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| Walking the path building Zimbabwe |
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| News - Pamberi Trust |
| Thursday, 02 July 2009 07:33 |
 JULY POETRY SLAM: ‘Walking the path, building Zimbabwe’ The Book Café, Harare, Zimbabwe Sat 01 July 2009, 2-5pm Harare’s Book Café will be blazing this winter Saturday 01 July, with ‘hot’ poetry at the monthly ‘House of Hunger Poetry Slam’, giving poets a platform to express themselves freely and explicitly through the spoken word, from 2-5pm. The theme for this months’ slam is “Walking the path, building Zimbabwe”, inviting poets to think and express their thoughts about ‘walking together’ as a nation and working together to re-build a shattered Zimbabwe to its former glory as the bread basket of Southern Africa and a rich melting pot for many, regardless of race, tribe or nationality . The popular event at The Book Café has grown tremendously over the last few years, and has proved to be the best poetry platform in Zimbabwe that has supported upcoming and established poets to enhance their poetry skills by giving them consistent space to practice poetry and articulate issues affecting their lives, communities and the country at large. The House of Hunger Poetry Slam is also very proud to have facilitated and supported ‘The Lounge’ a poetry slam base in Bulawayo. Its vibrant outreach program seeks to empower poets throughout the country and guide them to valuable networks in the region and internationally. This month’s poetry slam will feature three of Bulawayo’s finest poets - Tswarelo Mothobe, Vuki Sibanda and Enock Lunga (aka ‘Phar’) - who will join their Harare counterparts as they walk the path to build Zimbabwe in the spirit of oneness. Zimbabwe has gone through tough times and exciting times over the past years, seeking solutions to the social, economic and political impasses that have dogged many Zimbabweans lives. The House of Hunger Poetry Slam played an amazing role in easing tensions and re-molding mindsets of many Zimbabweans through inspiring poetry and space for freedom of that expression. “The House of Hunger poetry slam is an experience that can totally change your life, promoting tolerance, understanding, inspiring hope, and has proved to be a hotbed of creativity in which dozens of poets participate each month. The poets are brilliant and creative, with special gifts for arranging and coloring ordinary words, bringing joy to the ear and soothing the soul,” said Mandla Ncube Pamberi Trust Youth Projects officer. “Despite the immense challenges that we have faced and continue to face, we refuse to indulge in negativity or pessimism. Pamberi Trust is an organization that believes in the arts as a vital tool for nation-building, and works constantly to empower artists to produce their best work” added Ncube. The House of Hunger Poetry Slam is a project by Pamberi Trust, an arts development organization in Harare that runs development programmes for music, poetry, theatre, information technology, gender and literature. The poetry slam is supported by leading poets of the country, including Julius Chingono and ---, and has also seen the rise of great young poets of Zimbabwe such as Samm ‘Cde Fatso’ Munro, Leslie ‘Outspoken’ Tongai, and --- who are now well known beyond the borders of Zimbabwe, performing in South Africa, UK and even as far as the US. Some of these poets have successfully fused their ‘spoken word’ with music and leading ‘poetry bands’ are Chabvondoka and The Essence, who also present the popular spoken word event ‘Mashoko’ at The Mannenberg Jazz Club once a month. Offshoots of the poetry slam include the monthly Story-Telling Open Mic which is gaining popularity, and the fast-rapping celebration of hiphop, known as The Circle, at the two Fife Avenue venues. ENDS Pamberi Trust The Book Café 793182 / 792551 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it |