Olumide Popoola

Looking for 'this is not about sadness' within the US?

2012-02-17T16:36:00.000Z

It seems to be difficult or slow or both to get my book in the US.

Here are two options: Powell's or alibris

Here's short excerpt on
Heinrich Boell Stiftung's MIgration/ Integration/ Diversity website

In the UK: Amazon.co.uk

In Germany: Unrast Verlag

facebook site

next gig: WRITE NOW, Featuring Bonnie Greer and China Mieville

2012-02-09T10:17:00.002Z

WRITE NOW – Featuring Bonnie Greer and China Miéville

Presented by THE WRITING CENTRE and IPAD

University of East London

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16th 2012

7:00pm, Stratford Circus

Admission: £4/£2 (concessions)

Book tickets

WRITE NOW is a literary evening of readings, performances, and discussion on contemporary writing practice. This year we feature award-winning authors as well as UEL writers.

Bonnie Greer (OBE) is a playwright, author and critic. Her work has been performed at major theatres in the UK, on BBC Radio 4, and at the Royal Opera House. She is the author of two novels and a regular contributor to BBC’s Newsnight Review.

China Miéville is a three-time winner of the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award and has also won the British Fantasy Award twice. His dazzling talent has led to comparisons to Kafka, Orwell and Philip K. Dick.

Tim Atkins is an internationally published poet of cutting edge verse. Among his many books, Folklore was named a Daily Telegraph book of the year. He is the founder of the international poetry journal onedit.

Tessa McWatt is the author of five novels, one of which was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award and the City of Toronto Book Award. Her latest novel, Vital Signs, has recently been launched in the UK.

Olumide Popoola is a Nigerian German author and performer. Her novella 'this is not about sadness' was published in 2010 (Unrast Verlag).

Moderator: Mark Hunter, Director of IPAD, University of East London.

PLEASE JOIN US

http://www.stratford-circus.com/

'Portraits for Self Determining Haiti' by Regine Romain

2011-12-27T12:24:00.001Z

Regine Romain Portraits for Self Determining Haiti

Online Gallery

"This homage to my people is overflowing with love and hope, honor and respect and an unfolding of a new story."

Please support this amazing exhibition and artist through a tax-deductible donation to A.I.R. Gallery toward the cost of the exhibition and community workshops produced by REGINE ROMAIN.

VISIT: https://www.airgallery.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=main.donate
CLICK: My donation is towards general A.I.R. programming and exhibitions
DESIGNATE: Type REGINE ROMAIN in the EMAIL section to ensure your contribution goes to support Portraits for Self Determining Haiti by Regine Romain

Régine Romain

Portraits for Self Determining Haiti

January 5 - 28, 2012

Opening Reception: Thursday, January 5

6:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Artist Talk: Thursday, January 5, 6:30 pm

BROOKLYN, NY January 2012 – A.I.R. Gallery is pleased to announce Portraits for Self Determining Haiti, the first solo exhibition of photographs by Régine Romain, an A.I.R. 2011-2012 Fellow.

Régine Romain photographs and researches Haiti’s shifting yet distinct presence throughout the world in an ongoing visual diaspora project. Her work is grounded in individual and community portraiture. This exhibition bridges two compelling views: Romain, the daughter of Haitian immigrants, as the composer of portraits on Haitian life rarely seen, and the reality of Haiti as a self-determining nation – a principle historically rooted in the people’s DNA as resurgent hope.

Portraits for Self Determining Haiti is an exhibition of vibrant photographs of Haiti, three weeks after the 7.0 earthquake that killed more than half a million people. Elemental themes of faith, dignity, honor and respect are keenly displayed. The title is inspired by a series of essays published by The Nation in 1920 entitled "Self-Determining Haiti" written by James Weldon Johnson, a journalist, lyricist, and renowned civil rights leader of Haitian heritage.

In Ways of Seeing, John Berger states “...every image embodies a way of seeing, our perception or appreciation of an image depends also upon our own way of seeing.” The world psyche is awash in distorted narratives of Haitian people and society, and Romain’s acts of visual resistance stoke the collective imagination and keep new ways of seeing alive.

Romain’s photo essay on Haiti, including photos from Portraits for Self Determining Haiti, is featured in Meridians, Vol 11, December 2011, a journal published by Smith College. Romain’s work has been exhibited at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, NY; Teatro Nacional de Cuba, Cuba; UN Photography Society, NY; and the Charles Sumner Museum, DC. Her awards include Brooklyn Arts Council and the Trude Lash Fellowship. She is the editor of Diaspora Diaries: An Educators Guide to MoCADA Artists, and is the founder of Urban PhotoPoets and the Brooklyn Photo Salon. Romain received a BS from Bowie State University and an MA in Photography & Urban Culture from Goldsmiths, University of London.

As an A.I.R. Fellow, Romain will present a community workshop with the Haiti Cultural Exchange commemorating the Haitian Declaration of Independence, January 10, 2012, and an An n’ Pale| Café Conversation, January 12, 2012, at Five Myles Gallery in Brooklyn, New York from 6:30 to 9:30 pm.

A.I.R. Gallery is located at 111 Front Street, #228 in the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn. Gallery hours: Wed. – Sun., 11am to 6pm. For directions please visit www.airgallery.org. For more information please contact Gallery Director, Julie Lohnes at212-255-6651 or jlohnes@airgallery.org.

The A.I.R. Fellowship Program is made possible by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, a state agency, The New York State Council on the Arts, JP Morgan Chase through a re-grant from the Brooklyn Arts Council, as well as generous support from The Bernheim Foundation, The Gifford Foundation, Elizabeth A. Sackler, The Milton and Sally Avery Foundation, The Theo Westenberger Estate, and many generous donors to the Emma Bee Bernstein Fellowship.

poetic super-gem of the year: Nikky Finney at National Book Awards US

2011-12-16T12:17:00.003Z

Nikky Finney rocks the National Book Awards

Nikky Finney - a message

Badilisha Poetry X-change on CNN

2011-12-16T12:01:00.002Z

I'm a little slow posting this but as they say: better late than berate...:)

Badilisha Poetry X-change had a short programme on CNN not too long ago called 'Inspiring African Storytellers' featuring Malika Ndlovu and D'bi Young (on the mixing board).
My artists-profile at Badilisha has a small chameo

Click here for video

a very small selection, not just for christmas...

2011-12-11T17:06:00.000Z

Support your thinkers, writers and artists. Buy their book. Invite them to a reading. Give them a hug. Tell them they matter.

This year, these books have caught my special attention (to be continued...):

first of all: feast your ears! Concha Buika has a new album out :)))))
Concha Buika's En Mi Piel

Fatima El-Tayeb's European Others: Queering Ethnicity in Postnational Europe

Shaun Levin's Snapshots of a boy

Sharon Dodua Otoo's the things i am thinking while smiling politely is out in February 2012. Pre-order!
Mary Burger, Robert Glück, Camille Roy and Gail Scott's Biting the error

Philip Khabo Koepsell's Die Akte James Knopf

Samuel Delany's About writing

Fiona Zedde's Bliss

Beldan Sezen's Zakkum

New book series Witnessed

LIFE STORIES CAFE, FRI 9 DEC, 7pm.

