Description
< Back
Railway poetry selected and presented by Zolani Mkiva – Poet of the Nation.
Zolani Mkiva is one of the youngest practitioners of one of the oldest oral traditions in South Africa: the imbongi or praise poet.
Hailing from Idutywa in the Transkei area of the Eastern Cape, Zolani rose to prominence in 1990 when, barely months after becoming a fully fledged imbongi, the schoolboy was called upon to praise the recently released Nelson Mandela at his ‘Welcome Home’’ rally in the Transkei.
In 1991 Zolani completed his matric. During the same year he consolidated his role as an imbongi through extensive work at community functions. Zolani was then appointed Imbongi Yesizwe or ‘Poet of the Nation’.
Zolani studied Social Science at the University of the Western Cape. He completed his degree in 1994 and proceeded with Honours in Development Studies, graduating in 1995.
In 1996 he joined Spoornet and worked with Rev. Vukile Mehana, former General Manager in Human Resources at Umjantshi House. From there Zolani hasn’t looked back, and today he is Spoornet Communication Specialist.
These are some of the milestones of his career: Imbongi Yesizwe 1990, Official Praise Poet of UWC 1992–1995, Presidential Praise Poet 1994–present, Die Woche International Award (Germany) 1994, SADC Prince of Afro Poet Award (Zimbabwe) 1995.
He has performed at: Nelson Mandela’s Presidential Inauguration (Pretoria) 1994; House of World Cultures (Europe) 1996; Turn of the Century Festival (France) 1997; Africa Business Forum (USA) 1998; World Council of Churches (Harare) 1998; OAU Special Summit (Libya) 1999 and the Independent Feature Film Market (New York) 2000.
|
How to Buy:
Eurospan
Feed
|
