Lingua Franca to Celebrate SA Poetry in 'The Naked Word Festival'

The Lingua Franca Spoken Word Movement, one of Cape Town's premier poetry collectives, will present the Western Cape's first and only festival dedicated purely to spoken word. The Naked Word Festival, which will be presented at the Magnet Theatre in May, will serve as an affirmation, a declaration and an exploration of the future of a distinctly South African poetry.

Spoken word, a performance-based form of poetry, has increasingly come to define contemporary poetry worldwide, rapidly becoming a booming industry and a widespread culture across the U.S., Europe and here in South Africa. However, in an era characterised by information and globalisation, some fear for the lifeblood of unique, indigenous South African literature.

The Naked Word Festival will celebrate a new century of spoken word poets actively redefining South African literature, in both its oral and written forms, by highlighting young poets from different cities, backgrounds and cultures who are pushing the boundaries towards a new language, sound and aesthetic that expresses and reflects our current realities, struggles, and bare truths. In stripping away any and all adornments and superficiality, The Naked Word Festival will seek to uncover and rediscover contemporary South Africa poetry at its most raw and vital.

The Lingua Franca Spoken Word Movement, with its unique signature fusion of spoken word poetry and authentically South African music, has been a leading inspiration to the growing spoken word community in Cape Town for over three years. They have performed original poetry productions in various spaces across Cape Town, including the Baxter Theatre, the Artscape Theatre, the Magnet Theatre, the Delft Rent Office, and the Alexander Bar's Upstairs Theatre, gaining critical acclaim and a passionate following. Lingua Franca's collective consists of such innovative, multidimensional resident artists as Mbongeni Nomkonwana, Lwanda Sindaphi, Koleka Putuma, Anele Kose, Babalwa Makwethu, Javier Perez, and Zama Qambi.

The Naked Word Festival officially runs from 20 - 22 May, but includes a teaser the day before in the form of a collaboration with Grounding Sessions, an existing weekly poetry platform, which will feature Xabiso Vili and Nomashenge Dlamini along with an open mic session. Festival attendees will see performances by a range of top local and national artists, including the widely-celebrated Johannesburg-based poets, Mutle Mothibe and Xabiso Vili, who have gained critical prominence in the national poetry scene, as well as Durban-based rising star, Nomashenge Dlamini. Also featuring are the Cape Town-based heavy-hitters, Sipho Ndebele, Dejavu Tafari, and Roche Kester. The festival will also showcase the Cape Youth Poetry Hub for Expression & Rhythm (CYPHER), a collective of youth poets (ages 15-20) who are currently marking a new chapter in South African poetry.

The Naked Word Festival will serve as a platform for a younger generation to demonstrate that South Africa's young artists possess an undeniably transformative voice capable of being catalysts and drivers of social change. All who attend can expect an unparalleled experience of South African art at its finest.

Tickets, ranging in price from R50 for a single event to R200 for a full weekend pass, are available at Computicket. For further information or to arrange block bookings, contact Lingua Franca by email.

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