On the road ... againVuyani Dance Theatre02/07/2006 07:00:07 
Antjie Krog presents a brief taste of what to expect Those who attended the reading by Yvette Christiansė in Cape Town some years ago will never forget it. Yvette Christiansė and the lament of slaves Those who attended the reading by Yvette Christiansė in Cape Town some years ago will never forget it. "She is a magnetic reader of her own work, with a full, intense speaking voice to match the range of her written work," says poet Ingrid de Kok who considers Christiansė`s first volume, "Castaway", a tour de force. "She is a poet of disciplined and sinewy power, and her first volume broke new ground, transforming little known archival material about colonialism and slavery into a complex but accessible poetic meditation on the way history impacts on individual lives and relationships. She has the rare capacity of being able to grasp large scale historical processes from within." The very first lines of her poetry volume, "Castaway" tells it like it is: My grandmother`s island is / wrapped in its own ocean and a fog / that whispers and sings to itself . In memoriam Marguerite Delphine Ritch Blandford b 1898? St Helena - d. 1974 Sydney. Yvette Christiansė will read on the River Deck during session one and in the amphitheatre during session 2 on Friday 3rd February and Saturday 4th February at 19h30. Tom Lanoye - "Butcherson with spectacles" Tom Lanoye is known as an explosion of creativity. Enthralled Dutch and German audiences took special leave to attend his twelve hour long play "Ten Oorlog" based on his adaptation in verse of Shakespeare`s Wars of the Roses cycle. While this was happening, he was filing satirical columns ("Sock it to them, Tom!" cried Vrij Nederland), completing his Monster novel trilogy and causing major controversy as Antwerp`s City Poet for his attack on corruption and intolerance of other religions and gays in Belgium. But this `Butcherson with spectacles` (opticians are falling over their feet to design frames for him) is also a poet and magnificent performer. Two verses from his poem `Poker` translated by Andries Wessels: There is no question of any guilt. And even less of forgetting. That there were in the land of the prim and the castrated in this time of hostility and ignorance, two lives that crossed, with fireworks of futile words, and the solace of bodies in tumult. Tom Lanoye will read in the amphitheatre during session one and on the River Deck in session two on Friday 3rd February and Saturday 4th February at 19h30. Lebohang Mashile en Toast Coetzer In the face of a reluctant and sometimes stagnant poetry publishing culture the young generation had forged a future of its own. They no longer agonize over sent manuscripts, but go out there and `do` their work where the audiences are. You often hear this generation on CD long before you find them in bookshops. Lebohang Mashile, born and raised in the United States by exiled parents, established Feelah Sistas after she returned to South Africa and now performs her work right across the country. Toast Coetzer, born and raised in the Eastern Cape, formed a band The Buckfever Underground to which he performs his work. Poetry from every pore Poetry will literally pour out of every pore at the Spier Poetry Festival. You will be able to buy tiny tiny books with poetry, handmade by women in Kayelitsha. You will be able to fold the programme into a `choose a number` form and ask your beloved to choose a poet - upon which a special poetic line could be read. And if you sit back in the amphitheatre, soft lines of poetry will drift up into your ear as part of the sound installation by James Webb. Come get a poem for Valentine`s Day Bring your loved one to listen to the last session of the festival on the River Deck. Come and lie down on the cattle hides, pillows and ottomans and be inspired by the whole cast of poets reading their own special love poem for the evening. A First for an Imbongi Irritated by the fact that Imbongi is always treated as some kind of quaint item on a programme whom nobody needs to understand? At the Spier Poetry Festival the formidable Imbongi, linked to the clan of Nkosi Pathekile Holomisa, will be directly translated as he performs his welcoming praise song. But there is more: Imbongi Mngomeni will perform together with one of the young trainees he brought with him all the way from Umtata. About the Spier Arts Trust The Spier Arts Trust is a non-profit, financially independent cultural organisation. It was established ten years ago in 1996 to administer funds raised from the corporate, private and government sectors to present cultural events. Its objectives include developing excellence and innovation in the arts, showcasing, promoting and developing emerging South African talent and building new audiences. Ends Picture: No Submitted by Gilly Hemphill PR Company: Famous Idea Trading CC Telephone Number: 021 886 4900 Cellphone Number: 082 820 8584 Client`s name: Spier Arts Trust Website: http://www.spierarts.org.za |
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