2011-12-08T02:38:00.000Z

The next instalment of Woolfson and Tay's true storytelling event, LIFE STORIES CAFE, is on FRI 9 DEC., 7pm. Come and join us in experiencing this unique event. Please BOOK ONLINE or call 020 7407 9316.

A fantastic line-up of presenters:
Shaun Levin, Jacob Sam-La Rose, Naomi Woddis, Olumide Popoola and Dorothea Smartt doing the intros.
Each has ten minutes to tell their story, accompanied by twenty images. The theme for the night is GIVING.

The link for the event and to make a booking is:
http://www.woolfsonandtay.com/life-stories-cafe1.html

Collective Brightness is out now!

2011-10-21T11:18:00.001+01:00

The first-ever anthology featuring LGBTIQ poets from all over the world writing about and from various faith, religion and spiritual practices. Edited by San Francisco-based poet and musician Kevin Simmonds.

Tales of the City author Armistead Maupin says,

"Kevin Simmonds has achieved something remarkable with this anthology: he has shed light on the universal hunger for spirit by assembling poets who are not so much adherents of religion as survivors of it. The truth for him seems to lie in the tender reaches of the resilient queer heart. I can live there too -- even without God -- so I found this book compelling and beautiful."

Get your copy here

A reading of my contribution, the poem mercy killing:

Support 'Witnessed' Book series

2011-10-14T13:19:00.000+01:00

Witnessed on startnext
To support become a witnessed fan on startnext.
Witnessed
Aim
To enable English-speaking readers to access literature by Black authors who live (or have lived) in Germany and are from (or residing in) English-speaking countries, which bear witness to the experience of being Black in Germany.

Witnessed website
Background
From African-American GIs to Ghanaian exchange students, from African-Caribbean nurses to Black German musicians, from Black British IT specialists to African-Asian artists, peoples of the African Diaspora have lived in, shaped and have been shaped by Germany. The sharpness of our unique perspectives arise, among other things, from our mediation of multiple identities. Moreover, our access to other national contexts provides a means of comparison: we can say what Germany is, by having an example of what it is not. We can say what Germany has, because we have lived what it doesn't have.
Mainstream Germany has traditionally told stories of whiteness and homogeneity. However, in recent times, Black German voices have successfully gained in number and broader significance, both through breaking down barriers within the mainstream media, as well as creating our own outlets and publications. The Witnessed series contributes English language testimonies to existing "Black in Germany" accounts (both fiction and non-fiction) while simultaneously providing access to this literature to international English-speaking audiences.

May-Ayim-Ufer Ceremony August 2011

2011-10-11T12:44:00.000+01:00

May Ayim Ufer Naming Ceremony

mein viertel 100_juli rivera_trailer.mov

2011-08-17T11:34:00.004+01:00

An important film by Juli Rivera about 25 years of ISD - Initiate of Black people in Germany. Watch out I will be posting the website and order info soon.

Be in touch with Juli Rivera and learn about their work here

We-TV-'Afrodeutsche' feat. Philip Khabo Koepsell

2011-08-17T11:31:00.004+01:00

Stay in touch with Philip Khabo Koepsell here

Collective Brightness Anthology now on pre-order

2011-08-16T08:37:00.004+01:00

Pre-orders here

Collective Brightness: LGBTIQ Poets on Faith, Religion & Spirituality (collectivebrightness.com) is the first-ever anthology featuring LGBTIQ poets from all over the world writing about and from various faith, religion and spiritual practices. Tales of the City author Armistead Maupin says,"Kevin Simmonds has achieved something remarkable with this anthology: he has shed light on the universal hunger for spirit by assembling poets who are not so much adherents of religion as survivors of it. The truth for him seems to lie in the tender reaches of the resilient queer heart. I can live there too -- even without God -- so I found this book compelling and beautiful." Poet and critic Rigoberto Gonzalez says, "Collective Brightness sheds a shining light on a journey that no longer takes place in the dark. The glory of holding Kevin Simmonds's anthology in one's hands is that it burns as the sacred text of our queer times: heavy with burden, luminous with hope.” Janice Mirikitani of San Francisco's Glide Church and poet Patricia Smith have also written of the anthology.

At the London Buddhist Centre on Friday, October 21 at 7:30 pm, all of the UK poets included in the anthology will read. The editor, San Francisco-based poet and musician Kevin Simmonds, will be in attendance and will introduce the evening.
The reading will feature poets Rob Hamberger, Maria Jastrzebska, Maitreyabandhu, Sophie Mayer, Dante Micheaux, Olumide Poopola, Katy Price, Seni Seneviratne and Thomas Yates. The anthology will also be on sale.
Facebook invite

Literature Lounge June 2011, Resonance FM

2011-06-18T16:17:00.005+01:00

Sun, 19 June, 2011 London Literature Lounge Resonance FM
17:00 – 18:00

Anjan Saha will be joined by Nicholas Hogg author of the "Hummingbird and the Bear" and Olumide Popoola, author of "This is Not About Sadness."

Listen to a recording of the show

May: 2 Berlin gigs!

2011-04-28T15:39:00.002+01:00

14. Mai 2011 - Lange Buchnacht im Bierhimmel
Oranienstraße 183, Kreuzberg, 10999 Berlin

15 Uhr:
Das Stirnhinrnhinterzimmer: Christian von Aster, Markolf Hoffmann und Boris
http://www.stirnhirnhinterzimmer.de/

16 Uhr:
Schlotzen & Kloben: Japer Nicolaisen, Jakob Schmidt und Simon Weinert
Schlotzenundkloben.blogsport.eu

19:30
Olumide Popoola reads from her debut novella "this is not about sadness"
IN ENGLISH

21:00 Uhr
Svetlana Jovanovich "The Ship" LESUNG IN ENGLISCHER SPRACHE!
"The Ship" is a Spokenword piece inspired by Albert Einstein's quote, "First there is Relation, then there are things", as a way to explore issues of identity & multi-culturalism, and how it relates to physical/non-physical existence.

22:00 Uhr Bend Over Magazine

19. Mai 2011 - 21.00 Uhr - Miss Sam's Soul and Music präsentiert: im Südblock
Admiralstrasse 1-2
10 999 Berli
U Bhf Kottbusser Tor
Facebook Info

Black Heritage - MFA Kera & Mike Russell's
Afrobeat Blues-Funk-Gospel and Soul
meets
Olumide Popoola

Interview (German) on ZWISCHENRAUM für Kunst & Migration

2011-04-07T17:22:00.001+01:00

Interview - in German - by Julia Brilling March 2011 on Heinrich Boell Stiftung's ZWISCHENRAUM für Kunst und Migration

Short appearance on 'Shoot the messenger' show

2011-02-24T16:57:00.002Z

Clip from short appearance on the Feb 13 2011 'Shoot the messenger' show, incl. short reading from 'this is not about sadness'. Catch the show on Sundays 1pm on SKY Channel 218 or watch it online on: http://www.voxafrica.co.uk/stm/

Upcoming: Feb 13 1pm live on 'Shoot the messenger' (Vox Africa) & Feb 19 1pm LSE Literary Festival London

2011-02-09T13:34:00.001Z

Catch me Feb 13 at 1pm on Vox Africa's show shoot the messenger, an hour of passionate debate about issues that matter to Africans at home and abroad. Watch it live online or on sky channel 218

Feb 19 1pm, Placing Mobilities at the LSE Literary Festival. Reading/ short presentation panel discussion with Brian Chikwava, Abdulrazak Gurnah and Dr Ranka Primorac as chair around themes of diaspora, places, spaces and mobility. It's free but needs pre-booking.

