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Thursday, July 24, 2014

Sway by Way of Modernization

PHENOMOLOGY OF LESOTHO MUSIC IN TIMES OF ‘SWAG’
                “A collective drive of immorality”

By: John Ralebitso
The specimen of Academia often say the power of the mind exudes the infinite universe of possibilities hence Artists have gone beyond infinity in the spectre of creativity. Living in a such a stagnantly patriarchal society as Lesotho has always given me a major concern regarding the growth of ‘popular’
youth trends and music.

Flickering through the channels on my Radio Set last Friday, I bumped into the broadcast of the Vodacom Superstar top 20 finalists. As if my foresight was a validation of anguish that I had predicted during the national audition phase, I knew that the youth culture was yet to face an embarrassing climb-down. I was not really sold into the idea of being excited about this competition because of previous mediocrity that we have experienced regarding the so-called competitions and Awards in this country.

But let me be modest and let my doubts to varnish in vain because prizes are groundbreaking atleast.

I am not really sure if it was fair for creators of the competition to wrestle up ‘pop culture’ music with Famo and Gospel. And what also ensued throughout the whole judging process is in my opinion the pre-emptive agendas that lacks transparency and clearly defined target market.
But what could have made Hip hop& Kwaito to suffer such an embarrassing pitfall in the selection process which scoped diction, lyrical content and posture/gestures amongst others?

I would have ideally shunned the temptation of saying Lesotho music but I want the context to be precinct and literal to the simple eye as a means of scoping our own identity within the world wide musical traditions and culture. Our local music industry is characterised by many a genre but i will position my focus on Famo, Hip hop and Kwaito.

Like an eagle seizing a baby kitten, many young music lovers have felt like the past generation sees us(the now generation) as deficient thus bolstering their own collective ego based on high moral ground. Instead of making me snap out of my torpor as a youth, the latter statement validates my long winded analogy that the ‘pop culture’ ,which is also infused in our local styles of music, has dented the prospect of a smooth musical maturity.

The vulgar language and depiction of sexual animation now has pride, labels and of course a huge target market jumping into the Westerners loose moral bandwagon. What was once a shady loser hovering on the fringes and an amorphous mob has now grown into a coherent identity of style trend and a socio-movement.

The triumphalism of incompetence and loose lifestyles has developed to become a gem that gets flaunted as a token of superiority in dialogues and lyrics that we listen to today. Within the slow stitches of the speeches that I had listened to from my childhood in music, I have never felt so unsure about the purpose of music like I do in this day and age. What is the dream of music? What does it aim to impart to the world?
I might be a bit of an old school leftie when it comes to this subject but even some level-headed realists like myself share the same sentiments. In this day and age when there is a wide diaspora of social ills that can be remedied through music, it is quite displeasing to listen to the lyrical content that celebrates subject matters that embarrasses one to even listen in the presence of parents.

On the real, young Artists through their music should serve as the only transmitters of local traditional culture that should be transcended to the next generation. Through sad communal evils facing Lesotho, our youths’ thoughts and feelings of fear and epochs in equilibrium should give birth to a possible ideal of perfection not some western state of mind.

Famo and Hip hop music are increasingly becoming notorious for fuelling ‘beef’ amongst its stalwarts which promotes incitement and ‘artistic factionalism.’ But art is a refuge of relaxation and a peace propagating tool. Though the sound has evolved, the content has also lost consciousness too. The metaphorical rise and fall of Artistic Empires has evolved from the primordial soup of niche, barely-comprehensive monochrome, text-and symbol based smart technology to a perilous venture easily foiled by a step in the wrong direction.

Speaking to one Hip hop Artist who happened to have participated in the Maseru leg of the Vodacom Superstar competition, I gathered a lot about his disappointment to the craft of hip hop which he loves very much. He complained a lot about how young, inexperienced so-called hip hopers dent the image of their craft which serves as a disincentive to acknowledgment of hip hop by Judges in competitions like the latter.

The elimination of the household names like Skebza D, Juvenile, Black Magic etc in the top 20 is prove enough that the youth representation in the competition has suffered a major setback. But I’ve got my homie Stlofa in the running and I hope he brings the coveted crown home where it belongs; to the long-time ‘hasslers’ who have been pushing hard without recognition, well, monetary that is.



