By Ogar Monday
Perhaps it can be said that the Black man is reinventing his legend, and the world is starting to honour anything African. Thus in a bid to promote this grand movement, the city of Calabar was set afire with its first-ever blazing poetry and music concert.
Held recently at the James Ene Henshaw Foundation, the event featured sizzling spoken word poetry and eclectic lyrical performances detailing the Africa’s rich history and the black man’s courage and forbearance in his quest for acceptance.
According to the organisers of the event, Art X Acoustics and Hit Drive Time of Hit95.9 FM, the concert was organised to craft an African legend coated with the softness of music and burnished with the fire of poetry.
“Art’s a wonderful gift of nature and I’m really glad to have been able to pull this off. I mean, the reception was massive; the turn-out was encouraging. What this shows is that Africans, especially the young, are starting to show increasing love for spoken poetry and not think of it as passé, and its a great prospect.” Chris Fridae, founder of Art X Acoustics, said.
Several of the performers included spoken-word artistes like D-ray, Isaac Daniel, Jimpoet Adie, Precious Lola, Worden Enya, Tweestead, Chris Fridae, among others. Meanwhile the audience was treated to a wonderful repast of spellbinding music from artistes such as Patrick Shadow, Ngozi John and Akani.
Meanwhile, founder of Art X Acoustics, Chris Fridae, stated that the brand would launch her YouTube Channel mid-September. This effort, it is hoped, will help to spread the gospel of spoken poetry beyond the boundaries of Cross River and cast its beam on society.
Founded in January 2018, Art X Acoustics is a brand that promotes poetry through live performances and social media activities. It bands together spoken-word artistes and lovers of spoken word in an intimate location for thrilling live poetry performances. The platform has garnered an incredibly huge followership on its online platforms.