Botsotso 15: jozi spoken word special edition

Description

The Botsotso literary journal started in 1996 as a monthly 4 page insert in the New Nation, an independent anti-apartheid South African weekly and reached over 80,000 people at a time – largely politisized black workers and youth – with a selection of poems, short stories and short essays that reflected the deep changes taking place in the country at that time. Since the closure of the New Nation in 1999, the journal has evolved into a stand-alone compilation featuring the same mix of genres, and with the addition of photo essays and reviews. The Botsotso editorial policy remains committed to creating a mix of voices which highlight the diverse spectrum of South African identities and languages, particularly those that are dedicated to radical expression and examinations of South Africa's complex society.

Sujets

• Littérature Africaine
• Littérature Africaine

Informations

• Publié par: Botsotso Publishing
• Date de parution: 29 décembre 2008
• Nombre de lectures: 3
• EAN13: 9781990922015
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

ISBN 098140684-X
9 780981 406848 Botsotso 15
jozi spoken word special edition
Botsotso PublishingPublished in 2008 by Botsotso Publishing
Box 30952, Braamfontein, 2017
Email: [e-mail]
Website: www.botsotso.org.za
© in the text: the writers themselves, 2008
© in the visual material: Garth Erasmus, 2008
ISBN
978-0-9814068-4-8
We would like to thank the following funders for their support.

