Hi Jack

Jesus Is Not On A Mountain

Truth Be Told (Part 2)

Untitled Piece (So I Swore) - Live

Truth Be Told (Part 1) Live

Who Is Eugene? (Live)

Er ... Eish, I Forgot.

I feel I need to make something clear, for the sake of my sanity and for the sake of exposing artistic and more specifically, poetic charlatans.  

Hip Hop Resident

#AftertheSunset

So I went to this cool film screening this past Tuesday hosted at Radar Advertising Agency in Cape Town.  The organisers, Tiisestso Molobi and Mangaliso Sobukwe, decided to give the screening the apt title “After the Sunset.”  We were also lucky enough to have a conversation after the screening hosted by Dr Olusengun Morakinyo with Mme Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge as the honoured guest.  The film on show was a two and a half hour documentary, “Death of Apartheid.”

A few things struck me as interesting as I was watching the film:

Kwela from Hip Hop to Poetry Sessions: Tshwane Street Culture & Music.

My life as a performing poet has seen me travel across South Africa in search of poetry sessions where I can share poesy with those willing and able to hear and listen.  During these travels, I have observed similarities in the cultures, or sub-cultures, and music of said sessions.  These include a preference for hip-hop culture and dress as well as hip-hop music, particularly conscious rap.  These observations have led to the current endeavour or excursion, in which I ask the questions, “Has American hip-hop culture and music impacted on South African street music and culture?” and “Is this influence a new occurrence?  Are there other examples of South African musical culture being influenced by American music and culture?”  Another question that glared at the writer from the onset is, “What philosophical socio-political questions are raised by this transcultural exchange?”

Vote For @thabisonkoana Your Favorite #wordsmith !!

"Freedom"

Yothu Yindi

“Freedom”

By Thabiso wa ga Nkoana

When thinking of world music, it is often the case that people envisage an obscure sound, created on some rudimentary instruments and recorded by an old, bearded, scruffy looking, white, male, music scholar.  A sound that seems not to have a place in this MTV crazed society of ours.  This is not the case with Yothu Yindi’s 1993 offering Freedom.

The Pavement Bookworm (Part 1)

Vote For @thabisonkoana Your Favorite #wordsmith !!

The Issue at Hand.

The Issue at Hand … Is less about race than it is about the economic and political system that rules currently.  I’m speaking here about capitalism.  Kindly note that I’m purposefully writing from the top of my head, I want to speak as a layperson, with no references to reports, academic writings or history books.  It is true that I have been blessed with a better education than “the average South African” – whatever that means - so my reference to “lay” might be somewhat misleading.  You will agree however, that a formal education is but a speck in the endless tapestry that is education.  So perhaps my claim of an unqualified opinion is not so far fetched.

APS-Fa-11-My Words to My People- Shamette Franklin

BAD FEELINGS.

I’ve been hearing a lot about this phenomenon called white guilt lately, in various discussions and debating forums, in newspaper opinion pieces, etcetera.  My understanding of what this guilt should be is in a document known as the “guilt-list”. 

In 2000 Carl Niehaus and Mary Burton suggested that white South Africans apologise collectively to Africans for the wretchedness that was apartheid.  Part of the document reads,

“We acknowledge the white community's responsibility for apartheid since many of us actively and passively supported that system. Some white people were deeply involved in the struggle against apartheid but they were very few in number. We acknowledge our debt to fellow black South Africans since all whites benefited from systematic racial discrimination. We therefore believe that it is right and necessary to commit ourselves to redressing these wrongs.”

The Big Splurge.

greetings and salutations,

i've often thought about the question of conspicuous consumption and have come with one simple answer ... hunger.

way i see it, when someone hasn't eaten for days or weeks and you take them to a royal buffet, they will inevitably over do it, to the point of gluttony.

Msholozi, My President.

I can just imagine all Jacob Zuma naysayers rolling their eyes and releasing a deep grunt of indignation from the depths of their person as they read the current title, "Here we go again!  Another defender of the corrupt, uneducated, singing and dancing rapist who stole the presidency from the intellectual Mbeki."  Nonetheless, I proffer my humble opinion on this ... strange fellow.

A Calm Quest.

Time passes like spirits dancing in a fire

Light travels as emotions landing on a shore

Such is love.

Sound creates creatures craving creeks

Colour saves sentiment soaring in silence

Such is unity.