The Man-You-Script: A poetry recital synopsis (Unofficial)

This was a terse synopsis jotted down for the poetry recital staged at the National Theater in Kampala on 5th September, 2015 - by the Lantern Meet of Poets; for reasons logistical, it went unpublished - so excuse the tacit, inlaid details; I hope though you may relate with the aesthetics at a more generic level -

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 Friends - what unfurls before you tonight is, to speak truly, a canvas of nightly firmament decked in the brightest of stars and glowing with the infectious mystery of a cosmic radiance. 

It is an orchard of fruit; now apple green, now mandarin yellow, now cherry red; ripe, teeming with all things good and new in a nature chaste and pure.

The Man-You-Script, the clever, partly elusive yet provocative name christened upon tonight’s showcase also doubles as a rhetorical query to all parties privy to our literary enterprise  – ourselves as artists, you our readership and patrons, and of course the broad spectrum of society which informs our ideation and inspires our work.

The challenge posed herein, is for us to pick up this ‘existential gauntlet’, and rise to what we, in a consensus of artistic opinion deem a generational challenge.

I repeat myself by mentioning that African society is plagued with profound socio-cultural sores made manifest daily and painfully in the dysfunction of family - remiss parents, absentee fathers, missing mothers, maid-nurtured infants, and teenagers left to their own devices (and gadgets).

Essentially, what we have as contemporary Africans is a crisis – the double tragedy of unfulfilled roles and splintered hopes.

I presume this is what inspired Miss Anne Namuddu, a remarkable young writer within the Meet, to earlier this year moot the notion of celebrating manhood – a positive rejoinder we could make against the rancor of animosity leveled against Africa (mostly by Africans themselves), with a specific bias towards the man and his pivotal place in this land of humanity’s provenance.

It is from here that equally strong female voices in the Meet added their weight to Namuddu’s; spearheading the beginnings of a process that has finally birthed The Man-You-Script.

Three outstanding ladies; Barbera Namuli, Aki Agaba and Susanne Aniku diligently deliberated and scripted the storyboard that guided the poets in their craft.

Miss Sanyu Kisaka ably and confidently shouldered the demanding role of artistic director; translating the storyboard into a dynamic, communicative visual-audio entity.

Miss Kisaka was assisted by Miss Aniku and Miss Agaba in readying the performers for stage, and Bagenda Remmy excelled as roving co-director.

 I hope thus, that as you journey through the hills of Aleptokor, stalk the night with deadly Assasins, and taste the bittersweet spice of Modernity; you shall emerge, enraged yes, even scandalized – but stimulated and renewed too.

This is a recital akin to a pot of rich Ugandan brew – earthy, mealy and rewarding in its taste.

Pick a straw - I pray you indulge gladly!

Solomon Manzi,

Member – Lantern Meet of Poets.