Art Exhibition: Liz Orchardson & Margaret Matanda, Paa ya Paa 31st July

Painting with a Mouse: Computer Art & Poems Book Launch by Liz Orchardson

Creating with Clay & Brush: Ceramics & Paintings by Margaret Matanda

Chief  Guest: Prof. Olive Mugenda, The Vice-Chancellor- Kenyatta University

Date: Saturday 31st July, 2010

Official Opening: 2pm – 6pm

Venue: Paa ya Paa Art Gallery Ridgways, Off Kiambu Road

Duration: 31st July – 15th Aug 9am – 6pm Daily

Items for Sale: Paintings & Books

Artist contacts: Liz Orchardson (0722 769902) & Margaret (0722 225440)

Mines & Mind Fields gets reviewed in the Lifestyle, Sunday Nation 25th July

As I was lazing in the house yesterday, Sunday 25th, I received a call from a fellow poet and blogger informing me that he was reading a review of my book in the day’s newspaper. That took my by surprise as I was not aware that anyone was doing a review of the book.

I quickly dashed to the shop and got myself a copy of the paper and hurriedly perused through it for the article.
And there it was in the lifestyle section, ‘Poetry that embraces nation’s popular culture‘ by Joseph Ngunjiri who also runs the blog, Kenyanbooks/ Maisha yetu.

Its interesting how you can do something on an experimental basis only for it to become something bigger than you expected. Thats how I feel about the book and most of the poems which have varying styles, themes and in some cases, even taking on other personalities. I like the way that Ngunjiri was able to capture the main theme in the poetry collection which is ideally on Kenya’s current culture, Urban Blues as I referred to it. If you missed the read, find a copy of it from the Nation’s Website.

Simon Muthiora, a poet and blogger who runs, Two Hours Before has also reviewed the book.

I hope you will get a chance to come and listen to some of the poems in the book in the two events that I will be performing at over the weekend (here and here) Signed copies of the book will be available for sale.

Rhythm & Spoken Featuring, Singer Viola Karuri & Poet Njeri Wangari, 30th July

Event: Rhythm & Spoken

Date & Time : July 30 at 9:00pm – July 31 at 2:00am

Location:  Dass- Ethiopian Restaurant

                 Woodvale Grove, Westlands, Nairobi, Kenya

A Poetry and Music open mic night, featuring Singer Viola Karuri and Poet Njeri Wangari author of Mines and Mind fields: My Spoken Words(Yup, thats me)

Doors open at 9pm and Performances start from 9:30pm-11:00pm

Nusoul groove afterparty with DJ Eduardo

Entry:Sh200

For performance slot bookings/dinner reservations/info call us on: 0728.293.632
(Signed copies of my book will be available for purchase)

Exhibition: Moses Nyawanda at Le Rustique 24 July-7 sept

Art Nairobi and Le Rustique are happy to show Moses Nyawanda ‘s first solo exhibition in Nairobi for more than 7 years. Born in Bondo ,Nyanza district, Moses stopped painting for more than 7 years and begun again in 2009. Most of his paintings are done on canvas and his subjects are the people of Kenya

“I paint those I interact with and currently I am interested in painting political subject since they portray the Kenyan fast growing culture greed”.

Most of his male characters depict the vile political subjects ( he gives them animal faces to avoid a too obvious confrontational approach to his subject ) while his women and children depict the warm social subjects, both being contemporary.

Benjamin Zephaniah A Highlight at the Storymoja Hay Festival 2010

Poet, novelist and playwright Benjamin Zephaniah will be the highlight at this year’s Storymoja Hay Festival 2010. Born in 15 April 1958, is a British Jamaican Rastafarian writer and dub poet. He is a well-known figure in contemporary English literature, and was included in The Times list of Britain’s top 50 post-war writers in 2008.

Zephaniah has said that his mission is to fight the dead image of poetry in academia, and to “take it everywhere” to people who do not read books”. This ties in very well with the Story Moja, a publishing company that seeks to change the notion that reading is boring by nurturing a reading culture.

Zephaniah has written 15 Poetry books, 5 Novels, 2 plays and produced 6 albums

Last year saw the inauguration of the first Storymoja Hay Festival with the highlight being the celebrated Nigerian writer, Wole Soyinka. Unfortunately, he could not make it but it(the festival) did bring together many writers from Africa and beyond in a 3 day book festivity. (See my recap  here and here)

Storymoja Hay Festival Poetry Competition

Storymoja and International PEN Kenya Chapter invite you to submit poems for the Storymoja Hay Festival Poetry Competition.

They welcome bold, innovative poems that are rooted in local contexts and idioms, attentive to the nuances and textures of everyday life. Poems that help us see and imagine Kenya in its complex variety.

