Malenga Dar es Salaam ndani ya 'La Poetista-Aug'14'

By Sanaa & Culture

Audiences at Nyumbani Lounge in August'14 
La Poetista session

Huwezi kukataa uwezo wa mashairi kutafiti na kufikisha ujumbe kimahiri. Watanzania hususani wenye asili ya pwani toka Afrika Mashariki, wana utamaduni wa malenga unaoenda nyuma miaka isiyopungua 1000.

Ama kweli sio ajabu tumekuwa na ‘short prose’ kwenye kanga zetu tangu forever more.
Now you’ll note my Kiswahili is with its fits and starts but bear with me, part of the reason why I began this blog is to flex my Kiswahili muscles.

Hivi karibuni nilienda tena kwenye mwaliko wa ‘La poetisa’ pale Nyumbani Lounge Dar es Salaam majira ya saa 2 usiku hivi. Mwaliko huu hufanyika kila alhamisi ya kwanza ya mwezi; na hujumuisha kwa wingi wana mistari  pamoja na wasanii wa fani mbali mbali. Ikiwemo wacheshi, wana miziki na usiku huu wa tarehe 7, Agosti (kitu nadra) pia tulimuona ‘dancer’ kwenye jukwaa la ‘La Poetista’.

From left 'Ayikoru Keziah, Isabelle Shija and Angel Abdallah'

La Poetista is a baby of two lady poets from Tanzania who one clearly notes are close friends them being Neema Komba and Nancy Lazaro

“We just wanted to read our poetry to friends and family, so this one time we invited them to this café (Aroma Coffee House) and before you know it. One event turned to two, I and Nancy became us and a live band and well the rest is history…” Neema Komba.

There’s certainly been growth from those early days in 2012, as La Poetista to date is an open mic event with special guest artists as well all manner of young and not so young performing art talent. On this night the 7th August, 2014 the Special featured artist was ‘Slim MCee a.k.a Herman Kabubi all the way from Uganda and Conrad Kennedy the ‘dancer’ from Tanzania.

Simalike Mwanyekwa of 'Wanaitwa Uhuru'
hip hop crew in Kigamboni Dar es Salaam

Siku za nyuma nilipata fursha ya kujumuika na washairi wengine pale Soma Book Café ndani ya ‘WAKA Poetry Consortium TZ’ kikundi cha washairi (wanaokutana kila jumane ya pili na ya mwisho ya mwezi pale Soma Café, Dar es Salaam saa moja usiku). Kwenye warsha iliyoendeshwa na Bw Slim MCee juu ya ustadi wa ushairi jukwaani.

As a poet myself I learned a thing or two from this young man who’s making waves in Ugandan media as a prominent performing poet. “You see when you show up with your paper, notebook now we have smart phones, we have iPad’s, we have laptops all these things. They are good because at times you can’t memorize your lines as you just cooked it up… but believe me, you it’s a wall one way or another.

Slim MC'ee doing his thing as Special
Featured Guest in La Poetista August'14

Why? One you have to look at the next line because you wrote it or you typed it. Second people see that…like there’s a wall between you and them because you are focusing on the piece…hindering you from being free with your poem and really delivering it to the audience.” Herman Kabubi. Coming back to the event in La Poetista where Slim MC'ee as Special featured artist delivered a couple of poems including ‘Tell her neighbor’ and one of ‘Fistula’. All of which were delivered with such poise. 

Bw Vitalis Maembe akitumbuiza mambo yake
ndani ya 'La Poetista Agosti '14

The young man who is all of 24 yrs climbs on stage barefoot with his Afro and made in Africa clothing. You could underwrite him as generic; in that gung ho am about to spit some rhymes on why we should all go to the village and live in huts like our ancestors.

However his words reveal a prowess in story telling that’s evolved from our own traditions yes; yet taking on an Afro-Politan universal garb. With the inclusion of song and rhythmic oration that delivers strong imagery. Which lingers in your mind on topics that touch us all particularly his poem on fistula, while a dicey topic to take on, in performing poetry? He still grabs the audience, with its personification from the main character ‘a woman in the struggle of labor’.

Miss Gaudensia Kalabamu with her
spoken word piece at La Poetista  August'14

Usiku huu pia tulikuwa na washairi wengine kama Simalike (kutoka kikundi cha ‘Hip Hop’ Wanaitwa Uhuru); Peter Mbowe aliyetoka Arusha; Naamala Samson; Diana Kamara. Vivyo hivyo tuliona wanamuziki wakiwemo kina dada watatu ‘Angel Abdallah, Isabele Shija and Keziah Ayikoru’ wakitupa mwimbo mwanana kwa jina ‘Vanity’.

Tulimuona pia baba lao Vitalis Maembe toka Bagamoyo akituburudisha na guitar wakati akiimba nyimbo. Alizotunga mwenyewe zenye vionjo vya lugha za asili toka kusini mwa Tanzania ikiwemo ‘kifipa’, ‘kingoni’ na ‘Kimakonde’. Ama kweli kumsikiliza huyu mwanamziki ni raha tupu.

Pia tulivunja mbavu na MC wetu usiku huu kaka Edgar Lushaju tukaongezewa sanaa ya ucheshi na ‘beat boxing’ toka kwa Bw. Mgazi Mazi. Dada mmoja mshairi Gaude Kalabamu naye alitisha na shairi lake alililokuwa amekariri kichwani na kulitema kwa jazba. 

Conrad Kennedy the fiine fiine dancer lol

Hapo kati tulipata fursa ya kumwona Msanii mwingine mualikwa Bw Conrad, ambaye alicheza kwanza nyimbo ya ‘Say Something’ ya Christina Aguilera na ‘A great big world’. Kwa kweli alituacha na bumbuazi haswa sisi wasichana manake ukimuangalia; kaka misuli ameiva alafu anavyojibinua we acha tu. Sema papo hapo wimbo umeisha akarusha bomu ‘Samahani…nimeokoka…’

Kazi kweli kweli, ilibidi tuanze kukaa mkao wa kanisani sema sera za dini pembeni. Kijana  huyu amebarikiwa na kipaji cha kucheza na natumanini atazidi kusaka talanta yake kwa majukwaa mbali mbali nchini na nje ya nchi.

Gwakisa Mwambungu providing acoustics for the
three ladies who sang Vanity 

So we came to an end of another La Poetista event. It’s only early on in this year that an entrance fee of 5,000 exists at the door.

Ni vyema kuona jukwaa kwa wasanii wa Tanzania likiendeshwa na watanzia bila udhamini wa nje ya nchi. Na hivyo hivyo yabidi wasanii wanaopanda kwenye jukwaa hili; kuheshimu kazi zao na kufanya mazoezi; ili viwango vya Sanaa vitavyonyeshwa hapa viwe kwenye kiwango cha kimataifa.