Out now! this is not about sadness

2011-01-20T10:44:00.000Z

Praise for this is not about sadness:

"Sensitive without excessive sentimentality, this gem of a book is a deft and thoughtful exploration of trauma and its overcoming. Keenly observed, compelling and deeply moving, we're offered a view of London life that is seldom seen."

Paul Gilroy
Author of There Ain't No Black In The Union Jack, The Black Atlantic, After Empire and many others

"An older Jamaican woman, a young woman from Soweto, sitting at a kitchen table, or kneeling in a garden to plant seedlings yet all the time learning how to listen to each other, how to bear what each needs to tell the other. The book's unencumbered prose is shaped by the grace of a writer who has an ear and eye for the complexities that lie beneath the veneer of the everyday, especially in a London neighbourhood that is home to the many diasporas of colonialism. Olumide Popoola has the gift of turning a reader’s head with the sensory textures of daily encounters without ever descending into mere ‘local color’. In short, this is an exquisitely crafted study of two women who learn how to move between different worlds, how to reach across age difference, how to speak about friendship and sexuality, and how to enter those seemingly “unreachable places” of the psyche that are - as one of Popoola's characters puts it and as one should say of her book - “impossible to dismiss”."

Yvette Christiansë
Author of Unconfessed, Castaway and Imprendehora

Order it here:
for inside Germany: Unrast Verlag

Amazon.de

Amazon UK

facebook page

premiere at Brighton BHM w/ editor Sharon Dodua Otoo

Next Appearance:Cornwall: UCF's Department of Writing 19 January 2011

2011-01-12T11:06:00.000Z

Join me for a talk about and reading from my novella this is not about sadness on
19 January 2011, 2pm – Chapel Theatre
as part of University of Falmouth's Department of Writing lectures and masterclasses

Info UCF Writing Events

next performance: Dark Fairytales 13t Dec 2010 @ Kings Place, London

2010-11-25T20:14:00.004Z

DARK FAIRYTALES - KINGS PLACE

LONDON LITERATURE LOUNGE PRODUCTION

Monday 13th December 2010

90 York Way, London N1 9AG

Nearest tube: King's Cross

Hall One, 7pm – 8.15pm

Tickets £9.50 online Kings Place

Dark Fairytales comes to King's Place this Christmas. Anjan Saha and friends pioneer their self-styled Theatre of the Continuous Performance where spoken word merges with light illuminations and live music as they take a look at the world of Dark Fairytales. Featuring poets Olumide Popoola, Sabrina Mahfouz, Baden Prince Jr and Dzifa Benson. Visual design by Robert Pyecroft Rainbow. Musical accompaniment by Robert Hokum and Sam Kelly.

COME EARLY...AND STAY LATE

6pm Free FOYER/café stage pre-concert with Guitarist Geoff Garbow- critically acclaimed fingerstyle acoustic guitarist whose compositions encompass influences from blues, latin and Indian music as well as traditional English folksong.

8.30pm Aftershow at FOYER/ café stage: Guyanan master flautist Keith Waithe joins award winning percussionist Sam Kelly, bluesman Robert Hokum and acoustic guitar maestro Geoff Garbow for a musical banquet of Global rhythms.

Kayode Olatokunbo Popoola

2010-10-22T21:58:00.002+01:00

The poem pas[sed]t on Badilisha Poetry Exchange was written after my brother's passing. On 29 October 2010 he would've turned 40.
I'm pleased to be sharing it with cyber space.

R.I.P Kayode Olatokunbo Popoola 1970 - 2008

pre-order my novella 'this is not about sadness' (release October 2010)

2010-07-09T14:11:00.001+01:00

What a stunning London summer! The weather is treating us like it hasn't in years and I've been fortunate to be part of events where I get to hang out with beautiful new artist and other friends. Inspiration is soaring high...

this is not about sadness is finished and in the last stages of revision, so all is set for its October due date.

It will be published by Unrast Verlag (Germany).

Pre-orders are now possible!

The novella follows pensioner Mrs. Thompson’s and young activist Tebo’s developing friendship and the problems that arise due to their different views on political issues. Their conflictive personalities make for an unusual pair and both carry unspoken trauma. When Tebo cries one day to offer empathy for Mrs. Thompson’s pain, the silence is broken. Their bond is sealed through the acknowledgment of the other’s pain, the personal histories arrive in a space where understanding difference creates possibility for healing and alliance.

my next presentation is at BRAND @ London Literature Festival July 8 2010

2010-06-21T10:38:00.010+01:00

my next appearances is at the Brand magazine symposim about cross genre creative work. I will be presenting from my forthcoming novella this is not about sadness

TEXT IN CONTEXT- Programme
A cross-genre symposium

11 am - 5 pm, 8th July 2010

The Function Room. Royal Festival Hall

Creative practitioners are increasingly breaking out of their individual forms to explore crossgenre possibilities. This symposium brings together writers, artists and performers from various disciplines. Through short performances, presentations and discussions, it will generate a creative space for new explorations, connections and audiences. All are welcome.

Participants include:
Nina Rapi, Cherry Smyth, Anjan Saha, Nicholas McInerny, Oreet Ashery, Uriel Orlow, Olumide Popoola, Jennifer Farmer, Clare Morgan, William Fontaine.

£10 / Concessions: 50% (limited availability). Book by phone (0844 875 0073) or log on Southbankcentre

AND THEN...

Howard Barker with Dzifa Benson and Mikhail Karikis

7.45 pm, 8th July 2010, Purcell Room, Royal Festival Hall

We continue with an exciting evening of new work by three groundbreaking artists, including the premiere of a new, short play by Howard Barker, ‘Britain’s greatest living playwright’ (The Times). Barker is a unique voice who creates highly theatrical work and is the founder of The Wrestling School. Mikhail Karikis, sound artist extraordinaire, and Dzifa Benson, High Priestess of the spoken word, have dazzled audiences internationally with their bold performances. The evening closes with the artists in discussion with Nina Rapi, award-winning playwright and editor of Brand.

£9 / Concessions: 50% (limited availability). Book by phone (0844 875 0073) or log on http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/

facebook invite

Dissident Citizenship Conference June 10 & 11, 2010

2010-05-17T08:35:00.002+01:00

My next venture out into the world (and away from the laptop) is to this fab coneference bringing together a host of great thinkers and creators. Please stop by if you're in the area.

Dissident Citizenship: Queer Postcolonial Belonging June 10-11, 2010
conference program

Programme information & abstracts

May Ayim would have been 50 on May 3rd.

