Harare Open Mic brings an experimental intermeshing of spoken word poetry and archival sound/s rooted in the history of Zimbabwe, a collaboration between Tinofireyi ‘Aero5ol’ Zhou and Cynthia ‘Flow Chyld’ Marangangwanda on Saturday 30 May at Moto Republik 2-5p.m.
The collaboration between Cynthia “Flowchyld” Marangwanda and Tinofireyi “Aero5ol” Zhou came about through a series of Bauhaus Listening Workshops – hosted by the Goethe Institute in Johannesburg in March 2024, as part of “Listening To The World – 100 Years of Radio” project. Both artists had been invited to participate in the programme – sharing reflections from their individual practices.
Their personal reflections and resolutions resulted in a collaborative performance/ presentation at the “Listening To The World-100 Years of Radio Art” presentation hosted by the Haus Der Kulturen Der Welt, Germany, in October 2024.
This presentation/performance brings together Cynthia’s work, writing and pondering around decolonising of the African land and mindscape and Tinofireyi’s work and research around black music, history and experimental audio composition.
Both artists are keenly aware that even though this presentation was initially presented to a worldwide audience via an international online platform, the true gravity of this work manifests in its presentation in Zimbabwe in particular, and on the African continent in general.
And that this presentation and thinking around the performance presents a possibility of the process undoing and realigning of the psyche and the land.
Cynthia “Flow Chyld” Marangwanda is a poet, author and cultural heritage activist. As a spoken word and slam poet she has performed in Zimbabwe, Namibia, The Netherlands, Lesotho, Germany and South Africa.
Her poems have been published in a number of anthologies and literary magazines. As a cultural heritage activist, she is committed to decolonising Zimbabwean sacred sites.
Cynthia is a recipient of a NAMA award for Outstanding First Creative Published Work for her debut novella Shards in 2015, and a NAMA nominee for Outstanding Fiction Book for her second novella The Toppling in 2026.
Her work is heavily influenced by ancestral heritage and the experience of African womanhood. She is concerned with the intersections and conflicts between the traditional and the modern, the local and the global, the spiritual and the material
Tinofireyi Zhou aka Aero5ol is a multidisciplinary artist based in Zimbabwe. He has performed and exhibited projects and work/s in Germany, South Africa, Norway and other places. He is currently working around music research and poetry through sound.
Poetry has for years existed on the fringe of festivals, corporate events and even literary festivals as well. The Harare Open Mic has curated the May edition with a deliberate bias to give voice and space to this underrated artform infusing new and growing voices on the Harare poetry scene.
Post-Covid19 has seen a rise in new voices in spoken word poetry resuscitating the artform that felt like it was being overtaken by page poetry given the many publications that have been witnessed over the last five years.
The slam and performance community is alive once again with many initiatives such as Word Kalcha, Izwi, WeCre8te Afrika, Shoko Festival Poetry Slam, Intwasa Poetry Slam and many others making their mark over the past five years.
Harare Open Mic joins in the movement with the sole purpose of providing space and allowing the young poets to gain confidence and work on their performance as they prepare for the bigger stages such as Intwasa Arts Festival, Shoko Festival, corporate events and even Harare International Festival of the Arts(H.I.F.A).
Over seventeen poets are billed to perform, many of them taking to the Harare Open Mic stage for the first time. Among them will be the fast-rising Tadana Nakai, Lindsay who also goes by the nom de plume ‘M^h’; mind ‘to the power of’ the heart, Yvonne Matanhire, Tafadzwa Mbalizwey Mushayi, Tawanda Josh Vombo, Karl Sibanda. Stand-up comedian Trust K and musicians such as Runniq, Mike Cibeh, Randall Tagwireyi, Priv, Denzel Diesel will be there to spice up the afternoon with some comedy and music.
Harare Open Mic is a family-friendly space for a laid-back afternoon outing and as always, we promise nothing but good vibes.
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