The Word N Sound Poetry Mixtape is a global collaboration between South African poets and music producers from all corners of the world. All established and aspiring music producers are encouraged to download the acapella poems for free and put music on them. The challenge is open to all music genres.
Once producers have put music on the poems, we ask that they send them back to us. Please email completed tracks to thabiso.mohare@gmail.com. The best tracks will be featured in the official Word N Sound Poetry Mixtape, which will also be a free download. The rest of the tracks that don’t make it on the official Mixtape will also be made available for free download via the Word N Sound blog. www.wordnsound.wordpress.com
Mutle Mothibe – Bad Connection
Thando Mngqibisa – One big word
Afurakan – A blues for Madiba
Sbu Simelane – Tales Without Fairies
Masai Dabula – The passage on the lonely hill
Andrew Manyika – Consequence
Bonga Ndziweni – Love
Mandi Poefficient – The President’s wife
Kagiso Tshepe – Hoist the Sails
Afua Wilcox – Painting my sky blue again
Mutle Mothibe – Crafty Poet
Mpho Khosi – Encounters With Love
Masai Dabula – Kneel
Andrew Manyika – Trajectory of a tear
Afurakan – Black rock
Thando Mngqibisa – Spring cleaning
Bonga Ndziweni – She
Afua Wilcox – Her song for man
Kagiso Tshepe – Invisible Posters
Mandi Poefficient – Sweet 16
Sbu Simelane – Changes
– Written by Lara Gemini Poet :
I never thought I’d see the day where something will over shadow the Poetry Africa buzz, but it did, poets have been breathing and living Word n Sound Poetry.
Word N Sound Poetry and Music Series is a platform for the expression of spoken word, not so much a commercial venture as an attempt to make a positive impact on youth in the city. The Word N Sound platforms bring together older practitioners of literature – elders of 40 years and older – with young people in their teens and early twenties, to encourage and inspire them, and to give them a sense of the trajectory of a literary career. We have seen many artists grow in the Open Mic League that started 9 months ago where poets like Mandi Poefficient Vundla, Mutle Mothibe, Cornelius Jones, KB Kilobyte, Masi Dabula, Andrew Manyika and many more. This Series has travelled throughout SA and has invited Durban poets Tumelo khoza and Nkululeko Page Ngwenya to also perform.
In October 6, 2012, I took a well deserved trip to Johanesburg’s eMonti Diner on Bree Street, to witness the phenomenon of poetry come to life, where poets such as Mutle Mothibe, Napo Masheane, Joshua Bennett (USA), Yrsa Daley-Ward (UK), Qabaniso Malewezi (Malawi) and Afurakan who is also one of the founders, headlined the show and LoveGlori who are nothing short of an arm long profile, graced the stage with their unique sounds.
Out of ten poets who had been competing for nine months on different stages of the Word n Sound Open Mic Challenge, Mandi Poefficient Vundla won the league and walked away with the title and sponsorship prizes. LoveGlori later then left every inch of the stage burning with songs like Change, Skyf, Call Me and many more. This duo not long ago made history when they were part of the women’s month celebration show in Durban hosted by Buddha Beats and Tea Cup. Later on the headline poets made way to the already damaged stage and murdered all that remained. Yrsa Daley-Ward, a model and poet with her gentle approach, Napo Masheane with her theatrical performances, Mutle with his amusing deep metaphors and the best loved Joshua Bennett.
LoveGlori
It was a blessing to see artists living and sharing their beautiful gifts, and even far more amazing to see poets grow in leaps and bounds with their word, but ultimately a blessing for sponsors like Lokshin Kultcha, British Council, RORA Creations and many more to invest in projects like this one. It was also amazing to see poets flock from Durban to experience this, and older generation poets like Myesha Jenkins to also come support such initiatives.
They say in Word N Sound we trust….. I say in poetry we live [*]
This might be late, but if you attended Word And Sound Poetry session in Newtown Last Saturday as I did , you will know that the show was a hit, from the open mic session to the All Star show it was on fire. I must say I really enjoyed the All-Star show more than the Open Mic session between 1pm to 3pm. My favorite of all poets on the all star stage had to be Mandi Poefficient Vundla
follow her on: @mandidee
and check her poems on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXxj1qVfphA
and here’s your top 5, but 6 of the because there was a tie
Let us support proudly South African Art
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On 20-22 of September the British Library recorded The Power of Caribbean Poetry – Word and Sound at Homerton College, Cambridge. This was a conference on contemporary Caribbean Poetry from English-speaking territories linked to the Caribbean Poetry Project 2010-2012, which is a collaboration between the Centre for Commonwealth Education (Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge), the University of the West Indies at Mona (Jamaica), St Augustine (Trinidad) and at Cave Hill (Barbados), conceived to promote and disseminate the teaching, understanding, and appreciation of Caribbean poetry in the Caribbean and the UK. See here for further details.
