A Nigerian Female Poet Finds Her Voice In Slam Poetry
Spoken Poetry is gradually becoming a good means of unveiling the malodramain our community besides music. According to an Al Jazeera report which is the source of this information. At the War Of Words slam poetry competition in Lagos, Oyinkansola riffs about corruption and the unequal distribution of the 'national cake' [Caelainn Hogan/Al Jazeera]Lagos, Nigeria - Six feet tall in red high heels, 13-year-old slam poet Oyinkansola towers over many of her fellow contestants at the Ayo Bankole Centre, a humid performance space in a residential area of Lagos. In a green trouser suit she made herself, printed with vivid white spirals, she stands upright. When it's time to take to the stage, she flings the shoes aside, preferring to perform barefooted. "The national cake, not for a few to have too much and many nothing at all to have," she riffs about corruption and inequality in her country, lifting one hand high and letting the other fall low. "The national cake should not be shared in an inappropriate ratio of 99.9 to 0.1." She used good poetic devices and powerful figures of speech in her arsenal to paint the typical picture of the economy of Nigeria in its masking faces of injustice and corrupt activities. Oyinkansola Adesewa Oyeyiola-Ourias, who goes simply by Oyinkansola when she performs, has been writing poetry since she was five. She is part of the vibrant Lagos slam poetry scene - spoken word poetry performed in competition against another artist. Slam and spoken word poetry is becoming an important platform for young Nigerian women to speak their mind. Since they began in 2013, young women have dominated the War of Words competitions, set up by Lagos-based spoken word organisation Word Up and i2X Media. Titi Mabogunje, a young female poet who says performing spoken word made her "bolder", won the first War of Words competition and now runs poetry workshops for teenagers in Lagos. Last year, a 14-year-old girl called Ibukun Ajagbe was crowned winner of the slam, to a standing ovation from the crowd. "Poetry is a form to voice all and speak the mind," says Oyinkansola, who is encouraged by the number of women involved in the spoken word scene. "We use poetry to transform lives, to pass messages." 'Our country is not meant to be like this' Nigerian poets Wole Soyinka and John Pepper Clark inspire Oyinkansola [Caelainn Hogan/Al Jazeera] The ambitious young artist lives in a house with a gated driveway in a far-flung neighbourhood of Lagos, near a petrol station where the pumps often dry up due to fuel shortages. In the living room, she shows off her work: paintings she has made and her first book of poems, published when she was eight. She lays out colourful, patterned fabric that she recently wax dyed, some of which is with a local tailor who is making an outfit to her design. Nigerian poets Wole Soyinka and John Pepper Clark inspire her. The internet gives her a place to link with other poets and research ideas. On her phone, with its constant ping of new updates, she records videos of her performing poems, necessary to enter competitions. Through Facebook and Whatsapp, she keeps in contact with her mentors and a growing community of young artists. "I create time," she says when asked how she manages to pursue all her different interests. She lists her goals: to be a fashion designer, to have her own TV programme, to find success as a poet. In the run-up to Nigeria's last election, which mobilised young people across the country, she had half a mind to go into politics herself. "I was told to wait until I'm older," she says. "Our country is not meant to be like this, it's meant to be more developed. So I don't think they are ruling us well. We need to go to the internet to get education, study ourselves." Once she turns 18 she plans to seriously take up politics and possibly run as a candidate in local elections. "I'm not in power yet," she says. "But actually, we are in power, it started from us. We don't expect a miracle to just come down and happen, we have to do something about it. But I hope that this new president and government can do something better, most especially for the young people." Thanks for reading..
1 comments:
Its an interesting story.....nice one
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