample (Voice notes and other mobile phone recordings acceptable.

Need not be professionally done)

A brief biography

A highresolution photograph

Poets will also have the opportunity to participate in poetry workshops with poetry professionals

from the different regions. Further information on this will also be shared on our social media platforms.

Badilisha Poetry X-Change - Pan-African Event

The world’s biggest online archive of Pan-African poetry, Badilisha Poetry X-Change, will be hosting live poetry in Cape Town to celebrate the end of the Badilisha Poetry Road Trip – a trip into the African continent to meet and record the work of the poets who live and work here.

The event will take place on December 4^th 2015

Venue: The Beautiful Life, 70-72 Bree Street, Cape Town.

What you can expect:

A host of internationally acclaimed poets like TJ Dema from Botswana.

Prof Keorapatse Willie Kgositsile from South Africa will be there.

There will also be voices from Tanzania, Ethiopia and beyond.

The event is taking place with the support of IFPC and UNESCO.

Badilisha Poetry X-Change is a project of the Africa Centre.

For more info visit: www.africacentre.net

This edition by Fred Felton

Twitter @fredfelton 

Update on the African Renaissance Africa Day Concert for 2013, A Poem and Art News

             Lira

Durban ICC Arena - May 25, 2013

DURBAN: The African Renaissance Festival and Conference have had to make an urgent change to their line up for the Africa Day concert on Saturday, with Zonke withdrawing from the concert following the unexpected passing of her sister, to be replaced by Lira who joins  Mafikozolo and Professor on Saturday, May 25 at 6.30pm at the ICC Arena in Durban.

Zonke – who had been booked to perform – is disappointed to have to withdraw, but has to put her family ahead of her professional commitments at this difficult time. She is shattered at unexpectedly losing her sister, Busisiwe (Busi) Dikana, on Saturday evening, 18 May.

Zonke and her family are devastated at this sudden loss, but she wishes to extend her greatest apologies to the media and fans out there and thanks them for the continuous support.

Lira, known for her emotional ballads and uplifting songs about journeying and self fulfilment, didn’t hesitate to step in to support a fellow musician in her hour of need. Lira  performed at the African Renaissance concert last year and is delighted to be back at this significant annual event. “The quest for unity in Africa is an important one. That music has been identified as one of the ways we can continue to engage with this concept, is hugely significant and an immense honour for us musicians,” said Lira.

Africa Day (May 25), marks the founding day of the Organisation of African Unity in 1963 and for many years has been a celebration of African unity. This was the first time that African Heads of State and Government got together in an effort to define Africa on its own terms and to be responsible for the continent’s shared destiny.

The African Day Concert takes place during the African Renaissance Festival, which began 15 years ago in an endeavour to reignite Africa’s own belief in itself and in its potential to develop its own resources. Joining Lira, the concert will feature some of the biggest names on the SA music scene: award-winning vintage-inspired Afro-Pop outfit Mafikizolo and Professor with Ukhozi Fm’s Mr Magic Linda Sibiya as the host and MC.

The concert will start at 6.30pm until late at the Durban ICC Arena and tickets are R100 and are available from Computicket. For more information and the full African Renaissance programme, contact reception@wozani.co.za or telephone 031-266 9792

(Source - African Renaissance) 

Poetry

Two Phrases, Afternoon and Night

I

The garden seems to dream

As silent as the dawn air;

And while the soul flies dreaming

It seems the quiet composes you, there

In the moment still becomes silver.

The moonlight lies close to the sun,

Both filters of an everlasting sigh,

Leaves turn like the last day of the world,

Waters under the bridge of our understanding

Carries the glimpse, a moment, solitude…

Close to the songs

On this silver path,

Across the mouth of entrance,

That as stars in the morning

Bring us sentences of the lovely garden;

Happy exiles of joy, at home in laughter.

II

What wields the years, the distance

Between us, London or Dresden?

The years take us askance

A sun-dial reposes, refugees of when,

Surely as the bright moon goes

We are orphans no longer.

Forests of trees as stars bind; flows

Of circling ice, break  till stronger,

The burgeoning: flowering of the will.

       

Being a response to Patrick Cullinan’s poem ‘Exiles’ from his volume “Escarpments:  Poems  1973-2007”.

by Timothy Sparks (a freelance writer and teacher based in Durban)

email - tphwsparks@gmail.com

(Source - SA Print Gallery)