2010-05-06T18:11:00.001+01:00

I was flying back from my visit to the States that day. So a bit late here a link to a posting by Afro-Europe blog which includes a trailer to the documentary "Hope in My Heart".

'Women of the African Diaspora' Conference El Paso, TX 15/16 April

2010-04-16T09:34:00.005+01:00

Programme

Start Time:	Thursday, April 15, 2010 at 6:00pm
End Time:	Friday, April 16, 2010 at 6:00pm
Location:	University of Texas at El Paso, Natural Gas Center info Conference Information

'Homestory Germany. Black German Biographies from past and present.' Exhibition in Berlin

2010-04-13T10:10:00.000+01:00

On April 15 the travelling exhibition 'Homestory Germany. Black German Biographies from past and present' opens at the Nelson Mandela School in Berlin. There is a fantastic program of presentations, films and arts and readings. If you're near Berlin it's well worth it. Afropean history!
facebook group

Is Black Hair an issue of class?

2010-03-26T15:30:00.007Z

Twice in the past month I've been getting comments about my hair. The first time I still had dreadlocks, the second time I was wearing a sort of stylish Afro with some twists. Both times the comments implied that 'of course I wouldn't be acknowledged' because my hair wasn't a particular way (i.e. straightened or tied back in a particular manner). What struck me wasn't the comment itself- as we know that black hair seems to still be a threat- but that I was made to feel that I was at fault. Both time I got questioning looks, neck stretched in order to examine what the heck I was proposing to wear on my head and believe that it would still get me treated with respect. What the glances implied at the first encounter was: unruliness. It went hand in hand with a mini lecture on the complete unsuitability of my dreadlocked hair as if I was proposing something difficult, offending, challenging even to other black people. 'Surely, I couldn't expect to be able to wear my hair like this'?
The second encounter was a bit different. I dare to interprete a correction on the side of my conversation partner. After the initial gut reaction she pulled the trail of thoughts, that had been running away with her in a similar pattern to the one just described, back. The woman knew better: There isn't anything wrong with our hair. Whether combed back tightly or let to breathe. But letting our hair reference itself in all its beauty and possibilities is a sure way to be left on the margins of social possibility. The funky can do it in a club, the artists can do it (if they can afford it), the crazy can do it and the poor. Alas not the professionals eager to climb the ladder in certain eastablishments/ organisations/ companies. So as much as she knew better it remained my fault and therefore my choice (of not being able to be treated equally in certain situations).
Mmh... it's hard to believe that we're still feeling/ talking/ thinking this way.

I have now cornrowed my hair into a very stylish fauxhawk and have never in my life gotten so many positive comments. Lucky for me I'm not going for any exec jobs! Lucky also that really I don't think making my hair 'acceptable' will really save me a spot.

dem natural beauties (video)

dem natural beauties (text)

Umbenennung/ Re-naming des/ of Gröbenufer zu/ to May-Ayim-Ufer

2010-02-27T09:47:00.003Z

In an hour's time the Groebenufer in Berlin Kreuzberg will be renamed to May Ayim Ufer. May Ayim was a very prominent Afro-German poet, activist and speaker and influenced a few generations of us poets and writers in Germany as well as most other Afro-Germans.
In my own life May Ayim was the single most important creative force when I started performing poetry.

http://afroeurope.blogspot.com/2009/05/german-street-renamed-after-poetess-may.html

http://blackgermans.us/2009/06/03/berlin-kreuzberg-re-naming-of-street-in-may-ayim-ufer-umbenennung-des-grobenufers-in-may-ayim-ufer/

talk and reading @ Uni Southampton, March 3rd 2010

2010-02-23T23:26:00.002Z

03/03/2010
17:00 at Centre for Transnational Studies
-Southampton University, Southampton,

in tongues: nothing you tell me is innocent -the trouble inside language
presentation and reading/ performance

http://www.transnational.soton.ac.uk/seminars.html

Valentine's Gig in Berlin

2010-02-09T17:57:00.004Z

Sunday, 14.2.,"Four Women" (Poesie/Spoken word)
Location: ZeitZone, Adalbertstr.79, Berlin

A night of rich, deep, intriguing poetry coming from four women poets, who all have a distinctive voice that will take the listener on an individual journey of sights, colours, sounds and textures. This bilingual programme will no doubt be a pleasure for the senses.

_Maroula Blades (ENG) is an Afro-British writer living in Berlin. Verbrecher Verlag and Cornelsen Verlag have published her short stories. She has received awards for poetry. Poems have been published in Germany and abroad. Maroula was awarded the runner's up prize for the GC Chapbook 2008. And was the featured poet in the Erbacce 16 2009. Her Poetry/Music Programme has already been presented on several stages in Berlin: Berlin Poetry Festival 2008, the Planetarium am Insulaner, IFA, Der Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Humboldt University, Friends Of Italian Opera, and Volksbühne to name but a few.

_Svetlana Jovanovic (USA) is a multidisciplinary artist with over twenty years experience on stage in the USA, Europe & Japan in numerous stage productions in Musical Theatre, Plays, & Live Music, to writing, producing and performing her own works.She has a B.A. degree in Experimental Performance & Social Activism from the Experimental Performance Institute in San Francisco, where she discovered video production as a performance tool. Currently, her time is spent teaching Acting & Solo Performance and will be performing in Play2c’s production of Edward Albee’s play “The Goat” at English Theatre Berlin in fall 2009.

_Olumide Popoola (Nig/Ger), in London lebende Dichterin, Autorin und Performerin liest und performt ihre Werke international. Ihre Gedichte, Essays und Kurz Prosa wurden in Zeitschriften und Anthologien veroeffentlicht und in 2004 wurde sie mit dem May Ayim Award in der Kategorie Poesie ausgezeichnet. Im Herbst 2009 beendete sie ihren MA Studium (kreatives Schreiben) an der University of East London mit einer experiementellen Novelle.

_Lara-Sophie Milagro ( Afro-Ger) , geboren in Berlin, studierte Schauspiel am Goldsmith’s College in London /UK, sowie Opern-Gesang an der Hochschule der Künste Berlin und ist gegenwärtig Master Studentin der Theaterwissenschaften an der FU Berlin. Lara-Sophie lebt und arbeitet als Sängerin, Schauspielerin und Autorin in Berlin. Sie hat u.a. Beiträge für den rbb produziert und im Magazin ‚Neon’ publiziert.Seit 2008 ist Lara-Sophie als künstlerische Leiterin, Schauspielerin und Autorin für das afro-deutsche Theater-Ensemble ‚Label Noir Berlin’ tätig.

upcoming gigs and German poems in freitext magazine

2010-02-04T14:14:00.003Z

Wow! It's been a while. busy on my end but I intend to revive this channel and regularly submit little posts and info.
In the meantime check out my videos on vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/olumidepopoola/videos

For all you German speakers and readers. there are 3 new poems in the magazine freitext right now.one is also online here:http://www.freitext.com/magazin.php?text=emotion5

