A cultural celebration of the African continent’s multilingualism is on the cards as the Mandela Bay Theatre Complex returns with a new instalment of its Ho’ina Poetry Festival on Wednesday.
The poetry festival offers a lineup of multitalented performers from SA and the Ivory Coast.
May’s programme will honour Africa Month by celebrating the diversity of the continent in its multiple languages.
Festival curator Luxolo Ngqunge said all poetry performances would be accompanied by other arts disciplines such as music and drama in multiple African languages.
“Though this month’s event is still dominated by poetry, artists who are featured have other talents to offer.
“They can either play instruments, sing or perform any other forms of art such as theatre and dance.
“We have a diverse lineup that allows the celebration of diversity in language.
“In line with the theme for Africa Month, the performers will be performing in different languages.
“Some speak isiXhosa, some Sotho and some English,” Ngqunge said.
Taking to the stage to deliver multilingual performances will be Ivory Coast band Afrotronix, Gqeberha poet and singer Mandlovu, Kariega actor and poet Shafiq, and Maletswai poet Qamata.
“We have uMandlovu, who is Xhosa and will be doing a bit of music with the band [Afrotronix] and doing poetry.
“There’s Shafiq, who does monologues and is a theatre actor originally from Malawi who infuses his performances with jazz,” he said.
The Ho’ina Poetry Festival debuted with a Christmas special in December, offering residents and holidaymakers an eventful evening on Christmas Eve.
At the time, Ngqunge said he had carefully selected the lineup to give a lifeline to some of Gqeberha’s hidden talent.
The programme included shows in Gqeberha, East London and Mthatha, with Ngqunge running the Gqeberha show.
The cycle was concluded in March and the current cycle was launched on April 26.
The April launch featured Khanyile Mgqwayi, who performed a monologue and was accompanied by multi- instrumentalist Bongani KoraX Tulwana.
Ngqunge said the next instalment would be in June to celebrate Youth Month.
Ngqunge is an actor and former supporting cast member at PEU Communications Solutions for SABC1 drama series Skeem Saam.
He is also an independent events co-ordinator who has hosted numerous events in Gqeberha, Cape Town and Johannesburg over the past decade.
He hosted regular poetry events at Pata Pata Lifestyle in New Brighton, a platform for Gqeberha’s spoken word poets to showcase their talents.
Wednesday’s Ho’ina Poetry Festival starts at 6.30pm at the Mandela Bay Theatre Complex’s Barn Theatre.
Single tickets cost R50, or R200 for five tickets. They are available from the Mandela Bay Theatre Complex.
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