The celebration of art

Africaid team joined other youths at the Shoko Festival workshops held at the Vera Amphitheatre, Gallery Delta. The Shoko International Spoken Word and Hip Hop Festival is a celebration of poetry, hip hop and urban culture.

Tehn Diamond and Nomsa Mazwai held the first of these workshops, raising awareness with ‘sing positive; learning to sing and speak out against HIV/AIDS stigma’. In concluding the workshop, youths came up with a wonderful song and posters shunning stigma.
Carl Joshua Ncube had the audience in stitches as he did what he knows best; comedy! To be a great comedian always comes down to knowing your audience and knowing when to deliver the punch line.
The most talented and amazing young poets converged for the youth slam; poetry battle with poets from as young as 10 years old showcasing their power.

‘Hip hop and social change’ came immediately after the youth slam and was facilitated by Godobori and Mic Crenshaw. They talked of how artists should stop depending on recording labels and start doing it your own way knowing that your talent will take you to the highest peak. We finished off the workshop by answering the question ‘how can we stop artists from being exploited’ and we answered in an artistic way – through song and poetry.