Every bit as exciting as Bollywood

Article in today's Durban Post, by Candice Soobramaney. My comments below :-).

AS A CASCADE of words and sentences ebb and flow from her lips, it is obvious why Peter Rorvik of the Centre for Creative Arts has invited her to Durban.

Kenyan-born poet Shailja Patel is an articulate and knowledgeable orator.

Her tinged American brogue (1) adds colour to the Royal Hotel coffee shop on a dusty Saturday afternoon as a quartet of patrons seated nearby steal glances at her.

Despite missing a connecting flight from Gauteng (2) to Durban, after arriving from Kenya on a four hour flight, Shailja, venturing alone at the Oliver Tambo Airport, successfully boarded a reconnecting flight and arrived promptly for our 4pm interview.

As her brown pashmina shawl lazily rests (3) on her shoulder, Shailja, born and raised in Nairobi, is on her first trip to South Africa and is one of several African artists to perform at the 11th Poetry Africa Festival that ends on Saturday.

Scheduled to perform at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre tonight (Wednesday) at 7pm, Shailja has performed as a poet and spoken-word theatre artist at venues across the United States and from Vienna to Rome to Zanzibar.

Last December she premiered her first full-length show Migritude in the San Francisco Bay Area and excerpts of the production at January's World Social Forum in Nairobi led to standing ovations.

SARIS AS PROPS

Sipping on cappuccino, the Gujarati-speaking artist, armed with a degree in Economics and Politics from the University of York, enlightened me about Migritude, a one woman theatre show in which her props are a suitcase of saris.

"In the Gujarati-speaking community, mums collect saris for their daughters' trousseau in preparation for marriage. For 30 years, my mum collected saris for me but she got tired of waiting for me to get married and eventually gave them to me.

"I thought how do I use these? They couldn't just sit in a suitcase. It was criminal! So, they ended up as props in Migritude, about colonialism in India and Kenya," said Shailja, who at nine won a poetry competition in a Kenyan children's magazine, Rainbow, the theme of which was road safety.

BOLLYWOOD BANTER

She says although there is a public perception that poetry is limited to what people learned at school, very few have experienced the power of live poetry and encouraged Durban audiences, especially Post readers, to support the festival.

"If you come to tonight's act, it will be every bit as exciting, enriching and inspiring as any Bollywood film."(4)

On the topic of Bollywood and in between our banter, she told me a half-humorous, half-angry tale of a current advertising campaign featuring Shah Rukh Khan promoting a skin lightening cream, Fair and Handsome.

"Bollywood's influence on the world is huge. In this particular advert there's a dark-skinned man, who cannot find a partner until he uses this miracle cream and his complexion drastically changes to four shades lighter," she chuckles. Shailja believes skin-lightening creams should be banned globally.

ART IS NOT A LUXURY

When I enquired if one could earn a living from being a poet, she replied: "Those struggling economically believe art is a luxury but people are hungry for words and there is market for what you have to offer."

My assumption that being an artist meant she could rise on a working day without being bothered to head for work, was soon corrected. "Being a self-supporting artist one must be focussed and efficient to market and promote oneself. You are running your own business, from production to distribution, and it's hard work."

HER VOICE IS HER GIFT

Having performed at more than 30 colleges, universities and festivals, including keynote student conferences at Yale and Brown, she currently has two collections of poetry on the African Diaspora, to her name: Dreaming in Gujarati and Shilling in Love. Shailja, who divides her time between her family home in Nairobi and California, said her favourite accompaniment during her international travels was her voice, which she described as her "gift".

In her spare time, the certified yoga instructor, enjoys dancing, reading and wandering the streets of each new city she performs in.


(1) Tinged American brogue - who knew? Time to work on keeping my vowels round and my consonants clipped when I say kickass and awesome.

(2) Province Johannesburg is located in.

(3) brown pashmina lazily rests - hey! My pashmina works out every day. She has excellent muscle tone.

(4) Lure them in with Bollywood and saris, then unleash the politics......