From a Kubatana member:

Is Dictatorial Behaviour A Form Of Mental Illness? If So can We Capture Such Individuals And Hand Them Over To Psychiatrists. 4 How Can U Entrust A Whole Country To A Madman?

‘The Engagement Party’ is this year’s (2011) HIFA theme. The HIVOS Spoken Word Programme on Wednesday 27, April took time to engage Zimbabweans celebrating African expression as they listened to poems being recited by poets from Zimbabwe, Botswana, Malawi and Ghana. The theme for the day was, “Diversity in our Voices”. The occasion wouldn’t have been a success without the colourful and wonderful audience. Not only was expression done in poetry, but in song too, as witnessed by the performance by Zimbabwe’s beautiful jazz singer Claire Nyakujara.

Mbizo Chirasha, The Black Poet, was the first poet to perform. The themes of his poetry consist of children’s rights, politics, social lives, gender issues, praise and protest, culture and African pride. He took us on an expedition of the African names from the King Jaja of Opobo to Chaminuka with his poem was titled, ‘African Names’. Another local poet who performed was, Bhekumusa Moyo. He has several of his poems published in the Sunday News Poetry Corner and other publications. On this day he took to the stage two of his poems titled, ‘A poetic crusade’ and ‘This hand’.

Power to the sisters hey! T J Dema from Botswana was the only female poet who performed on this day. I must say her poems are truly engaging as she tackles life issues with her African voice. She performed ‘Neon poem’ and ‘First born Lullaby’. An extract from ‘Neon poem’ reads:

Poems are bullshit unless they teach
They serve absolutely no purpose unless they reach
The audience they are written, the ears they are meant for

Q. Malewezi from Malawi well known as Q, delivered his poem in heartfelt verbal bursts interlaced with humorous suggestions. He managed to invite the audience on an artistic journey in his alphabetic poem, ‘Journey to Q’. One would think it’s a journey of his life but no, he dwelled on all the issues in Africa in alphabetical order (A-Q of course) in an artstic manner, which was just superb. The other poem he performed was ‘Recycling Politicians’.

Quaye Kojo known as Sir Black from Ghana delivered the last poem. He tackles poetry more on a thought provoking note. During his performance he got inquisitive as he threw questions here and there to engagea  the audience.  Below is a quote from one of his poems:

If vegetarians eat vegetables
What should humanitarians eat?
~ Humanity in diversity~

To end the programme singer Claire Nyakujara showed her diversity by performing three songs one in Shona, Ndebele and English.

To listen to more of the poetic engagement do make a date with The HIVOS Spoken Word at the HIVOS Poetry Café.

Saturday (Coca-Cola Day) – 3-4pm
Sunday (Alliance Insurance Day) – 12-1pm

The Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe has just issued the following statement:

VMCZ WORKERS DAY SOLIDARITY STATEMENT

29 April 2011

The Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe (VMCZ) joins the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and all Zimbabweans in commemorating Workers Day on May 1 2011.  This year’s commemorations which are to be held under the theme, ‘Respect our Rights, Save the Economy, Save Our Jobs,’ are significant in that they reflect the continued commitment to the pursuit of better livelihoods by all workers in Zimbabwe. This is despite the fact that the majority of workers are still surviving under difficult circumstances due to the high cost of living as well as the lack of adequate provision of social services.

In tandem with its mandate and mission, the VMCZ also takes this opportunity to express gratitude to the workers through their national union, the ZCTU, for their principled belief in the necessity of freedom of expression and freedom of information for the realization of better working and living conditions for all in Zimbabwe. Indeed, the VMCZ, as an organization with a mandate to ensure self regulation of the media, derives strength not only from the media fraternity but also from the working people of Zimbabwe who are keen on seeing a fair, balanced and accountable media.

Indeed as stated by the ZCTU in the May Day celebrations of 2009 and 2010, it may be dawn, but workers must continue the struggle. The VMCZ urges the ZCTU to continue with the same understanding over and about the struggle for media freedom in the country. This is because although the print media has expanded, there are still no changes to the electronic broadcast media, with ZBC enjoying a patently biased monopoly of our airwaves.

Once again, the VMCZ congratulates the ZCTU and the working people of Zimbabwe on this occasion of the 2011 May Day celebrations.

HIFA entered day three yesterday and the fun still goes on and on. The HIVOS Poetry Café keeps getting bigger by the day as the number of audiences increases. I’m sharing a puesic performance (when poetry and music come together) by Kenyan Ngwatilo Mawiyoo yesterday at The HIVOS Poetry Café titled ‘Lesson on Heritage’.

Vision of land         aaaka
Vision of Mulata Ivia kula Nzaui        akaa
Vision of ugali and sukuma wiki    sesesesese
Goat meat goat meat goat meat!

Persistent sunlight over the savannah        aa
dry desolate dust dancing over distance     a
woman’s woman sighing she swallowing
“coulda-done” – she’s moving on
I want Goat meat Goat meat Goat meat!!

And in Nairobi the sidewalks ache
there’s too many people walking crushing cement
maybe roots beneath    mmm  not enough sweepers,
dust rises coating stone buildings brown  Aii
So much struggle, toil, soul moaning Asi!!
Want Goat meat Goat meat Goat Meat!!!

Our foot stamps, prints rock beyond Nzaui,
in South Africa New York Tennessee
England Germany California Texas Ghana India
Tanzania Toronto Bangladesh Trinidad, Canada, Panama,
- everywhere we go, meet you, where you go after
seeking GOAT meat GOAT Meat GOAT MEAT -

So you too can endure
little rain and lengthy travels
and smile     dance
believe.

To see Ngwatilo Mawiyoo and other local and regional poets perform and feel the vibe of the spoken take part in the HIVOS Spoken Word programme. Be part of HIFA through engagement in poetry and music. Ngwatilo Mawiyoo’s first publication, ‘Blue mothertounge’ is on sale.

The Harare International Festival of the Arts opened yesterday with the expected pomp and fanfare. The Festival grounds cover most of Harare gardens and have expanded to include off-site theatre locations like Reps and 7 Arts theatre. I like to shop, and one of my favourite festival locations is the Global Quarter Craft market, located behind the National Gallery. There you find artists and craftsmen who sell items that vary from jewellery and pottery to Zimbabwean stone sculpture.

Some of the craftsmen were working while exhibiting and selling like the potter in the picture above, who was putting the finishing touches on a vase.

And, I didn’t expect to find Carlos Mondlane, who had travelled all the way from the African Arts Centre in Maputo, Mozambique who is exhibiting wooden sculptures at the Festival.