John Senekane Ralebitso is a Business Consultant, Network Specialist and Professional Speaker.



Contacts: 58081656 

Friday, May 23, 2014

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Meet Konwledge


Mpoba *Knowledge* Monyeke, is a poet, scholar, teacher, Chemical Engineering student (UJ), and co-founding member of Maseru based Poetry clique, (Poets Alive Crew (2008). He has been writing Poetry since 2006, and has been part of UJ based Poetry and Creative Writing Society (Afro-Alphabets) since 2010 to present, as part of his extra-curriculum to his Chem. Eng. Program, he also studied performance poetry from 2010 to 2013 at University of Johannesburg.  He currently is being trained as a Chemical/Process Engineer at Loti Brick (Pty) Ltd.

Performances

1. Grahams Town National Arts Festival- Outreach Program (2010)
2. Poetry Africa Grand finale opening (open mic) (2010)
3. UJ Izimbongi Poetry Fest. (2011/2012)
4. Likwid Tongue Benefit Shows (2010/2011/2012)
5. Word’NSound Open Mic Shows (2011/2012)
6. UJ Foreword shows (2010/2011/2012)
7. Poetry Farm Workshop 2013
8. 5 MINUTES to Friday Times Café 2009

9. UJ Afro Alphabets Shows 2010/2011/2012

10. Mxolisi and Tumi’s wedding (JHB) 2011
11. Mimi’s 21st Birthday (JHB) 2011
12. Dominion Family Church Youth Nights (JHB) 2011/12

Radio Appearances

1. Ultimate fm 99.8 :( Miss P unplugged show) – (2008/2009/2010)
2. TK fm 97.6: Afternoon drive show – (2011/12)
3. CR fm 103.3: Afternoon drive show)-(2011/12)
4.TransAfrica Radio.net – (2012)

Publications

1. Weekly Wail News Paper (now defunct) 2008-2010
2. Scribbled Poetry.com 2012
3. www.poetryfarm.wordpress.com  2009/2012
4. Poets Alive Crew blog 2010/13


Copyright 2014



Thursday, March 8, 2012

Uprooted Rose

Breaking fabrics of our relationship
Showed rusty glitz
Like dusty aging plastic tits
The gleams of my love light died
Like fading hope of repudiated seeds

So I saw we were just two souls
Cocooned in secrecy of one fleshly room
Dancing out of sync with the rhythm of one heart
Just two spirits intertwined repeatedly
In raging wars with each other

Then I realized without the use of
Rotating swords, gazing guns
And swinging knives
We had to break-up…….

©Mpoba knowledge Monyeke
2011

MASERU 101

These streets echo their broken silences
To the ears of bleeding hills and crying mountain peaks
These streets bear footprints of unsung heroes
These streets give birth to children who raise themselves
By themselves for themselves only to be
Named street kids…

These streets breathe greed and sink it into
The lungs of these children
Even birds don’t sing here
They might get shot while chanting
Their freedom melodies…

These concrete floors dance to silent music
Of daunted spirits buried in these streets
At least Jozi streets feed the pigeons
But Maseru streets are full of lifeless concrete blocks….

