Monday, July 13, 2009

Jamala in a mosaic of poetry,dance,music and food




The UTRS, Unity for Tertiary Refugee Students held a cultural event on Saturday 11th July from 6 pm to 11:00 pm at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), Bellville, Cape Town, in the framework of an international conference on “Transnational Capitalism, Identity and Immigration”. Refugee and asylum seeker students from tertiary and secondary institutions presented the culture of their home countries through poetry, music and visual arts.
What a spectacular evening of dance, poetry, music s and food!
As the event coordinator, I was overwhelmed by joy by a surprising spectacular performance of refugee students. From the smooth spiritual Rwandan dance, the talking Burundian Tam-Tam, the Ethiopian and Eritrean rocking dance to the enchanting Congolese belly dance and the Ugandan hip and thigh waving moves, the night swung to the rhythm of these bewitching body moves.
Add to it the striking poetry performance of Clement (Rwanda) Tutu Joseph (DRC) and my humble performance, (poems extracted from my first collection: “Tam-Tam sings” and some new poems), and the reading of Fred (Uganda, reading of the book” We came for Mandela”) and the blessing singing of Sarah (DRC) and Angelique (Burundi) made the night enjoyable. Above all, the traditional food from different African countries made the whole event spectacular.
I am still amazed and dazzled by the cultural event.

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