56th Slam Africa: Event review

Sunday afternoon, June 14th. The sun is out, the plants are somewhat more greener than they were yesterday. There is a certain beauty to the day, an inexplicable vibrancy. In the AAYMCA compound on State House Crescent, however, things are cool, there is a trickling of guests at around 2.30am but nothing remarkable, well, until you open the door to Pawa254’s Mageuzi theater. Slam Africa is on, the first battle round is underway and the room is almost packed.

Occasionally, hands are raised in the air, fingers are snapped then the audience put their hands down. This is the poetry clap, it is only given when a punchline worth appreciation is uttered, when a point is so well delivered the only reaction you are capable of is marvel.

There was plenty of finger snapping at the 56th edition of Slam Africa.Now, just in case you are wondering, slam poetry is essentially a competition among poets. A number of poets take the stage, one after the other, each doing one piece. After that the panel of judges grade the poets and the bottom 2/3 are eliminated and so on until only three poets were left.

While the judges are tallying their votes, artists: singers, poets (not registered in the competition) take to the stage to entertain the audience. Among the artists that entertained was Laura with her poem, ‘Letter To My ex’ whose opening line, ‘Someone tell Michael that my calls aren’t for booty’ sparked conversation and disrupted the audience’s thoughts. The witty lyricist Virusi Mbaya, Dorphan of Dorphanage, Jade The Kenyan Dream, were just some of the acts that entertained us. While Dorphan was awarded Kshs 5,000 for having the most GBV conscious poem (courtesy of event sponsors SEMA App) it is Pascal Tokodi that stole the audience’s love with his impressions followed by singing of Poem No. 13 off of Abigail Arunga’s poetry anthology, Akello. Pascal will be releasing his debut single titled ‘Usiniache’ later this week.

Nine poets stood before the judging panel of five and attempted to wow the crowd. The dreadlocked Nita Thuo and soft spoken Elizabeth were dropped after the first round; Cilabeez, Griffins, CEO and Willie Oeba made it to the second round but it is Trabolee, Keith and Becky that made it to final (round three) that was packed with emotion. Seriously, it’s like in the interval between round two and three, when slam poetry judge and Veteran poet Wanjiku Mwaura asked the contestants to bring ‘IT’ this trio thought to themselves, ‘This IT that Wanjiku is asking us to bring must be emotions.’ So feelings were caught and feelings were dispersed on stage. The audience seemed to love it, so much so that when Mufasapoet, one of the judges took to the stage and spoke of his future wife, ladies in the room took to twitter and to declare that they all wanted poets for husbands.

While Becky in her gentle voice stole our hearts and Trabolee appealed to every lover of great lyrics and all hiphop heads that were present, it is Keith the Cartoonist that took the 56th Slam Africa title. Keith is 21 year old journalism student that has been on the poetry scene, performing actively since July 2014. He is most recognised for his love for cartoons and his cartoon network references in his poetry. However, having slammed in April and lost, emerging at position 4, Keith has greatly worked on diversifying his content as was seen in his round two that was titled ‘Dear God’ that was tackling religion through a prayer.

“Well I am really passionate about poetry, I started performing 335 days ago and ever since I have never stopped performing. Since my last time slamming as cartoonist,I’ve grown in terms of writing and performing and thus slamming again I’d want to grow more, inspire someone just like Wordbenda, Mutuma ‘Dorphan’ Dennis, Brigeddia Poet and Mufasa Poet does whenever they hold a mic or even speak.” says the Cartoonist, AKA Keith Kimutai, the 56th Slam King. Keith is also an organizer of Cake Art Affair, an art extravaganza that fuses foodwith photography, music and spoken word performances.

Slam Africa is organised by Cre8ve Spillz and takes place every couple of months at Pawa254. The 56th edition of Slam Africa was sponsored by Infinix Kenya, SEMA App and Mdundo Music (who are now offering to avail Kenya poetry for download, on their site.)

Photos courtesy of Paul Kinuthia, alias @Pkinuts