Today my piece will be on Spoken Word; a form of poetry that often uses
alliterated prose or verse and occasionally uses metered verse to talk
about happenings in a society. This style of poetry is mainly in the first
person singular and generally from the poet’s point of view, it is mostly
themed on personal or current events. In entertainment, spoken word
performances generally consist of storytelling or poetry. Noted
practitioners of this art form are Hedwig Gorski, Gil Scott Heron, Spalding
Gray and well known Ghanaian born spoken poets like Kwame Dawes and Mutombo
The Poet on whom much will be revealed in this piece.
I have always been a lover of both the linguistics and written words so
when they are made much more finer and intricate to become poetry, I become
a complete sucker for that. It was therefore no surprise that I was slowly
but surely falling in love with this young Ghanaian stand up poet named
Mutombo The Poet. Early this year, I discovered two things: Mutombo and
this online radio solely dedicated to poetry called Badilisha Poetry Radio
that can be checked out here:
http://badilishapoetry.com/en/radio-african-poetry-readings/ Both
discoveries have not stopped intriguing me.
Watch 'Just another black boy'; a recital by Mutombo The Poet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mfw54cLJkfg
Mutombo The Poet will soon be featured on Badilisha Poetry Radio. There are
other Ghanaians whose work are featured on there from the likes of lesser
known poets like Tahiru Hamid Seinu, Crystal Tettey, Mr. Re, DK Osei-Yaw
and one of the more known and well recognized Ghanaian poets; Kwame Dawes
of whom I'll talk more about in later paragraphs. For now the spotlight
will be on Mutombo who begun his romance with poetry from his high school
days. As a student of Accra Academy, a senior high school for boys located
in Ghana's capital city, Mutombo majored in English Literature where he
noticed that he had a great way with words and discovered he could actually
write poetry in 2005. This discovery encouraged him to start going on road
shows in 2006.
Before winning his first ever award at the 1st Ehalakasa Poetry slam in
2010 at the Alliance Francaise in Ghana which further catapulted him into
the limelight, Mutombo worked on his current job as a Microsoft Certified
Systems Engineer. Whiles doing that he was mainly writing for himself on
varied issues; he drew inspiration from sources ranging from politics,
social, spiritual and personal life experiences. When asked who or what
has been his greatest motivation and inspiration in the world of African
and world poetry, he responded 'I wont really affirm that a particular
person inspired me, when I discovered this beautiful art form, I was
listening to poets like Saul Williams, Taalam Acey, Gil Scott and Maya
Angelou. I enjoy reading, listening and watching them perform. I would say
my greatest inspiration has been the people I encounter in everyday life'.
In 2006 Mutombo started doing public performances and appearing on
acknowledged shows and stages for the very first time in Ghana, he was
however not the first spoken poet in Ghana at the time because it was
during that period that he first came across a poet named Sir Black who had
been performing before Mutombo became a household name. Poetry has been a
part of the Ghanaian Culture for centuries but today, other musical genres
like Highlife and Hiplife has made it less popular. Within Hiplife and
Highlife are some artistes who dabble in poetry occasionally, especially in
local Ghanaian dialects. Mutombo himself plans on doing poems in his local
Ghanaian dialect of Twi very soon to rope in his non-English speaking
Ghanaian fans: he says 'I have a couple of poems in Twi but I'm yet to
performed them'.
Up until recently in Ghana, there were no poetry pubs, clubs or venues,
thanks to efforts by Mutombo, Sir Black and other poetry lovers in Ghana,
all this is gradually changing even though these places only exist in
smaller numbers. This is an example of the difficulties faced by people
plying this particular trade in the entertainment industry in Ghana.
Mutombo believes the government is not giving the necessary attention to
spoken word poetry because they fail to see the value and importance it
holds especially in preserving the history of linguistics in Ghana. 'It is
sad to see that a lot more spoken languages in the country are either not
taught in schools or spoken by their original owners today' he laments.
Hearing Mutombo speak with such passion about African and Ghanaian poetry
brings to my mind one of the most prolific spoken poets of Ghanaian
origins; Kwame Dawes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwame_Dawes) who is also
an Emmy Award winning writer. Kwame Dawes was born in 1962 and spent most
of his formative years in Jamaica. He is a writer of poetry, fiction,
nonfiction, and plays. His book titled Bob Marley: Lyrical Genius, remains
the most authoritative study of the lyrics of Bob Marley till today. Dawes
has published fifteen collections of poetry. His most recent titles include
Back of Mount Peace (2009) and Hope's Hospice which you can hear him recite
here: http://badilishapoetry.com/radio/kwamedawes/ In 2009, Dawes won an
Emmy Award in the category of New Approaches to News & Documentary
Programming: Arts, Lifestyle & Culture for his project on HIV/AIDS in
Jamaica.
I'm sure Kwame Dawes will be full of encouraging words for Mutombo's
fledgling career and I personally want to see Mutombo's work featured on
Badilisha Poetry Radio and indeed any medium that promotes the art of
spoken poetry in Africa and the entire globe. Mutombo The Poet says he
learns everyday, with every poem he writes and with every performance he
makes. Reminiscing on how far he's come, Mutombo believes without tooting
his horn that he has made some head-way by making lots of people in Ghana
fall in love with spoken word poetry and that is already heart-warming. The
poet is presently looking forward to performing in other countries and
ultimately touring the globe. He says this after having gotten over one of
the most impressionable memory on his career. This unforgettable moment
happened when he first performed live on national television on TV3 in
Ghana--'I remember the tension and fright that went through me right before
my appearance. That moment will always live with me, always' Mutombo
recounts.
There are a lot of other young and upcoming poets in Ghana and across
Africa today who are aspiring to achieve or are already replicating what
Mutombo The Poet does which gives him hope: 'I have come across so many
poets who are doing so well, but like I always say, there is always room
for improvement and though they say think out of the box, I prefer to
contradict that impression by saying do not even be in the box at all.
Everything that you write should be an improvement on your previous work'
he encourages.
The artiste who records under the label of Pidgen Music in Ghana gave
thanks to local artists who have helped shape his career, some of whom are
Wanlov The Kubolor, Mensa, King Ayisoba, Yaa Pono, Lady Jay, Kwam1 and
Kweku Ananse all of whom he thanked for making his first ever album;
'Photosentences' (the Photosentences album can be sampled and purchased
online here mutombodapoet.bandcamp.com) come to life. Photosentences is
enjoying a lot of support and air play in Ghana right now with Mutombo
presently working on his second album which would be out by the middle of
2013. He plans publishing a book of poetry in the very near future as well.
Oral Ofori, +1202-706-9881, oralofori@gmail.com, Freelance Writer (
www.oralofori.blogspot.com), Wikimedia Ghana Enthusiast, Broadcaster,
Retail Specialist, Music Promoter, Artiste. http://about.me/oralofori/
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