POETRY

AND

JAZZ

The process of knowledge production,

PICHATIME AND

NAFASI LIBRARY

Rhythmic experimentation, melodic innovation, intonations, and expressions that could both playfully and profoundly challenge the boundaries of form and style—jazz and poetry are two art forms that have delighted just as much as they have confounded. Artistic cousins and collaborators, jazz and poetry have a long history of conversation and cross-pollination. In Tanzania, poetry has been sung as much as written, and jazz has given musicians license to experiment with new sounds as much as reach back to the sonic past.

This session of Pichatime x Nafasi Library explored the loose and free-flowing connections between Jazz and Poetry, inviting poets and musicians to share their craft and highlight the creative impulses that drove them both.

We invited lovers of both music and poetry to join us for a special evening of poetry reading, live music, film and projections, and dialogues with Swahili poets and musicians.

This project was created in collaboration with Nafasi Art Space’s library initiative. A library, a place where a vast array of ideas are stored, is often primarily associated with written knowledge. The very word conjures images of a silent building filled with endless pages of volumes, transporting readers into tales of insight, passion, heroism, villainy, romance, tragedy, joy, and the dizzying contradictions and dreams of humanity.

Central to the concept of a library is its function as a storehouse of knowledge. Building on this idea, we explored how a repository of knowledge can transcend the written page in this session of Poetry and Jazz. This exploration formed a key interest and focus of our work with Nafasi’s library.

Throughout the session, there was a prevailing undertone of joy mingled with a poignant sense of sadness—almost a lament for what time has taken from us, particularly the loss of great poets like Shaban Robert and Kaizirabi. While their works remain, serving as powerful reminders of their masterful command of language and their deep love for Kiswahili, we can only glimpse the vast ocean of passion and commitment that defined their lives and their poetry.

It was this encompassing presence of figures from across vast stretches of human time that evoked this sense of both joy and melancholy. The loss, not only of these great minds to time, but also of the traces of their vast wealth of knowledge—the richness of human experience bound by the limits of biology—was deeply felt.

The question of how much effort is dedicated to recording and archiving the knowledge held by our elders remains a contentious one. It’s safe to say that it’s not nearly enough, a sentiment echoed by many in attendance.

It is this sense of lack of grasping and keeping of the richness of this knowledge that seem to be a concern for many, yet, an possibly more importantly the opportunity to reflect on these questions, was a profoundly beautiful experiences.

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The event brought together some of the most important living poets, both established and emerging, in a vibrant dialogue set against the backdrop of innovative local band Mopao Swahili Jazz.

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OPEN

MIC

POETRY

READING

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Poetry and Jazz offered a unique experience: a stage where diverse artists from across the city shared their work, both original and interpretations of other poets. The palpable energy of young poets finding their voice alongside established figures in the local scene made it a rare and inspiring experience.

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