Grace Nichols
The conference was structured around a generous programme with participants and experts from both hemispheres. Its three days elapsed among scholarly papers, panel discussions, seminars, poetry readings and late-night sessions of poetry entertainment. The papers revealed many of the multiple subjects of Caribbean poetry, crossing over several disciplines: from literature to history, anthropology, sociology and ethnomusicology, and included environmental approaches, postcolonial views, perspectives on cultural identity, polyphonic interpretations and analysis of ethics of representation, just to mention some of the topics. The seminars addressed aspects of teaching and learning Caribbean poetry, providing creative methodologies for both teachers and students. In conjunction with this polymath learning there was an exquisite cast of poets who read and performed each evening till late, treating the delegates to an unforgettable experience.
In her opening speech Professor Morag Styles, Project Director, stated that this was the biggest line-up of Caribbean poets ever to appear in Cambridge. Here is the list for your consideration: John Agard, Christian Campbell, Kei Miller, Mark McWatt, Mervyn Morris, Philip Nanton, Grace Nichols, Velma Pollard, Olive Senior, Dorothea Smartt and special guest Linton Kwesi Johnson, who gave a lecture on Jamaican poet Michael Smith. In addition to the poetry Morris, Senior and Campbell gave keynote lectures: Morris focused on poetry and language showing examples of Creole and Caribbean English; Senior on poetry and play; and Campbell on a book he is writing on Caribbean poetry.
Linton Kwesi Johnson
The Caribbean Poetry Project has also collaborated with the online Poetry Archive set up by Andrew Motion (see here for more), leading to new recordings of several Caribbean poets. Besides Nobel Prize winner Derek Walcott, Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze and James Berry the list currently includes Linton Kwesi Johnson, Mervyn Morris and Olive Senior, while Christian Campbell, Anthony Joseph and Velma Pollard are soon to be added.
The landscape of Caribbean poetry is transnational and full of features. In brief we could say it is critical at heart, often political and social, frequently jocose and closely entwined with the rhythms of reggae, dub and calypso.
Kei Miller
The recordings of this conference will be accessible online at the British Library Sounds page once they have been processed. Look out for them and tell us what you think. Until then here is a sample of Kei Miller reading his poem ‘Speaking in Tongues’.
Listen to Kei Miller reading in Cambridge
Last week’s winner of my book POEMS ARE TEACHERS is…Holly Thompson!
(Please send me an e-mail to amy at amylv dot com with your snail mail address.)
Welcome to my 2020 National Poetry Month Project
See My Last 10 Poetry Projects HERE
Each day of April 2020, I will share three things:
- A dice roll of three word dice
- A video explaining one poetic technique titled POEMS CAN… You can also find these at Sharing Our Notebooks as part of my ongoing Keeping a Notebook project
- A poem inspired by one or more of the dice words and the technique
Here are All of This Month’s Poems:
And now, for today’s words!
Day 17 Words
Photo by Amy LV
Thank you to Heinemann for giving away a copy of my book POEMS ARE TEACHERS: HOW STUDYING POETRY STRENGTHENS WRITING IN ALL GENRES each week of April. I will draw names from the previous week each Thursday evening at 11:59pm, and I will announce a winner each Friday. Please leave a way to contact you in your comment as if I cannot contact you easily, I will choose a different name. This week’s winner is named atop the post.
If you would like to learn more about other National Poetry Month projects happening throughout the Kidlitosphere, Jama has rounded up many NPM happenings over at Jama’s Alphabet Soup. Happy National Poetry Month 2020.
Molly is hosting today’s Poetry Friday roundup over at Nix the Comfort Zone with a gorgeous celebration of homemade bread and homemade jam…in poetry. As for Poetry Friday, we invite everybody to join in each Friday as we share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship. Check out my left sidebar to learn where to find this poetry goodness each week of the year.
Antoinette
Photo by Amy LV
Please share a comment below if you wish.day