Upcoming Shows

2 Feb 2010
21:00
BEAT @ Peter Parker’s Rock ’n Roll Club
London, London and South East

12 Feb 2010
21:00
Black Poetry Night @ Haus 73
Hamburg, Hamburg

14 Feb 2010
20:00
Four Women (Poetry Night) @ Zeit Zone
Berlin, Berlin

18 Feb 2010
19:00
Stratford Circus- WRITE NOW
London, London and South East

3 Mar 2010
17:00
Centre for Transnational Language-Southampton University
Southampton

16 Apr 2010
9:00
University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP)
El Paso, Texas

video

2008-07-20T11:29:00.003+01:00

the spoke no word crisis

2008-06-25T13:14:00.002+01:00

I've been scared
Scared
Scared
Of
Words
More than a whole long while now
Hung my convictions
In the attic
Amongst all the other berthas
Tried and appeal the boys club
For I was sexy
Right?
Every time after a gig I was held tight
Around my oh yes I know so small waist
I patiently and politely
Called it business
Eager-ed a career
Out of masters hands
And shut up
Shut up
Real quiet
I sweetened myself
More than anyone ever deserved
Answered every god damn stinky advance
Never moo-ed back like the cattle that was being disgraced
And found not my warriors
No
Found
No warriors
No
Inspiration
Amongst this
None
Found
at all

I ran
From one of these readings to the other
And laughed and sometimes cried
shook hands
and testified
how brothers were damned
and we all queens
the things that ache me
sore my daily bred- hunting
or adventures out front
we silenced
right with a confident sexuality
and equal-ness in act and deed

Few want to change
really
At all
No
t
Any
m
o
r
e

So I chatted about new tribes
And made it look good
In better clothes
And different colours
And not aggressive
But still vehement
I lost my words
A whole long while ago
And I tell you
It's hard to breathe
With years of unspoken-ness stuck
Mid way down your throat
So I choked
and again
Patiently and politely
Called it business

I've been scared
Scared
Of MY words
A whole long while ago
Because if I spoke
Really

It could be sweet, yes
It could be
Sexy
And
Polite and patient

But it would not
Oh let me just say

It would actually be
Radical.

To all the radical women, feminists or not, speaking from the bottom to the top or the other way round, fierce, clear and deliciously blurred. Making spoken word fun again (at least for me), exciting, worth my while and life-changing.

and still

2008-04-14T20:03:00.002+01:00

And still I
Between the wrinkled sheets
Rain hammering against my temples
Eyes flooding from the heat
Desolate
Still I
Shore through the daily grind
Making sustenance
Necessities broken into strips of nerve fiber
Un myelianted
Spreads thin
And still I
Fuzzy away
Reason in bouncy realms of corruption
The mind playing tricks
soothing, soothing
And still I
Crave
Crave
Distill moments of their imperfection
Spin threads of subject matter
To warm us in another season
And still I
Know
That love conquers it all
And the slight bit of sun coming through
Could mean
Today will be different
And not sad
If only only
Today will be different
And still I
Rest back in peace
Saying
I accept
still

Kayode

2008-03-10T03:30:00.002Z

Kayode Olatokunbo Popoola 1970 - 2008

Kayode died on January 30th 2008. He was finally laid to rest on April 11th on Alten Friedhof in Bielefeld, where he was born.

On behalf of the family I would like to thank everyone for their continued support, thoughts, help, prayers and wishes during this difficult time. No gesture is too small. None of them has gone unnoticed. Thank you! It has made all the difference!

We miss you.

slipping through

2008-03-10T03:22:00.001Z

It slipped away
Like silk
Almost untraceable
Without burden of weight
No leaves in autumn rush
Rustling about
Marking territory with its left-overs

It just vanished
Without sound
Though the silence was pounding heavily
It was gone
Together with the dreams of happy home
A suburban detached one
Of kind fathers
And caring mums
Of homework discussed
opportunities explored

Sour tastes left
Like the burning of too strong an alcoholic drink
Which hastily downed
Still bears a relief

How to trace this existence by
Other than the pain
Lingering in the usual places
Do we succumb?

The bird cries
In the early morning
Answers seem no closer
But the questions
Slightly dimmed
in crisp air
Render less pressing

The smoke faint but reassuring
Quenching the thirst of another day

Another life
Slipping through

Solace trickles through membranes
And mind gets stuck
On memory

How to hold just one life
Let alone a kinship of them
How to hold together
A life time
And feel
That it’s you
It’s you

All that is lost
Forever slipping

Through

MySpace

2008-01-25T17:52:00.000Z

Check this link for an overview of Afro-german poetry and related myspacers.

MySpace

not more than me

2007-10-05T23:45:00.000+01:00

There is nothing
at this point
or any other
nothing I could materialize out of thin air
make disappear in a puff of smoke
that would please in a metaphorical way
that would really turn your world into a lasting, smiling pause
Would lavish on the space in between
and replenish joyfully
like a defiant tree seeding by itself

I cannot find that thing

Houses I could acquire
boats and hats and phones
Whole islands I could buy
But it would not satisfy me
It would not be
how a painting vibrates subtly into the atmosphere
Or music capturing the instant before and after
because the now never is grasped nor held
because the now never is

words themselves stumble
unveiling only
that which has been traveling
appeared before us
conjured out of the magicians hand
as a trick of perception
gone as soon as you reach
squeezing into form
the inexplicable

there is nothing that makes an instant expand
nothing to fill in between the bars of time
whether circular or linear
it always slips

nothing makes an instant expand

so
I give you nothing
more than me
to breathe
and taste
the best
of each moment

i'm old fashioned

2007-08-22T13:50:00.001+01:00

myspace
hooks me with its repetitive patterns and offers of friendship
i'm almost close to a 1000
(well it's past 500 anyway)
and wonder how i feel about that
some i even meet in real life
but i would prefere to get more messages in the week
during the day
while i browse away my day job
my german friends don't chat too much
most don't even really reply to my emails
they rather call
on the phone, you know
like we used to
thank god for s.
who breaks the rules
he's an artist
trying to waste time
just like me

my cd needs to be postponed
again
it seems like i just don't get it
why can't i just gracefully attempt to artistically embrace the box
the box
in front of me
my mobile pre usb
(i don't really know what it is, what it does or why i need it. the producer said i need to get it so i did. i spend some of my student loan on it. i wonder if i should have saved the money. it would come handy now)
i keep it next to the computer and hope my housmate sees it when she uses my broadband connection
i think it makes me look kinda apt
with the mic
and everything
but i think she doesn't look at it
as she never seems impressed
now apart from the day job, writing, rehearsing, accounting, promoting and managing
i will also be a studio technician
i'm not good at it
thank god for the producer
so the cd
has to wait
until he can make my voice sound good in a confined space.
i find it weird
it's not like live, you know
it doesn't generate much emotions
j. says this is the new way
that you need to do these things to promote yourself as an artist
and i should exxagarate my emotions
that it's just like acting i.e. in a sci fi movie without the monster present
i wonder if he refers to my time at theatre school and thinks i should just get it together
but then again how should he know about that
he says it's these times
and i should write a poem about it
i do
and it's crap
so that too i will have to do again
just like the recordings

i am old fashioned
i don't want to learn to use cubase
do i still qualify as a poet?

keeping

2007-07-23T12:55:00.000+01:00

i’ll keep you

I shield the cold
disperse the blazing heat
conjure food out of empty plates
and fill moments with eternity

