Poet, Mac Manaka, sharing a light moment with friends at the show

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Urban Voices awaken the soul Poetry lovers left the Bassline with a warm feeling after the sixth annual Urban Voices International Festival, which will also be performed in Cape Town and Durban. August 2, 2006 By Thabang Mokoka A STORM of words erupted as local and international poets graced the Bassline stage in Newtown at the sixth annual Urban Voices International Festival. Organised by the Southern African Arts Exchange, the programme started its first leg in Johannesburg on Saturday 29 July before jetting off to the coastal cities of Durban and Cape Town. Describing the atmosphere of the event, co-ordinator for the Southern African Arts Exchange, Zee Ncube, said, "It was a very successful night considering the few resources we have. The Bassline was pretty full." Many poetry lovers sat on the floor of the 1200-capacity room, while others peered over each other's heads to get a glimpse of the star line-up that included Flo, Afurakan, Suheir Hammad and Saul Williams amongst others. First to grace the stage was Afurakan who recited a poem called Black Rock. The poem compares the mining and music industries, exploring how much hard work is put in by the artist, who remains poor while others benefit. A performance worth particular mention was a poem dedicated to her mom by Palestinian-born Suheir Hammad, whose words were harmonised by the sounds of the harmonica of South African slam poet, Flo. Hammad also performed poems reflecting the daily realities of the US and her Palestinian heritage. Saul Williams, who was the last act on stage, stole the crowd's heart with animated extracts from his book, The Dead Emcees Scrolls. Nodding his head non-stop while reciting NGH WHT, a 33-piece masterpiece, Williams had the crowd in the palm of his hands, which he moved non-stop as if he were using turntables to create the rhythm. The performance was staged on Monday 31 July at the Bat Centre, Durban, and will be re-enacted on Tuesday 1 August at the Baxter Theatre in Rondebosch, Cape Town. Bookings: Contact Cumputicket on 011 340 8000 or visit Computicket website. Permission to use web site material Publishers may use material from this site free of charge, as long as: Credit is given to either the "City of Johannesburg website (www.joburg.org.za)" or to "Johannesburg News Agency (www.joburg.org.za)"; If the article is used online, a link is provided to the original article on this website; The name of the article's author is acknowledged; The webmaster is informed of how and where the material is used (fill in this brief online form). Johannesburg News Agency is operated by BIG Media at 011-484-1400 Print this Page E-mail this article to a friend Help using Joburg.org.za