The Spier Arts Summer Season open binnekort met ‘n buitelug-poësie fees en vier hiermee sy 10de kunste seisoen. Spier Somerkunste bied in samewerking met die bekroonde digter en skrywer Antjie Krog ‘n buitelug fees met beroemde gedigte en ewe bekende en beroemde digters.
Antjie Krog, poet, writer, journalist and Extraordinary professor at the University of the Western Cape, has curated this programme of poets where audiences can expect to experience a diverse mix of local and international poets performing their work in English, Afrikaans and Xhosa. Poems will be read, spoken, performed with bands, rapped or delivered from the gut in the case of Imbongi Mngomeni.
Gerekende digters soos Yvette Christians (‘n Suid-Afrikaanse digter, romanskrywer, opvoedkundige en teksskrywer van Vitamin R met Rocco de Villiers), Lebogang Mashile (digter en televisie aanbieder), Godessa (bestaan uit drie jong vroue op ‘n hip-hop missie), Finuala Dowling (voormalige Unisa lektor cum skrywer/digter), Chirikure Chirikure (Zimbabwe se mees gerekende), Chiwoniso Maraire (Amerikaanse sanger en digter tans woonagtig in Zimbabwe), Tom Lanoye (een van Europa se mees prysenswaardige digters en kontroversiële digter uit Antwerpen), Chantel Erfort (skrywer, joernalis en mede-stigter van die platemaatskappy Dada Flat), Koos Kombuis (die Bob Dylan van Afrikaans soos dikwels na hom verwys word), Rocco de Villiers (komponis en musiekregisseur), Toast Coetzer (een van die nuwe generasie Afrikaanse digters wat saam met Buckfever Underground optree), Imbongi Mngomeni (lofsanger vir die Tembu House in die Oos-Kaap) en die Xhosa rapper Teba Shumba (stigter van die kwaito groep Skeem).
“The uniqueness of this festival is that audiences can compile their own programmes for the evening. This is made possible by two venues running simultaneous one hour long programmes. During the last ten minutes of the hour the audience can move to a different venue for a different set of poets and poems, or stay for the next round. One venue is the river deck, comfortably furnished with sofas, ottomans and cattle hides, and the other is the amphitheatre which has been curtained off to make a smaller, intimate venue suitable for poetry readings. This effectively means that audiences are not tied to one venue and can cross-over to either venue to hear which ever poet they wish to hear, without having to pay twice. The two venues will be linked by book stalls and jazz.”
The different venues will be hosted by Antjie Krog and Douglas Petersen, and for the romantics, on both days the programmes will end with a selection of love poems read and translated into various languages by the poets.
Antjie’s dream is to establish an eye- and ear-opening poetry festival in Cape Town, “Nowadays all cities of note have poetry festivals, because poetry is making a big comeback. I was recently at the Colombian poetry festival with an audience of twenty thousand people in the park. There were thousands of young couples sitting on the grass and older people sitting on the steps, just to listen to poetry.
Lagos het ‘n literêre fees sowel as Harare. Sou dit nie wonderlik fees as ons ‘n soortgelyke fees ter plaatse kon hê waar al die beste digters van die land, Afrika en die wêreld bymekaar gebring kan word om hulle gedigte voor te lees? Genadiglik deel Spier ons visie.”
Vertaling gaan ‘n prominente deel van die fees uitmaak. “Nobody’s language should be a dead end street. It’s a tradition I learned from the Dutch,” sê Krog. Gedigte voorgelê in ‘n ander taal as Engels, sal vertaal word. In die spesiale liefdesgedig afdeling sal Engelse gedigte weer vertaal word in Xhosa, Nederland en Afrikaans.