Acknowledgements
Te following poems included in Botsotso 14 were also published in New Coin: ‘crimes of the vararas’
by Vonani Bila, ‘Vele, i am not’ by Ike Mboneni Muila, and ‘Red Ants’ by Allan Kolski Horwitz.
Cover and text design
Katherine FinlayContents
Section One Poetry, Fiction and Symposia contributions
by participants in Jozi Spoken Word 2007
1. Festival Comment – Anthea Buys / 9
2. Bury Babu at Sandy Bay - Achmat Dangor / 10
3. Flowers, Gathering Pieces - Angifi Dlaldla / 16
4. Woman Warriors, Black on Black - Zamantungwa / 21
5. Wagon-wheels, Pylon - Hugh Lewin / 24
6. Kliptown, Four Hours, Tree Whistles into a Saturday Morning
- Prince Massingham / 26
7. Two views from the Symposium: What are the Linkages between Poetry and Music?
– Anthea Buys and Smangele Mathebule / 31
8. Charity - Mak Manaka / 34
9. Ibhubesikazi - Nomkhubulwane / 36
10. Of Minks and Men - Mbulelo Mzamane / 37
11. Poetic Script 11 - Botsotso Jesters / 41
12. A sing along poem, Kiss kiss - Ike Mboneni Muila / 42
13. Young Modjadji - Siphiwe ka Ngwenya / 45
14. In this World, Joburg - Palesa Mokoena / 46
15. Riff you gee - Peter Horn / 49
16. Two Views from the Symposium: Who Makes and Breaks the Canon?
– James Ogude and Rosemary Gray / 56
17. the blues in her - Mphutlane wa Bofelo / 63
18. Tea for Tabo, Afer the Fear - Philippa de Villiers / 64
19. A Small Letter, Not My Drum - Prince Shapiro / 68
20. Toughts on Book Reviewing in South African Newspapers - Darryl Accone / 71
21. Tilted, New Word, Button - Liesl Jobson / 72
22. Judasi, Mhlaba - Masoja / 74
2 3 . He Lives (Man in Child), Crucified – Motho Fela (Righteous the Common Man) / 80
24. Sunlit - Dennis Brutus / 85
25. Soul (Moya) - Skado / 86
26. Universe, Be Yourself - Abigail Mogale / 88
27. Celebration Song, ***k your che guevara t-shirt - Damon Berry / 91
28. Into the World - Veronique Tadjo / 94
29. Honey - Allan Kolski Horwitz / 95
30. Comment on the Symposium: Has the spirit of the 1980’s infused
the writing of the twenty-first century? - Boitumelo Matlala / 105Section Two New Work from Poets, Writers and Reviewers
1. A Writer’s Lot – Zukiswa Wanner / 109
2. a blak fairy tale – Chantal-Fleur Sandjon / 113
3. Te Ritual – John Simon / 115
4. Lilongwe at Midnight – Stanley Onjezani Kenani / 117
5. Te Liberation in Question – Jean-Francois Kouadio / 118
6. My Father’s Name – Berenice Makani-Mansomi / 122
7. Radio-omroeper – Andre van Vuuren / 123
8. Teory – Brent Meersman / 125
9. diverting attention – Alan Finlay / 126
10. Just this: - Julia Glenday / 128
11. Round – Natasha Marrian / 130
12. Your Melody – Elizabeth Trew / 131
13. Draai ‘n Duiwel? - W. Miles / 132
14. Interview with Ilyas Tunc – Vonani Bila / 138
15. Poems by ILYAS TUNC, translated from Turkish by Robert Berold
and İlyas Tunc / 144
16. Elixir – Maseeeny Papashane / 149
17. Bubble gums, Sharing Jokes – Khanyile Mlotshwa / 150
18. Alphabet, Murmur – Mick Rabenheimer / 151
19. Rainbow Nation, Illusions – Hlengiwe Mnguni / 152
20. On the Green Hill Summit – Tembong Denis Fonge / 163
21. Rugs Drying on the Roof, Meditations on the Old Land, Inside the House
– Tuto Mako / 164
22. Invisible, Longing (mine) – Vanessa van Gelder / 166
23. Coming Home, Aferpart – Alison Green / 169
24. Marvin Gaye Dug Prostitutes, Airports – Dave Stephens / 170
25. A Man Sits in a Johannesburg Park – Arja Salafranca / 175
26. On the Road – Mandy Mitchell / 181
27. Accelerate – Natalie Railoun / 182
28. ses liedjies vir talya – Sjaka S. Septembir / 184
29. Encounters with greed – Natasha Moodley / 186
30. Visa for America, Jetlag Synesthesia – Carol Leff / 193
31. Memory – Martin Jacklin / 195
32. yesterdaytodayeveryday, guns of daughters– Abbey Khambule / 196
33. Avoirdupois, A Midnight feast – Leigh Templeton / 198
34. Great Expectations – Wonga W. Bottoman / 200
35. Te Acquisionist – David Kerr / 204Editorial Botsotso tries to capture both the ‘spirit of the times’
and the more constant themes of human life.
Many New South Africa institutions and organizations seem to be buckling under the weight
of internal contradictions relating to leadership, skills and use of financial resources; Africa
faces more political and economic crises. However, it is not just our continent; globally the
interaction between our species and the planet is as unstable, if not precarious. Te collapse
of ideology (with the implosion of the Soviet system) has seen the dominance of capitalist
materialism. Te impact on value systems and behaviour has been profound. Wealth ac -
cumulation, wealth disparities, waste and pollution assume massive proportions even as all
societies embrace this paradigm. Yet no one has confidence to live cooperatively. We see each
other as rivals, competitors, and sacrifice all solidarity for short term gain. And with this is a
fear among those who think differently that, in fact, this cynicism is justified – our species is
not advanced enough to live differently; that it is naïve to believe otherwise as history shows
the failure of more rational and creative attempts at living.
Tis then is the environment in which Botsotso finds itself. And its contents no doubt
reflect, and reflect on, these features of our contemporary life. Having said this, a special
aspect to this edition is the work and ideas of the participants in the Jozi Spoken Word festival.
Te festival took place in 2007 at the Wits Teatre Complex in Johannesburg and featured
over sixty participants – poets, writers, comedians, teachers of art and critics. Tere were
performances and readings of poetry and short fiction, workshops and symposia. A
partnership between Botsotso, Edutainment and the Wits Writers Centre, the festival is continuing
this year. Visual art (in the form of “Isis X” - an exhibition of poems and photographs by 14
South African women from the anthology of the same name - and live painting combining
on stage with word performance) and the showing of ‘literature’ films, are new aspects.
As well as work from many of the festival participants, being both work actually
presented then and newer work, this edition offers poems and stories from other contributors
whose work reached us over the past year.
Te graphics are from a series entitled XNAU by Garth Erasmus, being fire creations
– flame on paper. Teir stark and mysterious black and white shapes and figures form a
powerful accompaniment to the word images. Garth (together with Jethro Louw and Glen
Arendse) is a member of Khoi Khonnexion, a Cape Town based spoken word and music
group that bears the spirits and concerns of the ancient Khoi people and their contemporary
forebears.
So, welcome aboard. Gova!
Ike Mboneni Muila, Siphiwe ka Ngwenya and Allan Kolski Horwitz
7 Section 1
Poetry, Fiction And Symposia Presented At Jozi Spoken Word 2007
Botsotso Publishing
Edutainment
Wits Writers Centre
ANTHEA BUYS
Festival Comment
Perhaps the most significant achievement of the Jozi Spoken Word Festival was its provision
of a concourse for writing and writers. I use the title “writers” generously, including all those
who would write and who write in and with their thoughts. When we sat down to a workshop
or symposium, we were, all of us, writers in dialogue, writing arcs of thought between us,
writing on the air with voices, inscribing our record in that space, on time.
In the audience I was thrilled with feeling potential – latent books, poems, sentences,
letters. I sensed we, the audience-writers, were hungry for letters of our own. We were buzzing
with unformed words, the democratic infiltration of a poem. Te whole city buzzes with this
latency. I imagine the scene from far above: the civic centre, the two bridges, the station, the
squares, the pulse of taxis racing through streets burst upon by vendors, all straining to hold
in their stories... Te whole place is aquiver with future books.
A public concourse of writing is a vigil for the torrent that will come when the streets can
no longer contain their texts. Tis year we felt the portentous trickle; we let it slide down
our fingers, we held