WORD FEST IN BLOEMFONTEIN

By DINEO MOKGOSI

(Above) Rita Chihawa

“A platform for poets to share their literary art with the rest of the public” This is how Rita Chihawa described the “Sound of poetry”, an event that took place on Thursday, December 15 at the Rose Hall in the Bram Fisher Building in Bloemfontein city.

Seasoned poets who performed at the event included Phillipa Yaa De Villiers, performer, teacher and writer for stage and television; who was supported by Free State greats such as Jah Rose, Hector Kunene and Dr Cool. Other aspiring poets who performed were Azanian Kid and Alme Swarts. There was also an open mike session where poets from the floor shared their poetry with the audience.

The event was the brainchild of Soweto-born poet, Rita Chihawa, 24, through a company called Arts Amuse founded in 2009 together with Khonzeka Tyindyi.
“This was the first time we would be hosting the ‘Sound of poetry’, and we are planning to make it an annual event that will be taken to major cities across the Free State” said Rita Chihawa, poet and organiser.

Chihawa is a rather seasoned poet herself despite her young age. She has been doing poetry since the age of 13. She has performed at the Grahamstown Arts Festival. “It has been a long and fulfilling journey in the arts industry,” she said.

Chihawa’s favourite poem is “They went home” by veteran author and poet, Maya Angelou; and another favourite written by her is a new poem called “Mother and sister”

“I look up to a lot of poets, depending on a variety of aspects such as writing and performing. On writing I like Ntate Don Mattera and Ntate Vonani Bila. On the performance side I look up to people like Masoja Msiza, Napo Masheane, Lebo Mashile and Mphutlane wa Bofelo,” said Chihawa.

Her love of poetry was stoked by reading other people’s material. “I love reading. I read a lot of poems by writers like Mattera, Professor Kgositsile, Jessica Mbangeni and Chris Mann,” she explained.

Chihawa said that the poetry industry in other parts of the country is well developed in comparison to the Free State, “as more needs to be done to promote literary arts to the public,”

“We need to educate our people about this type of events so that they can try them out and also create more platforms for poets and storytellers to showcase their crafts to the public,” Rita Chihawa vouchsafed.