Kenyanpoet

• Call for Submissions by Sable Litmag; poetry, Fiction, Memoir, Essay

  Posted: August 24, 2010, 9:30 pm by N.W

  Young Writers issue of Sable LitMag.
  
  Young writers of colour from all over the world are invited to submit work from all genres and styles, for our Young Writers issue of Sable, including Fiction, poetry, memoir and essays written by writers between the ages of 16-25.
  
  The editor for this issue is Warsan Shire, a 22 year old writer and poet based in London. Her poetry has been translated into Italian and Somali. She has performed internationally in North America, South Africa and all over Europe. Her first collection Teaching mother how to give birth is soon to be published with Flipped Eye. Her work will appear in the forthcoming Black British edition of Wasafiri magazine.
  
  Deadline for submissions - 30th September 2010.
  Click here to read the Terms & Conditions of submission

  
  

• Call for Submissions by Sable Litmag; poetry, Fiction, Memoir, Essay

  Posted: August 24, 2010, 9:30 pm by N.W

  Young Writers issue of Sable LitMag.
  
  Young writers of colour from all over the world are invited to submit work from all genres and styles, for our Young Writers issue of Sable, including Fiction, poetry, memoir and essays written by writers between the ages of 16-25.
  
  The editor for this issue is Warsan Shire, a 22 year old writer and poet based in London. Her poetry has been translated into Italian and Somali. She has performed internationally in North America, South Africa and all over Europe. Her first collection Teaching mother how to give birth is soon to be published with Flipped Eye. Her work will appear in the forthcoming Black British edition of Wasafiri magazine.
  
  Deadline for submissions - 30th September 2010.
  Click here to read the Terms & Conditions of submission

• Somi of hit Single, Ingele gives a hashed performance in Nairobi

  Posted: August 17, 2010, 7:20 pm by N.W

  Laura Audrey Kabasomi better known as Somi was in Nairobi 2 weeks ago for a performance at a little known No 3 Kanjeta Road, Lavington Nairobi, off General Mathenge on the 7th August.
  
  Known for her hit single Ingele that maintained a Top 10 position on U.S. World Music Charts for several months after its release In 2007, Somi owns her own Label, SanaaHouse Productions and is a child of different worlds.
  
  Born in Champaign, Illinois, her parents are Rwandan & Ugandan. She lived in Zambia for a number of years and even in Kenya and Tanzania while doing medical anthropological research, working with AIDS orphans in Nairobi,  and Dar Es Salaam.
  
  She terms her music; a fusion of an African flavor into Jazz as “holistic New African Jazz”, something that I quite agree with after watching the video to Ingele and listening to tracks from her 3 albums, Eternal Motive (2003), Red Soil in My Eyes (2007), If The Rain Comes First (2009).
  
  Not sure I speak for many when I say that very little was known of Somi's performance in Nairobi recently and that many like me would have loved to watch her perform, mostly because, this is a Sound that you don't hear often in the Kenyan entertainment scene.
  
  It looks like Uganda is preceding Kenya in having its artist break into the international limelight. Whats happening to our Helons & Rimbuis
  
  

  
  

• Jonathan Butler in Kenya for Sierra Jazz Safari 10th Oct, 2010

  Posted: August 10, 2010, 8:44 pm by N.W

  You heard right,
  Jonathan Butler, the South African Singer, Song writer and Guitarist(left handed) will be in Nairobi on 10th Oct for a show at the Bomas of Kenya from 2 - 11.30pm.
  
  Butler who signed his first record deal at the age of 12 is a Gospel Jazz artist whose journey through early fame, drug addiction, depression and finally salvation is a song of triumph.
  
  I got introduced to his music about 3 years ago. Out of his countless albums, 2 of his songs remain my favourites, Mandela Bay and 10 Degrees South from his album Jonathan 2005, not sure if its coz of the Afro beat in them or maybe its the dance -able tune.
  