I gaze into the wide
To draw closer
And rock forever
Should it slip
Slip through your hands

i wash your sorrows
with honey and milk
sprinkle scars with gold dust made from delicate petals
fragrant I shall walk
so you may find me
within
within

I pour your tears
so you can recover
undisturbed
I enter the unthinkable
And unlock the dam
Onto fields of thirsty soil
Evaporate the mist
The view
The view

On rainy days I make clear
Clear

That i
i
Keep
keep

you

Mita's Kakima died July 17th 2007. When we said our farewell at the Thames the sky shown in stunning brilliance. Peaceful, sunny with dramatic clouds and birds crossing the view. It was beautiful but sad, so sad.

what makes life livable

2007-07-15T10:05:00.000+01:00

What makes life livable are the constants.
The unchangeable truths we cherish.
The idea that we cannot fall through, disappear or become a mistake
(although we usually make many)
It is the familiar which places us into a scene
Which allows us to see from here to there.
Position ourselves. Know where we are at,
Going to, coming from
in proxamation, always in proximation to others and milestones on the way.
This is how we trace our existence.
Through memories, events and witnesses.
When memory fails we experience dilemma.
When left, un connected or without witness we loose these constants.
The possibility of some truth. Unchangeable and definite
What makes life livable are these things which evolve yet remain.

the sky opens

2007-06-23T20:35:00.000+01:00

The sky opens

The sky opens
my breath stagnates
the fall catches me
endless and dry
I cannot speak nor cry
I cannot face nor die

The hidden
means nothing
Now

I found your voice in the wind today
Luring me with things you’d say
I woke up to your message
But my mind is playing tricks
Denial they say
Is one of the five stages of dealing with loss
I found the way out yesterday
When I made you alive
Patted your skin warm
With thoughts and hope
This time
I would so much love
If someone had just lied
I would bargain for that
hard
Instead I try and attempt the good bye
(again)

How much is enough
We do not know
What is too little we’ve grown accustomed to

Every corner reminds me
When I do my rounds
I phase in and out
like if in break up recovery
forget and fool myself
accepting

I could’ve sworn it was you
Sending that message
And was ready to jump out of bed
smiling
anticipating
already
the hours on the phone

When the bus catches
I wonder how it hits
When the head hurts
I wonder how it splits
When the coma enters
How does it feel?
When you no longer relate
Does it bother you?
When the temperature drops
Does it make you cold?
When you stiffen
Does it annoy?
When you’re no longer there
Do you still want to speak?
Even though you’re dead
Do you still want to reach?

I woke up yesterday
And I saved that message
It is from you
I know
One day
That it’s not true

How much is enough
We do not know
How much is too little
We will
(just have to)
bear

Branka Letic died January 2006
I’m still searching for the right words

paper chase

2007-06-18T02:03:00.000+01:00

In London a new sport or organized rivalry has broken out. The first free (morning) paper is now being contested by at least two other companies who have their people giving them out on street corners and strategic positions (like tube entrances).
whereas the intial paper was to be picked up by onesself at tube stations, these newer additions get distributaed with a certain vengeance...

Paper Chase

On every corner
Cheap, thin paper
Wanders from t-shirted
Young (mostly) men
(Mostly) people of colour
To early finish office workers and otherwise
Gets nestled about
On the tube, bus, train
Where left for fellow overfed on compact light information travelers/ commuters
Or thrown into bins
Straight ahead
Looking away doesn’t help
From noon onwards
Ignoring proves unsuccessful
& mood hastily becomes tense
In inner-city London
The friendly caps don’t help
While thin used to be tree- strips with colorfully printed short paragraphs
Get shoved in
Shovel away
The thirst for information
All free

Meanwhile the city drowns in “news”
The exchange hardly worth knowledge
On the pavement
Right outside the dominion
Count more than 5 corners pregnant with rivalry
At kings cross it may well hit 12 or more
And I feel strangely intruded
Just like those early evening market research calls
& day time kitchen/ doors/ windows/ insurance/ plumbing/ mobile phone contracts
Offers
Always with incredible incentive
And almost always with something “free”

You can’t escape
The paper
Chasing you off the streets
Making after work
So much hard work

Me,
On a leisurely Wednesday
Early summer
Afternoon
Reminisce
About peace of mind
For which
I’m almost ready to pay

Afrikan History Week Oslo 2007

2007-06-12T14:05:00.000+01:00

Norway. I arrive and examine my hastily put together stereotypes. They mostly center around 'I think there must be a lot of blond people around here', 'wood' and 'sauna'. This is founded on solid research, like all off balanced preconceptions. I conducted mine during my time at the health food store. My line manager was (and is, I hope) Norwegian and quite tall. We didn't get on but that doesn't make me nervous now. I am just curious to how this Norway is. The latter two (wood and sauna) were just things I have heard, or so I think.

My 1.45min flight from heathrow was merrily entertained by a screaming toddler- must make mental note when thinking about how cute kids are next time - ensuring every second of delightful nodding off, giving into the heavy warm arms, the welcoming bosom of the realm of sleep, was disturbed by a sudden jerk of more frantic, desperate and off key bawl. I hadn't had a good night in days, well good nights yes but not enough sleep and the 4am taxi journey to the airport didn't help.

So there we were, a smiling officer checking my passport- mental note #2: mine is not overly scrutinized as often is the case in Germany where my passport is actually from. I make my way to the baggage area after visiting the loo and encountering, yes you won't believe it!- tastefully designed solid wood doors. The hallway is made up of beautiful wood floors (not the laminate type you see around here, I mean proper proper) and I feel content with myself: not so far off the mark, he? I stand and wait for my suitcase and notice a few Asian people around. I try to soak in their presence expecting to be a lonely brown face in a Norwegian summer (apart from the other festival attendees and artists). There are however not many blond people at least not like my line manager and I correct my just made up prejudices. It is probably Sweden I'm mixing this up with. As I have never been to Sweden it's a convenient thought, it does not require rectification. It just settles in nicely in the back of my mind with all the other emergency thoughts I have stored in case I need to make up assumptions.

During my 6 day stay I find out many things: it doesn't get dark! - which prolongs my desperate need for a night of solid sleep (preferably my bed, especially my blanket!). By 11.30pm it's still merely dim and by 3 am it starts getting light again. Mental note )#3: avoid, really avoid and I mean AVOID the winter here (where it hardly gets light- later the directors from the Goethe institute will tell me that it's not so bad and actually a fun time because it's easy to get people into rooms. They speak from an organizers point of view. I don't quite believe that it doesn't matter not seeing the sun though and hope the things we are planning will be delayed long enough for next year summer to arrive).

(oslo at 11pm)
I learn that Norway's 4 million inhabitants is blessed with a whopping 50.000 people of African descent. More than 25.000 live in Oslo which has a population of 500.000. Can this be true? Prejudices good-bye. I do see black people on the streets. No it's not London but it's a welcome surprise.

