AFRICA DEFINE YOURSELF: AFRICA MY BEGINNING AND AFRICA MY END, BEHOLD MY SON, BEHOLD By Senzo Scholar Credit: Phehello Mofokeng and Linda Ka Zwane [https://youtube/watch?v=ECORo9vvIXA#t=56] Indeed Africa is my beginning and Africa is my end. Thanks profound to the late Africa My Beginning, Africa My Ending by Ingoapele Madingoane Poet and social activist, Ingoapele Madingoane, is considered the doyen of modern, politically conscious oral poetry. The late Madingoane was a formidable member of the 1976 Black Consciousness Sowetan poets. He wrote the famous, evocative, mini-epic poem, Africa my Beginning, which was published by Ravan Press in Johannesburg in 1979 and banned by the apartheid authorities two months later. Madingoane performed the poem widely in Soweto, accompanied by Mihloti Black Theatre’s flutes and drums. It became a regular feature during the protest rallies and funerals of anti-apartheid activists. He has had an indelible impact and influence on the post-apartheid generations of poets, including world-renowned poets Lesego Rampolokeng, Siphiwe ka Ngwenya and Kgafela oa Magogodi. Madingoane was honored with a SALA Literary Posthumous Award in 2007, nine years after his death, owing to a long illness. His epic most renowed and celebrated poem is Africa my Beginning and Africa my ending, which reads: Africa My Beginning And Africa My Ending They came from the west. Sailing to the east with hatred and disease flowing from their flesh and a burden to harden our lives. They claimed to be friends, when they found us friendly, and when foreigner met foreigner. They fought for the reign, exploiters of Africa. Africa my beginning, And Africa my ending. They asked Mugabe, unataka nini hapa, wewe mwenyewe? He said binadamu zote, ni ndugu zake za Africa, nimefika nirudishie, nchi zaZimbabwe mimi ni mwenyewe. In Africa my beginning, and Africa my ending, Suckers of my country, they laid their sponges, flat on its soil and absorbed its resources to fill their coffers. Agostinho had spoken in the language of poets, that they went away in multitudes and forgot their hearts behind, But late is never a bad start in Africa my beginning And Africa my ending. No easy walk to freedom, ten lonely years black hopeful men. Food being their wish, courage is their pay, for once Africa was respected for a leader had emerged from the bush to Maputo, Viva frelimo Africa my beginning, And Africa my ending. I remember ja toivo, Namibia is not lost, Nujoma is not idle he’d be coward if he was. You might as well know Germany, is no more in Africa my beginning, And Africa my ending. Azania here I come from apartheid in tatters in the land of sorrow from that marathon bondage, the sharpville massacrethe flames of Soweto. I was born there, I will die there in Africa my beginning, And Africa my ending From the dusty street of Ogaden desert, I saw red blood soaked with dusty soil. Black Eritrea sons fighting tooth and nail to restore their heritage, the horn of Africa Africa my beginning, And Africa my end. Lets do something... Bopha
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 21:18:46 +0000
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