  Well, come October, if you hear someone shouting themselves hoarse requesting for the two tracks, no guessing who that will be.
  
  He recently released the album 'So Strong' early this year.
  
  The event is being organised and sponsored by Sierra Premium who have been giving alot of support to the Jazz genre through sponsorship of the Capital Jazz show as well as the inception of the Sierra Jazz Safari last year with the first jazz performer  being Gerald Albright.
  
  I will give you more details of the concert as the day approaches.

  
  

• Weekend Inspiration; Olu- Baby Can't Leave it Alone

  Posted: August 6, 2010, 9:38 pm by N.W

  
  

• My take on Ngugi Wa Thiong'o Autobiography, Dreams in a Time of War

  Posted: August 6, 2010, 4:58 pm by N.W

  In the next few weeks, Prof. Ngugi wa Thiong'o will be in Kenya to launch the first series of  his 4 volume Autobiography, Dreams in a Time of War.
  
  I am no scholar of Ngugi but having read many of his books, I identify alot with his writing especially in the appreciation of ourselves as Africans through knowledge of our customs, traditions and language. Many have, and still contest this ideology of Re-Membering as he termed it in his published volume, Remembering Africa. which was published last year following a series of lectures he gave in Kenya in 2007 at the University of Nairobi's Taifa Hall and in many other Universities all  over the world.
  
  When I got his latest book, I had more or less assumed what I'd find in it; A natural born radical child who from a modest family whose father shaped his thoughts about life and himself in general. I guess I didn't know Ngugi as well as I thought or maybe the book does actually reveal a part of Ngugi that most have never known.
  
  Dreams in a Time of War does exactly that; let you get an understanding of Ngugi that you probably have never before. We all to tend to think that Ngugi a radical who is too pragmatic about use of his mothertongue only drawing his characters from his rural setting and seeming to only acknowledge his community without mention of other tribes in Kenya or even their contribution to the Kenyan freedom struggle.
  
  

  Finding just names of individuals from other Kenyan communities, the Maasai, Kamba, Somali or Kisii or their stories – which would symbolically communicate conviviality and shared national dreams – is a hard (t)ask. Isn’t it individuals in stories – identified by name, which name takes on significant value – who project an author’s intentions?

  Also, the Mau Mau story, the backbone of all his writing, has to be more complicated by the fact that many Kenyans contributed to the struggle for Kenya’s freedom in one way or another. Again, these are the individuals that one struggles to identify in Ngugi’s fiction.(an excerpt from a review by Dr. Tom Odhiambo in the Sunday Nation 18th July, 2010)

  
  Having just published a collection of poems, I can tell you that most of them are from personal experience or through very close encounters with the subjects. I find it quite hard writing about something I have not experienced or observed and I tend to  think that this is the story every writer can tell.
  
  Thus even for Ngugi, his childhood memories and experiences were the sources of his characters, settings and  to a large extent his ideologies.
  
  In his Autobiography, it is quite evident that time and distance have done little to erase his pristine memory of his childhood, being born in a polygamous family, the separation of his parents, his encounter with Christianity through their neighbour, his quest to join school and many other encounters which act like a map or a jigsaw puzzle that one can put together to come up with a setting, a fictional character, a thought in his fictional works like 'A Grain of Wheat, or 'The River Between'.
  
  His story at the beginning is the story of every Kikuyu boy growing up at the same time yet some of the decisions he took, most of them not fully comprehending why he was, put him on a different path; like when he chose to stand up against his neighbour's wife, for unfair treatment by a Christian or when he chose not to miss school in order to accompany the mother in a train to her hometown.
  
  Some of his encounters remind me of my own childhood, something that I think makes the book so appealing to read. One can almost identify with him in some aspects of his youth.
  
  Is it possible that Ngugi might have just  unlocked the mystery to the understanding of his sometimes hard to grasp imagination? I will let you decide that once you read 'Dreams in a Time of War'.
  