The Afrikan History Week is in its third year, well organised and friendly. The opening ceremony was beautiful initiated by praise songs from Nomkhubulwane- poetess, theatre artist and praise singer from South Africa. She and Pops Mohamed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pops_Mohamed) were the artist in resident during the festival working with poets, dj's, giving workshops, etc. I was fortunate to have Pops as my support during a short performance at the NOMMO Spoken Word night.

This particular night featured Lemn Sissay (http://www.lemnsissay.com/),

Umar Bin Hassan from 'the Last Poets' (http://www.umarbinhassan.com/),

oneNess (http://www.myspace.com/onenessbestkeptsecret),

Nomkhubulwane (who doesn't have a web page at present- I'm not forgetting her),

Pops Mohammed & Jimmu

and Isabell Dahlsveen Sterling from the collective Queendom (http://www.queendom.no/) who performed at the @Hail the Queens@- women performance night.

I thought I would be able to write in detail about the different workshops and, events and performances but I really don't know when at the moment. So let it be said that I had a great time, it's worth checking out and this years info can still be found at: http://www.myspace.com/afrikanhistoryweek

Peace

Check out my Slide Show!

2007-02-21T14:19:00.001Z

kolkata

2006-12-23T21:05:00.000Z

durga

Light
Immerses in shadowy water
Thousand pieces of color
Reflecting back
From a sullen moon

The tide has not risen
On this Ganges river
But the light rose today

Endlessly the procession
Of celebration and turmoil
The family
Carried on motored vehicle

When the good wins over the bad
We celebrate an old theme
The light
it says
Rose today

Brown water
Captures yellows and whites
Golds and greens
Stiff bodies hit water
Float, sink and reappear
Eyes still aimed straight forward
Hair mixing with fruits of a well used multi purpose waterway

Shabby corners
Of colonial legacy
Utilize new old traditions
& make the most
of what connects

the moon shines
sullen
on this joyous night
as evil defeated

the light rose
over this ganges river

Durga Puja

2006-12-18T06:20:00.000Z

In Kolkata (Calcutta) I was fortunate to experience the Durga festival (Puja). This annual event celebrates the victory of Durga over the buffalo demon or light over darkness. It is a colorful affair wich transforms most of the cities streets into bright avenues of light, as shrines are found on every other corner and whole steet facades decorated with light displays. Here are some impressions.

On the 4th day the beautiful statues which have been build by local artists are ceremonially immersed in the river ganges.

please meet...

2006-11-15T08:37:00.000Z

when hanging out in kolkata (calcutta) in october i was fortunate to run into Padmaja Krishnan who is the artist behind transit design, an internationally renowned label she created in 2005. i was immediately struck by the originality of her collection. she mixes urban and street wear with traditional materials and techniques; dismantles conventional uses of a particular garment and re-arranges it in a different context thus giving it an unique individuality and versatility and basically makes a lot of amazingclothes.

look at her things, approach her, PRAISE her and make sure, that sooner or later you wear a piece of her work.

Peace!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Transit is a small-scale fashion and textile lab that was set up by me [an alumnus of NIFT, New Delhi] in March 2005. Through my work I seek to question the relationship between design, clothing and human behavior and translate these experiences into products of utility, interest and curiosity. Combining my personal, social, psychological, political, cultural and environmental concerns with the changing fashion market, I hope to create sustainable and socially responsible collections while retaining the humor necessary to enjoy life. At the transit studio, I create an Indian clothing/accessories line for men/women that is non-confirmative, quirky, peaceful and alternative.Made largely out of cotton, silk and other natural materials Transit products are replete with fine/little details and impeccable finish.The product line includes kurtas, shirts, jackets, skirts, tee shirts, trousers, bags and other accessories.

At present, the Transit line is available at

•Transit space 189, Sarat Bose Road, Ground Floor, Kolkata29,

•Ffolio, leela palace

•Grasshopper, Bangalore

•PeopleTree,NewDelhi

•Huma, Hong Kong

K.Padmaja

17/1e, Dover Terrace

kolkata-700019

ph:0091-33-24619826

mob: +919830872339

e-mail: krishnan.padmaja@gmail.com

www.transitdesign.in

Catch me performing in Calcutta Sept 23rd 06

2006-08-28T15:03:00.000+01:00

The time has finally come and I will be travelling to India and Sri Lanka for a period of 4 month. I will do my internship in Ayurvedic Medicine there and learn the practical side of this medical art in established clinics with amazing and highly talented ayurvedic physicians.

On my way I'll do some travelling and will engage in various creative ventures. Watch this space for more announcements...

Come catch me performing in

Calcutta
September 23rd 6 pm
at the Seagull Media and Arts Resource Centre
(opp Bhawanipur police station near Hazra)

This will be a intimate poetry performance held in their beautiful library with lots of opportunity for q & a. If you're in the neighbourhood make sure you come by and say hello. If not I will surely do more european gigs after my return in january 2007.

Homestory Deutschland

2006-07-26T18:52:00.000+01:00

The Biography Project Homestory Deutschland (Germany) is an exhibition showing more than 20 black german personalities from the past and present, who have been of interest or inspiration to the community. It is a collection of short biographical texts and a portraits starting its journey in the town hall of Jena on the 8th of August.

For more info contact www.isdonline.de

Homestory Deutschland
Schwarze Biografien in Geschichte und Gegenwart

Ausstellung im Rathaus Jena _ 8. bis 18. August 2006
Ausstellungseröffnung _ Dienstag, 8. August 2006, 20 Uhr
Öffnungszeiten _ Montag von 8 bis 16 Uhr, Dienstag von 9 bis 16 Uhr,
Mittwoch von 8 bis 12 Uhr, Donnerstag 9 bis 18 Uhr, Freitag von 8 bis 12 Uhr

www.isdonline.de

Bundeszentrale für
politische Bildung
Initiative Schwarze Menschen
in Deutschland e.V.

BEST conference 26.-30. July 2006 in Berlin/ Germany

2006-07-20T09:36:00.000+01:00

The worldcup is over and everybody has temporarily familiarized themselves with city names like Stuttgart, Gelsenkirchen, Kaiserslautern and Dortmund. Now it's time to return to the truly educational themes of current life! Do so by visiting Berlin next week. My friends, the time has come again and BEST is ready for their next strike:
'Black European Studies in Transnational Perspective'.
This will be the 2nd international and interdisciplinary BEST conference and it is well worth checking out. the programme is packed with a variety of topics.
please take a minute and look

http://www.best.uni-mainz.de/dokumente/Program.pdf.

i will be there, so hopefully see you as well!!!
For those of you who didn't read my earlier blog, BEST=Black European Studies

check out Mascha Oehlmann

2006-07-20T09:19:00.000+01:00

please do me a favour and check out Mascha Oehlmann's homepage. another visual artists her paintings are truly moving and it's worth spending some time there.

http://www.moartics.com

on war

2006-05-25T00:06:00.000+01:00

On war

I

Die, die sich einmischen
Fordern stetig
Rechtmaessigkeit
Der gruende wegen
Die die sterben
Haben wenig zu sagen

those who interfere
persistently claim
rightfulness
regarding upon good
causes shown
those who die
have little to say

