It was history in the making on Saturday, 22 June at the PE Opera House. Many of gifted poets took the stage to showcase their abilities both in poetry and performance at the launch of the Praat Poetry Festival which I was very fortunate to attend.
The organisers did an amazing job at putting together this high class event and I applaud them for the results. The Saturday event began 3pm in the afternoon, ending 11pm that night. Yes! It was that long but the atmosphere was so electric and no one even wanted to move from their seats let alone leave the building. Sitting there was a lifetime experience for me just to see how good our artists really are and the organisers didn’t put limits on them. Many of the artists came from poor backgrounds, what is a common fact in the Eastern Cape, but they showed that circumstances won’t keep them from living out their dreams.
The most interesting thing that I noticed was that so many young people attending this outstanding Praat Poetry Festival. It was really moving to see both the serious and the surreal experiences from the stage.
There were different genres of poetry performed – the most powerful performances that I ever witness in my entire life! The poets work was exceptionally good, and even though it seemed like a competition, it was not. It was just pure Golden South African truth being shared on the stage.
Another part that really stood out for me was the political pride being showed by the poets like Lesego Rampolokeng. He delivered his message loud and clear, first with an intro to his poetry and writing, a few direct attacks on the status quo in South Africa and some unanswered questions about the struggle heroes we really should be celebrating. Proudly South African works being display by young energetic artists in both English and isiXhosa. I so wish my own Afrikaans poetry will be performed at the next festival in 2014.
Another poetry star, Lebo Mashile, arrived late in the evening to perform her work around 9pm. Wow! This woman showed why she is one of South Africa’s best and finest artist around. She was dazzling on stage and just blew us away with stunning technique of spoken word poetry delivered like the Nile river without any end in sights. She didn’t exaggerate her performance which was delivered it with calmness and class.
I think she wanted us as poets to see how far deeper we can go in poetry, She also showed a message that poets must not be copycats but original creators of their work. After her performance she opened the floor for questions and many important answers were heard. Every question was well answered in a respectable and helpful way by the diva.
I think Lebo Mashile and Lesego Rampolokeng were very impressed by the talent and depth that they saw in the Eastern Cape, the birth place of so many struggle heroes. This festival will certainly open many doors for young writers like me. For too long, we as poetry-writers in the Eastern Cape were ignored and undermined and I think its time we stopped waiting for the government to intervene. It is without our destinies to be the change we want to see in the world.
We hope that more experienced celebrities like Lebo will step forward to embrace our needs, We don’t want a free ride but a push into the right direction. I think poetry must be respected and recognised like music and other performance arts in South African culture.
By Virgil Johnson, Uitenhage
Siyabonga Mciana UGqoboz’imbawula Ngcai at opening of Praat Poetry Festival 2013 on Friday, 21 June 2013:
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