  A  local edition of the book published by EAEP is available in bookshops at Ksh. 650. They also have it for sale online.

  
  

• Yunasi redefines Afro-Techno with 'Rhoda'

  Posted: August 5, 2010, 7:21 pm by N.W

  After a European Festival Tour, Yunasi is back, this time round with Rhoda - an Afro-Techno hit .
  
  Yunasi, a Kenyan based group of 7 artists is known for its signature Style, SESUBE, which they invented in 2004. It combines sega, isukuti and benga. It takes sounds and inspirations from local Kenyan communities, cultural styles and languages and fuses those sounds with a European component.
  
  The group which started out in Nairobi at the Alliance Francaise has gone on to win various international awards with the latest being In December 2007 when Yunasi travelled to London’s famous Maida Vale studios and were voted 'overwhelming' winners of the BBC 'Next Big Thing' competition over 2000 acts from 88 countries by a panel of top music industry judges including Talvin Singh, William Orbit, Nile Rodgers and Tahita Bulmer.
  They later went on the play at the 75th Anniversary of the BBC World Service at IndigO2 at the O2 Dome (formerly, The Millenium Dome).
  
  I would say, its been a while since they last played in Nairobi and I look forward to their next local performance.
  
  

• Phyllis Muthoni & Njeri Wangari's Poems Unveiled at Goethe – NAIROBI

  Posted: August 3, 2010, 6:44 pm by N.W

  By Khainga O’Okwemba
  
  Last Saturday I walked into the library at Goethe-Institut where AMKA women writers are hosted at least once every month, just to learn that Dr. Tom Odhyambo, the moderator, had infact introduced the poetry and prose session by providing copies of Pheroze Nowrojee’s piece on poets and society which was the subject of my cheerful polemic a few days ago.
  
  The idea was to encourage discussions on the role of the poet/writer in society. I missed that bit as did Tony Mochama. However, I had arrived in time to follow discussions on German literature. Normally, the sessions begin by reading an English text from German literature.
  
  Yesterday (Monday) though, I met Pheroze, we shook hands, hugged and I conveyed the same to him. He acknowledged the beautiful gesture from the young literati and the organizers, “thank you so much,” he offered.
  
  Interestingly, the poems read were from two fresh books; Lilac Uprising & Mines and Mind Fields: My Spoken Words, newly published poetry anthologies by two remarkable young Kenyan poets.
  
  The first poem to read was “My Mother’s Tongue,” from Njeri’s anthology, which condenses Prof. Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Remembering Africa prose work into a few stanzas. What? The interaction of the African with the European did dismember Africa. One of the major casualties was the adverse effect on language and culture;
  
  My mother tongue –
  A tongue that has created a sound to the maker of Culture
  A tongue that has created words whose proverbs
  Made warriors of men
  - My Mother’s Tongue (from Mines & Mind Fields) - Njeri Wangari
  
  Second we read “Face of Africa,” from Phyllis’ anthology; a poet’s musing on how the Western media portrays Africa in unlike human experiences. You have read Phillip Ochieng’s (one of Kenya’s foremost journalists still active) column on Sundays on Eurocentric speech of Africa, or Binyavanga’s essay “How to Write About Africa.” Listen to this;
  
  In a previous frame my skin stretched taut
  Over a belly distended with kwashiorkor, -----
  In this shot it sags over a skeletal cranium
  - Face of Africa (from Lilac Uprising) - Phyllis Muthoni
  
  After the readings, it so happened, quite inadvertently, that I began by asking, whether or not the Negritude Movement has got not heirs to its memory? This question is informed by a claim, I need to qualify, that critics of the movement were quiet admirers of the philosophy, if in their creative works. Still, is there anything like African literature? What is African literature? This was one of the issues arising from the discussions.
  
  The discussion was as explosive, as the divide between proponents and opponents of African languages as the medium in which our literatures need to be preserved.
  
