If Nigerian poet Ben Okri was right that ‘poetry goes straight to the truth of things with extraordinary gravity and with great rhythmic beauty’, then a practical expression of this theory can be found in Soweto Theatre’s very own stages through their monthly live performance assembly called Poetic Thursdays. 

The show that takes place every last Thursday of the month will kick off their third season on 25 July and seeks to continue churning out the best from Mzansi’s artistry arsenal. 

While having established themselves for featuring artisans at the top end of the artistry echelon, the platform has seen the theatre open doors to hundreds of aspiring poets and musicians alike, their open mic being the quintessential entry into the South African poetry industry for many a young writer and first-time performer. 

This month’s line-up features 3 highly valued poetry entities and a musical guest as is usual. This show will be show number 1 for the 3rd year with an array of performances to follow thereafter. 

 Shibombi Baloyi is a writer, entrepreneur and publisher who studied drama at the Market Theatre laboratory, Filmmaking at the Virginia Community College and Business with St Rose College in Albany. 

Some of the stages throughout the world that have welcomed Shibombi include Johannesburg, Pretoria, Makhanda, and the USA. A published poet; she features in ‘Tapping into poetry” a South African anthology and comes highly rated as one of top 7 contestants in The Tshwane speak out loud national poetry competition...

Born Kgotso Motaung in Soweto; Poetic Justice is a 28-year-old self-taught writer and performer that the South African poetry scene has come to love. Since coming onto the scene in the early to mid-2000’s through such platforms as Word N Sound, Likwid Tongue, Rhythm and Poetry and others he has went on to be founder of Poetic Thursdays and self-publishing two poetry Eps Just Poetry(2015) and The Love Ep (2016) .In 2016 he made it onto the 100 South African poets to lookout for as compiled by Word N Sound. 

 

Thabo Kolo is a South African performer, and spoken word artist. The Sensei is co-founder of LentsweAfrica Ltd. a South African privately-owned creative house and digital hub positioned to provide a range of arts and craft solutions. The company’s strongest inclinations lean towards poetry, music (of all forms, styles and genres) and writing/editing 

 Thabo’s prolific writing stretches back to the start of the mid Millennium, and has earned him voice recognition as a narrator for The Co-op UK community television ad, and Lead poet at the Annual 2017 Cape Town Star awards. 

He intends to escalate his career in art, and break out of the underground scene which has limited many of the world’s talented artists to an often beautiful but always a limited audience. 

 Lerato Lichaba is a self-taught guitarist, composer, arranger and all-round conceptualist. He is the founder and band leader of the prolific Soweto ensemble, Urban Village. His music style is inspired by his life experiences and how different cultures and traditions blend in the language of his music. Lerato’s latest music project, Corners of Forgotten Theories (COFT), aims to create a new music language that will take listeners to a forgotten yet familiar place. He recently released his single, Corners of Forgotten Theories, available on all digital platforms. 

-JP