©2012_monyeke_ mpoba_knowledge

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

The value and state of poetry -eye opener

WHY DO WE WRITE?
As a creative writing student (extra-mural studies) at the University of Johannesburg, I have learnt that writing (poetry) without sincerity and honesty is useless and not worth listening to. Without sounding too political, I would like to quote one of the most prolific writers of all times Langston Hughes-" the pre-requisite for writing is having something to say”. With this being said, one would wonder what's the point  I am trying to make here.Ok, whenever a poet (writer) holds his pen to inject the paper with his thoughts, feelings or emotions with respect to any  issue, what matters most to me, is honesty behind the writing. Being a poet myself, I have talked to numerous art-practitioners in Maseru and Jozi, in pursuit of knowing what makes them distinct from the "mass of poets in the box”. The most common answer- ability to be oneself in one's writing. Does that ring a bell? You may be wondering what I mean by "the mass of poets in the box". WELL. Have you ever heard some poets sounding the same or muffling up their voices tying to be someone else?
From my point of view majority of people calling  themselves poets are puppets of entertainment, just merely role playing and good-show-makers. One of the Mountain Kingdom lyrical giants and rap activists- CORE-WRECKAH once wrote on those Maseru hip-hop needs the gatekeepers- I also believe that. Innocuously speaking, poetry is the most open art form but sadly gets tracked in a mud. The state of poetry in Maseru is slowly growing in terms of support, however I still wonder if our own poetry will one day be read and taught at school! Frankly, I too like my fellow brother and poet Lyrical Bacteria don't see the use of having 600 poets who recite, write and sound the same. If we continue being replicas of others, in no time our beautiful art (poetry) will reach the verge of collapse. Da Principal (one of the most established poets in Lesotho) of POETS ALIVE CREW defines poetry as blending of emotion with thought. Bearing this in mind, then how does a poet become him/herself while replicating the other? Like verbal st said "our artists have their minds inculcated in the survival of the fittest ideology"- hence the copycat behavioural attributes. This has been inspired by da principal's ten instalments of poetry through the lenses of a microscope...just think ABOUT IT. TO BE CONTINUED!!!
© Mpoba monyeke
Posted by POETS ALIVE CREW at 3:44 AM 0 comments 

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

childmolestation is wrong all the time everyday...zero tolerance

8 .Emotionally Cold At Thirteen 
The lick of his torture tongue aggravates pain
Like she has her lungs immersed in blood,
She coughs hurts, exhales agony through her eyes.

Winter tries so hard to erect barriers of defense
But only with liquid self-confidence,
Then step-grandfather has already jumped the boarders
And invaded the territory of this virgin heart, 
His verbal barbed wire strips flesh
From her self-esteem and breaks her back-bone
Leaving blood oozing from the wounds within
 
Every night hell breaks loose with 'the supreme
Demon' caressing her thighs and breasts,
Reading through 'her book' that she once promised
Herself to keep it closed until she reaches twenty one.
Her interior landscapes polluted by fear toxins
She inhales from the monster figure's atmosphere,
She keeps her mouth absolutely shut.
She has no one to cry to because to
Father’s family she is a rejected seed,
And her father died when she was conceived
While her mother passed on during her child birth.
"I guess life is mean, she said".

Every day she is dressed in tears with
Nile eroding her facial make up,
Hiding her hurts and fears with a
Fake fragile smile, but analyzing the
Situation through her eyes, even a blind man
Could see that deep down she is a lost soul
Abhorrence woven into every fabric of her thoughts,
She is disgusted by every glimpse of him,
She hates his hands invading her private faculties!



The lick of his torture tongue aggravates pain
Like she has her lungs immersed in blood,
She exudes hurts, and exhales agony through her eyes

Being tongue-tied and introvert, silence murders
Winter’s self-worth, crushes it into fine fragments,
She is emotionally cold, and is so the name.
She writes sad episodes of her life, trying to find a healing
For the misery the future is about to un-hold,
As in destiny the heavens are about to unfold.

Survival is tougher than that of the seeds
That fell on concrete streets.
She decides to be bold, and takes the matter to the police,
Guess what she gets from the police officer!
A sense of relief like one would think, not exactly that
But the heart-rending situation is exacerbated,
Like step-grand dad, he too forces himself
On her as to 'harden the evidence'
Indeed she was born from the sorry side
She thinks of choosing the grave over life
By committing suicide as the hand that once
Protected and nurtured her is the hand that finally
Molested her

On second thoughts, she makes a phone
Call to the toll free number 0800 05 5555
Lays and presses charges of abuse and rape,
Being the person she is talking to
I totally decide to find her psychiatric treatment,
Lock the monsters up, offer them prison cells
As their life time homes 'cause that's where they belong.
It's upon ordinary people like you and I to eradicate
These monsters, pedophiles and child molesters from
Our social scene….
 
AUTHOR: KNOWLEDGE

© Mpoba Monyeke
2009/2010
 male poets project 2010 the courtesy of weeklymail newspaper in LESOTHO...