  Hear Mochama, “we have lamented about the ghost of our mother tongue, must we go to the cemetery and exhume the body?” Tony is not about to start writing in Kisii. A good number of those in attendance believed otherwise. They would readily embrace writing in their local dialects. “My friend, is it a poet’s busyness to spend their time trying to save some language?” Mochama again.
  
  AMKA, like the flagship FEMRITE in Uganda was founded on the ideal to; discover, horn and promote young women writers. The group started by holding readings at the Wasanii Restaurant at the Kenya National Theatre. It would then move to Goethe. The group’s first anthology will be out very soon, and as it were, poetry, occupies more space than prose!
  
  Did not poet Sitawa Namwalie, say that “Kenya will be known as a land of poets and not just of athletes and fake politicians!”
  
  Well, the AMKA poetry and prose readings at Goethe-Institut takes a sabbatical this August because, Goethe, as is tradition, will be closed for one month. The forum is held every last Saturday of the month and it attracts students from the Kenya Institute of Mass Communication, the University of Nairobi, Kenyatta University, authors, journalists, budding writers and the general public. Also attending was Linda, the motherly force behind AMKA and Riva an administrator at KenyaImagine online magazine.
  
  Eliphas Nyamogo, our host at Goethe, did make a passionate request to the poet-authors of Lilac Uprising & Mines and Mind Fields to find some spare time and join their fellows in September when the sessions resume. It is hoped that this will inspire budding writers. It is a wonderful forum interspersed with tea and snacks, and that I would encourage us to attend.
  
  Mochama and I then left for San Valencia, where we met investigative journalist Parsalelo Kantai, forgot poetry, and talked journalism and media houses. Dr Tom would join us shortly. There were cigarettes to be smocked, enough triple, more vodka, mh, and sodas.
  
  Trust Tony and PEN, the last Saturday of August we shall have a literary event at the Professional Centre. Will keep you posted. I leave you with one of my poems. Read on.
  
  Words Come Calling
  By Khainga O’Okwemba
  
  
  There goes yesterday
  With a peer, to stray,
  Moving in monody today
  Is a pal with a little to say-
  
  Those of us born
  Have a place on earth
  And a world to watch
  Those not born to feel
  
  Talk, make this an awesome bon’
  And halt that deafening dearth
  Unprecedented refusal to touch
  Tomorrow, and your heart be still
  
  If you are a believer, pray
  For ambition to be kept away
  Quite many have joined the fray
  They know not where to stay.

• Poem: Dear God

  Posted: August 2, 2010, 12:37 pm by N.W

  Dear God,
  Its me,
  I know its been a while but I need your help
  They have just announced that my bishop stole an election
  Now the glory in you is gone for her prayers to you were answered
  
  You said no
  Just like the other men of clothe who have lost faith if you
  Now they use action, mass action
  Prayer, faith and forgiveness all forgotten
  Fighting with MPs for the camera’s attention
  On matters of the womb
  As if it will determine whether one enters heaven or not
  Yet they claim that you died for all our sins
  Do they forgive those who abort or those who sodomise young boys?
  For I know you do.
  
  Lord,
  You said in the last days many would claim you yet not know you
  Hawkers in your name have made you cheap
  In buses, streets, cinema halls and parks
  With offers of wealth, health and heavenly breath
  Our offering, the tithe that bargains the weight of their prayers to you for us
  
  Lord,
  I pray for your curse upon their uncircumcised lips
  Uttering your name to the glorification of their egos
  Multiplication of their bank figures
  Modification of their anatomies
  While they rob from you
  The sacrifice of our tithed toil
  Our souls, the collateral
  
  I hope my prayers to you will be like Kamanda’s
  
  And I will say
  
  “He heard me”
  
  All Rights Reserved ©
  Njeri Wangari –Wanjohi
  July 2010

Blah blah blah

Fish cakes

Alas a fish cake.

Yet more fish cakes

Guess what ... yeah ... fish cakes.

The end of the fish cakes