How right you are, Carsten. An ailing president who wont let go...unrest in Jos... last week we doctors were on strike for a couple of days because some budgetary provisions have not been effected...it all makes you numb.
Wonderful comments, all. Good to keep it real - we need to be in touch with not just the headlines on CNN but the things going on in our backyards as well.
True,
thanks Niran. If only it could bring freedom home faster.. Carsten is the one who thought it up. I would like it to be super lively! so more oil to your elbows? do you say that? Thanks for sparing a moment!
philO
Philo Ikonya is an ardent Kenyan poet, author, and Human Rights Activist. She was finalist at our Sawubona Poems Contest and has enriched it with lively and moving artworks. This Group discusses peaceful ways to freedom.
thanks Niran. If only it could bring freedom home faster.. Carsten is the one who thought it up. I would like it to be super lively! so more oil to your elbows? do you say that? Thanks for sparing a moment!
More oil to our elbows needed. More solidarity. We lost two activists to a hail of bullets in a manner that is supposed to send fear and panic to all. You might find it somewhere. And there is an effort to condemn human rights activists as supporters of militias.. welll...
best,
Philo
At 2:13pm on February 26, 2009, philo ikonya said…
So happy about your solidarity in Nigeria.. please thank them.. it is amazing to see how people crossed borders to save me from the brutal attack. I am free now.. as i was even as they arrested me. It is my message they cannot stand.. too bad for them.. it persists in my happy poems and thoughts...
Philo
At 2:08pm on February 26, 2009, philo ikonya said…
Oh Niran!
I already have your photo on my site.. sorry about that.. it is Dieter's I was aiming to get. Don't worry am fully recovered... it is not amnesia...
best,
Philo
At 2:06pm on February 26, 2009, philo ikonya said…
Dear Niran,
Firstly, thanks so much for your kind messages.. and secondly, for spotting me in a daily and recognizing me and thirdly for having the presence of mind to let our friends know. I can imagine that you felt very bad and at that time you were making it easier for me to feel better. It has been a rough week that ended up looking like a year.. but now I am back to my usual energies. All for the love of freedom and for pointing out that corruption is death since many are dying as a result of it... so thanks so much and may you be richly blessed with equal and more support in whatever way you need it!!
I have to learn to do the inviting friends things since it asks for emaill.. i tried and got a little perplexed so I will do it another time. If you are faster at it, just click it and I will sign in...
that is very sad news you are telling - let us all support her as good as we can.
I've almost completed a song on her poem "Hope Springs and Flows" and now will rush to launch it here as fast as I can. Hope it will reach her one way or another - to give her some of the hope she is trying to spread to many others.
Do you have official press evidence that can be cited?
Now that is a clever view on a phenomenon that is seldom described. It reminds me on the final part of the "Apokalypse Now" movie, where slaughter, pain and war crimes shall be given sense by an absurd view of the world, of mankind.
What makes "normal" people, that friendly neighbour from over there, this scientist, that teacher, this doctor - to become a war criminal - a Hate Artist? Did you once continue that plot / idea?
By the way: I believe despite all freedom of press it would not be possible to write these kind of poems in Germany - you know there are certain parts of the audience that might WANT to misunderstand it... But that is part of our history. I'm glad it is possible somewhere else in the world.
By the way: Did you notice Lucky Thobela has build a great athmo music carpet for your poem? It's on his page player - I think this gives a new kind of authority to your voice!
I hope life is good, and little Petan and his mother are happy.
The core team has asked me - since we already did share some thoughts and they are really busy promoting/expanding the project - to enhance our contact once more.
They asked me if I could make an interview with you, so they get some additional information -. which will be a great pleasure for me. They would like to make a feature about you as the contest winner, and want to add some background about the man behind the poem.
But how to make an interview over those miles in between?
If that is ok for you, I suggest you pick one of the following alternatives how we make it real:
1) Life recording: If it was feasible for you (which is hard to tell from afar), best would be a recording of our voices talking - So if you have e.g a cyber at hand with an acceptable internet speed and a webcam or mic, we could make a Skype session and I would record the talk. This way, we could also take additional recordings of you reading poems.
2) Offline recording: I would send you the questions as mp3 and / or text, and you record the answers and send me the result for cutting.
3) Online chat: Do it by typing into a chat client, so the interview can develop dynamically like 1)
4) Offline mail exchange: I'll send a text with questions, and you fill the gaps.
I'm sorry I'm not a pro in doing those things, but I hope we can make it a story you like, and the audience will be happy to get to know you!
What's your choice?
:-) Carsten (-:
P.S.: Do you have a large photograph of yourself that is suitable for "presenting the artist"?
I guess he might be able to do some beautiful noises, but it is likely it might be rather difficult to integrate them into a structured song project :-)
Enjoy that age of Niran - time passes so fast, they grow up soon, and as for myself I wish I had more time to watch my children discovering this world in each phase.
By the way: It's such a pity those festival guys didn't manage to get you to the Poetry Slam. Would have been great to have somebody on stage to represent our poems project.
However - I'm hoping we will have other opportunities to carry the message to a broader audience.
Hi Carsten, bin heute seit langem mal wieder auf Sawubona gewesen. Hast du die Geschichte mit den Digital Musicians schon gesehen oder getestet? Wie geht es so, was macht die Musik?
Gruß Conny
Mar 26, 2011
Amy Namusende updated their profile photoMar 24, 2011
by Norman DarwenThe first four tracks encapsulate Arkansas-born Billy Jones. ...a wicked, raw, live version of Albert King's 'Personal Manager', 'my Hometown', a bleak, stark portrayal of the ghetto set to a busy but laid-back and bluesy musical commentary that epitomizes what some have defined as his "gangsta bluez" (...though it is perhaps even better on 'Ain't Good Lookin'), the rocking, rollicking, down-home, and subtly Howling Wolf inflected 'Blues Comes Callin'' and the bluesy/ reggae…See More
Sorry have been out so long....just a lot has happened in my life and re adjusting is taking some time.......but as you see I have some of the music I have done here at home posted now....hope to get to spend more time here....everyone take care..