Q to tour colleges
Malawi’s celebrated poet and performer Qabaniso Malewezi will this summer tour public and private universities in the country where he will hold performances and workshops.
Dubbed Project Project, the initiative runs from this month to November and will take Q to 11 colleges in the country.
“It aims to inspire self-expression through poetry and spoken word by encouraging people to use their voices to engage and explore their identity and the world around them,” said the poet while quoting Stephen Covey saying that “One word expresses the pathway to greatness: voice. Those on this path find their voice and inspire others to find theirs. The rest never do.”
The project consists of two components: workshops and public showcases.
“The workshop will use discussion and activities surrounding Malewezi’s method The Six Persona’s of Spoken Word Poetry and a public showcase where I will be supported by a select group of the workshop participants,” he explained.
Under the project Malewezi is scheduled to tour the following tertiary institutions: Polytechnic and Chancellor College this month, Catholic University and Blantyre International University next month and in September he will be at the Mzuzu University and Bunda College. In October he will be at the St John the Baptist in Mangochi before wrapping up with a tour of African Bible College and University of Livingstonia in November.
Malewezi has a passion for the arts and studied performing arts at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (Lipa) in the United Kingdom.
Despite the accumulated expertise in music, Malewezi found his voice in poetry. His first anthology, The Road Taken (2012), was incorporated in the creative writing course at the African Bible College in Lilongwe.
In the same year he was the recipient of the Poetry Association of Malawi’s award for best poet. He embodies his life in poetry as a back and forth journey between his spoken and written word.
Q has had prestigious international performances at events such as the Sadc Artists Against Aids Festival, Poetry Africa,Word N Sound Poetry Festival among others.