The winning entry will receive a prize of Kshs 20,000, 2nd and 3rd places will receive Kshs 10,000 and Kshs 5,000 respectively.Winners will have the opportunity to perform during the Hay Festival, October 1-3, 2010. Winning entries will also be published in the Nairobi Star.

Submit a maximum of two poems to Haypoetry2010@storymojaafrica.co.ke. The subject line of the email should be “Hay Poetry Submission.”

Submit poems as attachments using either Microsoft Word (doc) or Rich Text File (rtf) formats. On a separate cover page, please include your contact information, including your name, email address, and phone number. Do not put any of this information on the pages containing poetry.

Submissions close at midnight on Monday August 30, 2010.

They will not be able to respond to individual queries.

SLAM AFRICA is back, July 23rd 2010, Dass Restaurant

Slam Africa is on again!!!
Featuring all new Spoken Word artists!!!
As well as Point Blank (the master of ceremony)!!!
Come through and enjoy another exciting
Spoken Word

SLAM Poetry Competition!
Nuff luv

Entrance: Ksh.300 

Day: Friday 23rd July

Time: 7:30pm – 11:00pm

Location: Dass Ethiopian Restaurant,

Woodvale Grove, Westlands.

"Lottie Da, Poet I Am" by Lottie Porch at Paa ya Paa, 1st August

Lottie E. Porch is an award winning actor, writer, educator, director and producer for stage and screen. For over thirty years Ms. Porch has shared her talents in the realms of performing arts, written word, and cultural education. Whether she is acting on stage, publishing written works, teaching students in an African village, or singing a late night set at a jazz club – Lottie Porch brings her creativity to all apects of her life and work.

On 1st August, a Sunday afternoon, Lottie will be performing poetry and music off her debut CD of Music and Spoken Word, ‘Lottie Da, Poet I Am’ at the Paa ya Paa Art Gallery in Ridgeways Kiambu.

The event  will enable Kenyan poetry lovers to sample some Spoken Word from this amazingly multi talented lady. It will also be an opportunity for Lottie to hear what Kenya has to offer in Poetry and Spoken Word.

At this point, I would like to make a call to poets who would be interested in performing during this event. Email me, njeriwangari(at)kenyanpoet(dot)com and I will give you more details on the day’s program.

Come experience some serenity from the words and the surroundings from the pioneers of art in Kenya, Phillda and Elimo Njau.

How Come? Yossour N’Dour, Canibus & Wycliffe Jean

Every once in a while amidst all the crunk and bubblegum music even from artists who started out real and then gave in to commercialization somewhere, comes a song that makes you pause and listen.

Thats how come, this track is getting the Friday Feature.

Yossour N’Dour has proved time and again  that he is indeed one of Africa’s great musicians and there is no other Afro artist that can match his diversity, Angelique is however getting close. The guy has done many collaborations with artists of a different genre than his and always managed to make the songs hits. An example is 7 Seconds with Neneh Cherry.

Wycliffe is one person who has been going through lots of phases in his musical career. Sometimes I love him, sometimes I hate him. He has the potential to make very good music as is evident in this video but for sometime he has been caught up in the commercial of music and made some horrible $%$^.

How come is a song that is a collaboration of 2 hip hop artists, Wycliffe Jean, Canibus his prodigy and an African Music artist, Yossour N’dour.

The sound is amazing. may it usher you into the weekend.

Conference: Broadcast & Film Africa 28th -29th July 2010 in Nairobi

Nigeria’s leading film producers will be showcasing their latest productions at this year’s Broadcast & Film Africa Conference, to be held in Nairobi over 28-29 July.

AITEC Africa, the event organiser, has announced an exciting programme, including a Nollywood Pavilion in the exhibition running alongside the conference. Over 20 Nollywood film-makers will participate in the conference, to promote their products to broadcasters and distributors that will be attending the event from throughout Africa. Nigerian films have become increasingly popular among East African TV viewers.

The conference will include a session entitled “After Nollywood, what next? – African film distribution across the continent”. Speakers on this topic include Imruh Bakari, Savannah Films, Tanzania; Lola Sanusi, Director of Operations, Continental TV; Trushna Buddhev Patel, GM Africa, Pan-African Film Distributors; Wanuri Kahiu, Film-maker; Professor Emevwo Biakolo, Dean, School of Media & Communications, Pan-African University, Nigeria; Mike Dearham, Head M-Net Library Acquisition and Sales

Over 60 African and international broadcast and film leaders will make presentations on a wide range of broadcast and film industry topics in the two day conference, sharing knowledge and experience with industry managers and professionals from throughout the continent.

For full details of the conference email info(at)aitecafrica.com or log on to http://www.aitecafrica.com