II

Those who define
Build their campaigns
On rotten meat
In foreign countries
Foreign countries
which did not make it into our internet bookings top ten
those who fly around the world
to just those countries
on my money and yours
not to give an account on the website of the fantastic views they had
or to rate the hotel (which admittedly would be very useful for future reference)
no, but to promote
and explain
to those who have already
died
that it was for them

it made sense

III

Die, die sich stetig
Bemuehen
Das grosse uebel zu beseitigen
Schiessen selber wenig
Noch kehren sie ihren eigenen hof
Die, die stetig fordern
Dieses und jenes land zu erloesen
Gleichen dem messiahs wenig

Die die erloest werden
Sind schon lange tot

Those who consistently
Persevere
To eliminate the great evil
Hardly ever shoot
Nor do their own laundry
Those who consistently
Claim
To free this country and the other
Barely resemble the messiah

Those being freed
Are long dead

on war and the difficulty of ahimsa

2006-05-24T22:42:00.000+01:00

what dilemma it can be to be against the war! i thought it was an easy situation, possible to be applied as a general opinion but it seems it that this is not so. in Indian philosophy, like for instance yogic tradition, ahimsa is embraced as an active form on non-violence. it is not merely the absence or negation of doing physical harm but a daily approach to choosing a peaceful and loving approach to life and all beings. it is considered a mental attitude, a quality that includes thoughts, words and deeds.

having recently traveled to the US i was astounded by all the bumper stickers and flags, supporting the troops in you know where. it was not to be overseen and it made me highly uncomfortable. the last time i had been in north america was just after 9/11 and although people were confused and looking for leadership, the nationalistic phenomena had not yet established so vastly as it has now.
i guess being from germany i will always be petrified when confronted with overshadowing appearances of national paraphernalia. as a teenager it used to mean that i had gotten lost in the wrong end of town, where the neo-nazis ruled, proudly showing off their inhumane heritage by means of the flag. i guess, it doesn't always mean that but the connotation stuck.

anyway, traveling through new england by car or bus i saw hundred and hundreds of stickers, bows, flags, any possible knick knack to support this war, which i have forgotten against what it was again. what i didn't see plentiful, were peace proclamations or other opinions offered so freely for public view.
i had just written, what i though was a poignant, set of short poems about war and how it kills, overwhelmed by the idea that people are being died. when presenting them in a class of young north american students my mind wandered back to all those car stickers i had seen on the sunny boston roads and i got scared. what if nobody real feels this to be an looming issue?
back in london i couldn't shake the thought off. what does it mean to be against the war? does it mean we want peace? if so, for whom, when and most importantly where?
i asked some of my friends that if they were against the war did this mean they were pacifists and the answer was no. this was not a simple issues of wanting to embrace something like ahimsa, this was a complex predicament involving issues of vast differences. again my mind wandered and wondered... although ahimsa seems to be a beautiful approach, fit to solve the matter of living in a society what about all the movements of oppressed people all over the world who had to resort to violence in order to free themselves? was i now against them? and if i was against war was i against any war or just a particular war? if i was against wars in general what about violent intervention which had set a halt to regimes like the german nazi regime of the third reich?

this is not so much a comment but a question. as much as i am personally deeply moved by concepts such as ahimsa as a means of being, i also know what a friend said: that there is no general solution. you cannot apply this concept to all complex political issues at all times. you cannot tell people who are oppressed and who might choose to resist by means of armed struggle that they need to be peaceful in everything they do.
sadly in a way this would mean that peace is relative.

i would very much like there to be a general solution. i would like to say that i'm striving to perfecting ahimsa, that i don't believe any being should be able to decide whether it is right for another being to die. this is how i feel but i guess for now i have to accept that life is too complicated to be solved in one sitting.

Artist Links

2006-05-16T09:42:00.000+01:00

shame on me but I don't seem to be able to wok the link section very well... Therefore here the opportunity to check some of the people I mentioned in my last post:

Daniel Kojo Schrade:
www.afronaut.de
Afro- German Painter

Chima:
http://www.chima-online.de/
Black German R&B

Branwen Okpako:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0645701/
Black German filmmaker

Stephen Lawson:
http://www.delifesign.com/
the most beautiful sculptures you could think of
(you can see a copy of his Black Germania sculpture in the picture in the post about my recent performances below- it's the beautiful gold work i'm holding, he created for the May Ayim Award)

Olu Oguibe: www.camwood.org
- i met this fellow Nigerian in Storrs, Connecticut
where he teaches Art History, I believe.
His homepage is so interesting and inspiring,
you just have to spend some time there.
I like especially the essay on art & magic

Black European Studies

2006-05-13T20:46:00.000+01:00

I've recently come back from a short trip to the US where I was fortunate to attend a conference called re-mapping black Germany- new perspectives on afro-German history, politics and culture. There were lots of inspiring talks, the one that made me think the most was Fatima El-Tayeb's paper on 'Queering Ethnicity'. There were also a few artists who you should definitely check out. Daniel Kojo Schrade, a gifted and accomplished painter exhibited his work (and lend one of his pieces as the conference picture, see on the left, the diaspora piece). He has some amazing stuff including a series called afronaut and brother Beethoven. Branwen Okpako represented the moving image and was there with a few of her films, which I unfortunately missed due to other engagements. Then we had the opportunity to be seduced by Chima's acoustic performance and true to his song, he made us all feel wundervoll (wonderful).
I was performing doing my performance spoken word bit with a jazz musician and had other gigs at the Goethe Institute Boston and various Universities. It was an uplifting experience and an incredible atmosphere.It seems that Black Germany has finally become a recognized topic, people are eager to discuss it. In July there is another great event, this time in Berlin. It is held regarding the setting up of Black European studies! Check their site here: http://www.best.uni-mainz.de/modules/Informationen/index.php?id=13 =13

How exciting are all these developments? I'm thrilled and hope that there will be vivid exchange in the art world as well!

Here's a link to an article about the conference by the college newspaper:
Lecturers teach history of black Germany - News

These are some of my recent performances...

2006-05-13T20:39:00.000+01:00

Olumide Popoola

Slam Poetry Performance in German and English with Jazz piano by Gilad Barkan

Author ReadingTuesday, April 25, 2006, 7:00pm Goethe-Institut Boston

The German-Nigerian author Olumide Popoola, born 1975 in Neuss, is part of a burgeoning German-African cultural scene in Germany. As a poet she weaves her different voices into complex, politically charged spoken-word performances. Her themes are political conflict and issues of national identity, but also experiences of space and of healing. Beyond the Berlin spoken-word scene she has performed internationally, inspired by different forms of expression such as Hip Hop, Jazz Poetry and African story telling traditions. She currently studies Ayurvedic medicine in London.In 2004 Olumide Popoola won the May Ayim Prize for Poetry, the first International Black Germany Literary Award.With Beladan Sezen she editied the book Talking Home. Heimat aus unserer eigenen Feder. Frauen of Color in Deutschland. blue moon press, Amsterdam 1999

Olumide Popoola
University of Connecticut, Storrs
Author Reading
4/21/067:30pm

Olumide Popoola
Poetry Performance with Jazz Pianist
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Author Reading
4/26/064:00pm

Olumide Popoola
Tufts University, Medford, MA