Saturday March 05, 2011 Feature
Hope For 'Pen and Mic'
To Rescue Reading Culture
By ORTON KIISHWEKO, 5th February 2011 @ 16:00
<p>Featured Artists from Pen&Mic 1 – February 2, 2011 from Pen and Mic on Vimeo.</p>
I used to be a fan of poetry but such interest is in most cases not able to flourish in a society where such art is not appreciated.
In fact, to date, I can still recite those lines in the famous ‘Orthello’ book, like I were its editor.
The only reason I remember it is because Mr Denis Sebuliba, who taught me literature in secondary school, made sure I read it over and over and it was always examined at the mocks and other exams.
However, my decade away from this interesting works doesn’t mean that I don’t recognize it as a very important pallet of art.
In fact, Sonnet, a form of lyrical poetry, is one of the reasons why names like William Shakespeare and Thomas Gray and John Milton are famous to date.
Locally, I have been a to a few poetry sessions, including the ones that used to be held at ‘Soma Cafe’.But with in the borders , my most memorable poetry round has to be at ‘Pen and Mic’, held last week.
Mzungu Kichaa performs to the crowd which turned up at ‘Pen and Mic’ session at Saffron Restaurant in Quality Plaza. Photo courtesy of ‘Pen and Mic’.
Led by Omar Mohammed and Bgoya Mkuki, the crowd was fantastic and proved that poetry is not always dull and boring rehearsals, and this influenced a recent common statement, ‘Who thought poetry can not pull crowds.”
In retrospect, at institutions like University of Dar es salaam, the few names that always came to mind whenever poetry was mentioned had to be Prof Seith Chachage, Prof Issa Shivji, Professor Saida Yahya- Othman, Mr Bahiru Ally and a few other lecturers in departments of Languages.
It was cause for concern that there seemed to be no emerging young poets to push this art to a new level.
Well, that could be changing now. At last week’s ‘ Pen and Mic’ ,Mr Walter Bgoya, treated the crowd to poems from closer to home, giving one in Kiswahili and the one he gave in English showed that poetry is not just about only one language or a conformed style.
The poetry enthusiasts who filled the restaurant to listen to recital sessions played along. But with the literary precision of poets like Mr Walter Bgoya, will the next generation of Tanzanian poets match up?
It is perhaps the same reason that sessions like ‘Pen and Mic’ speak of an element of reviving the reading culture as among their objectives.
Certainly, when talk veers towards the country’s reading culture, people guffaw and ask: “Which one?” It is a known fact that many a person abhors reading.
Dr Lenny Kasonga , at University of Dar es salaam admits that generally, many people here are “terribly ignorant” because they do not read.
He says that even the little reading some people claim, like the newspapers, isn’t real reading because they sometimes simply peruse through the papers, as they look at the pictures.
Such a scenario can be attributed to the current limitation of African written word.-a society missing own written local content.
This makes the local society more of consumers of foreign content as opposed to local own content that bodes well with own surroundings.
But there are people who are out there attempting to change this.The recently started ‘Pen and Mic’ which illustrated the high profile rating the art continues to receive from lovers of this aesthetic treasure that the literary community must reckon with, could have a role to play in this struggle.
Vitu vyetu, kivyetu Omar Mohammed and Bgoya Mkuki, who are behind the ‘Pen and Mic’ with assistance from Mr Walter Bgoya, say they are trying to encourage a reading culture in Tanzania.
“Our primary aim, through Pen & Mic, is to create a cultural space for artists - spoken word artists, writers, musicians, poets - to come and share their art with a responsive audience.
Not for money, but in the spirit of Art for Art’s sake and the desire to celebrate, to borrow a phrase, ‘vitu vyetu, kivyetu.’
Illustrated At the well attended Wednesday night session at Saffron Restaurant with in Quality Plaza, it was a show of legendary poetry and prose with some of Dar es Salaam’s most influential, prolific and outspoken literary commentators.
The tri-monthly session attracted a sophisticated crowd made of both literary intellects whose recitals were idiomatic, symbolist, metaphysical and Pan-African in theme.
There were major attractions as Fid Q, Langa Sarakikya, University of Dar es Salaam Professor Saida Yahya- Othman, Mr Walter Bgoya, Bumbuli youthful Legislator January Makamba, Chambi Chachage, and Mzungu Kichaa, Tanzania Football Federation Director of Marketing Jimmy Kabwe among others.
Langa Sarakikya’s exuded passion from her two poems could perhaps be explained in one line.”Okay, only poetry can take a person’s breath away, like looking at the photograph of an
old lover, or a picture of a thousand words. That’s what your does to me.”It is now clear with the first two sessions having set the tone, more look forward to being part of these rare literary moment of poets and writers converging at the venue.
And with that, the sessions will perhaps script a new chapter in the books of the history of local arts.
For anyone who would like to perform at the next event email: penandmic@ gmail.com
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Featured artists from Pen&Mic, a FREE trimonthly event celebrating Poetry, Prose, and live music.
Every night will have featured artists followed by OPEN MIC for those who want to play an instrument, sing or share a piece of literature.
For Updates on the next Pen&Mic join our FB group and follow us on Twitter @PENandMIC
