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BADILISHA POETRY X-CHANGE BRINGS CAPE TOWN A JOURNEY OF WORD AND SOUND THIS WINTER

Cape Town, 14 April 2009

A host of local and international poets will converge on Cape Town from 22-25 May 2009, to collaborate, celebrate, express, perform and exchange ideas at the Badilisha Poetry X-Change 2009. This feast of poetic performances will take place at The New Space Two Venue and The Slave Church on Long Street on the evenings of 22nd and 23rd May and, on the 25th May, at The Sacks E. Futeran & Co Building to celebrate Africa Day.

Badilisha (a Kiswahili expression meaning to transform/change/exchange) is presented by the Africa Centre. The curators, Malika Ndlovu and Lorelle Viegi, comment, “Badilisha 2009 is a powerful collection of voices in a space that has been deliberately created to nurture multi-layered authentic exchange. We invite people to savor the delicious digest of word, sound and charismatic delivery that is poetry.”

The 2009 Badilisha Poetry X-Change programme will deliver the poetic in spoken, sung and screened form, with poets representing South Africa, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, DRC, USA, UK and Sri Lanka.

Local highlights include Cape Town’s Emile Jansen of Black Noise-fame, the acclaimed Megan Hall, new Afrikaans talent Loftus Marais and the exciting young duo of Kai Lossgott and Mbali Vilakazi in a multi-media piece entitled enough. From Gauteng, comes performance artist Philippa Yaa de Villiers and well known author and media personality Eric Miyeni. Other notable South African voices are iBushwomen (the sister collective of Tereska Muishond and Laverne da Silva from the Free State), who explore the indigenous cadences of the San and Khoi people, isiXhosa imbongi Jessica Mbangeni from the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal father-daughter collaboration Ntokozo and Bhekimpi Madlala in a production titled Khumbula Amagugu (Remembering Precious Things).

Poets from other parts of the world will include Nigerian writer/essayist, Uche Nduka and Zimbabwean activist poet Michael Mabwe that is in dialogue with the Cape Town-based Zimbabwean poet Annie Moyo in Bullet Words. The poignant, multi-lingual SA/Mauritius/DRC collaboration Berceuse (Lullaby) features Tania van Schalkwyk, Jamala Safari and Mwila Mabwe. Hugely popular UK poet Lemn Sissay, brings his inimitable irony to the platform and from the USA comes the invigorating performance of word-artist, Tantra-Zawadi. Another noteworthy visitor is Seni Seneviratne; a widely-regarded performance artist of English and Sri Lankan descent. Added to this scintillating mix are the musical talents of Shannon Mowday and Thandi Swartbooi, who collaborate with the poets in their festival performances.

The Badilisha Poetry X-Change programme consists of a multi-layered presentation of performances featured back-to-back on the evenings of 22 and 23 May, with a 25 minute interval, during which audiences can purchase books and CDs at The Book Lounge stall in the Africa Centre Gallery on 1st Floor, 44 Long Street. The independent urban oral history film project, City Breath, a collection of short video ‘breaths’, will also be screened during the interval at this venue.

Badilisha Poetry X-Change has also chosen to mark Africa Day on 25 May 2009, with a lunchtime gathering of this Badilisha Poetry X-change Festival’s poets who will explore the multiple trajectories and origins of African Cities. The event will also serve as a platform for the launch of an online reader entitled Pan African Practices (a collaboration of the African Centre for Cities and Chimurenga Magazine), a virtual space where African’s can define their African identity. This event is free and open to the public.

Tickets to the Badilisha Poetry X-Change evenings are R60 and are available through Computicket. For additional information please contact Felicia at The Africa Centre on 021 422 0468 feliciapb@africacentre.net or visit www.africacentre.net/badilisha