giant steps featuring - i mic what i like - kgafela oa magogodi with thabo mashishi (trumpet)
Lefifi Tladi: O SILENT GOD, Thou whose voice afar in mist and mystery hath left our ears an-hungered in these fearful days—
Hear us, good Lord!
We are not better than our fellows, Lord, we are but weak and human men.
When our devils do deviltry, curse Thou the doer and the deed:
curse them as we curse them,
do to them all and more than ever they have done to innocence and
Is this Thy justice, O Father, that guile be easier than innocence,
and the innocent crucified for the guilt of the untouched guilty?
Thou Knowest good god A city lay in travail,
God our Lord, and from her loins sprang twin Murder and Black Hate.
but we know that you’re not one of them, that
bloodless and heartless thing that we know that
in Thy soul’s soul sit some soft darkenings of the evening,
in silence, oh silent god.
Bra’ Geoff Mphakati: I managed Dashiki until it was banned and went underground, until some of its members had to leave the country and go abroad, the others went underground within the country. I was managing the Dashiki then because it was important and highly imperative for me or somebody with the understanding and the consciousness of the political dynamic involving Dashiki….and Dashiki became vocal as far as the arts were concerned, opening up and saying what they felt about the state. They didn’t now go into the back rooms and the back yard and hide themselves - they came open. All of their performances they were very very vocal, and this is why they started burning their fingers.
Lefifi Tladi: Cause now we were going to schools really motivating the kids, and when 1976 happened in Soweto then we said well if it’s in Soweto we’ll take it out here. We were burning all these buses and some schools and we were highly highly causing commotion…ultimately we were picked up, all of us but then we went on trial and we got the bail….but during this period of this bail, Shahn Sheti who was our lawyer said that you know your case has been changed from public violence and arson to sabotage, so the mildest sentence you’ll get is about eighteen years.
March 26th, 2008 at 9:27 am
[…] Kgafela oa Magogodi podcast on Kagablog […]
May 12th, 2008 at 10:01 am
hola kgafs, you still continue to inspire me throuhg your poems and though i dropped along the way in poetry, continue to inspire many. diale - mafikeng
May 27th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
When i first heard you’re piece,I mic what i like, i was inspired.I’ve started writting and it’s teaching me so much.I used to love history in high school and listening to my classmates’views on different matters but Since matric i found it hard to express my views but after hearing this piece i’ve been voicing my thoughts and opinions through poetry.
I enjoyed your performance yesterday (26/05/08 MEDUNSA).Thank you and keep on inspiring us
June 10th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
iyhoooo………im wordless……tyt piece mi brithen…..mo faya
November 14th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
I love this peace it releases you from where you are situated right into the poem itself this is beyond my own words to explain. Nicely done keep it up.
August 26th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
br kgafs, u da bomb and i so miss “Chains” my man.
Keep on spitting mo faya coz the world is cold.
Mogohloane JHB
February 16th, 2010 at 3:53 pm
I would like to get in touch with you Bra Kgafs in regards to booking you for a poetry session, please give me details