'A channel' Poets speak out in Africa slam revival
The Guardian|December 11, 2024
Clutching a microphone in one hand and pointing at the audience with the other, the Burkinabe poet and DJ Otemptic reeled about jihadism and women's resilience in a patriarchal society to about 200 people at a slam at a venue in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
Eromo Egbejule
'A channel' Poets speak out in Africa slam revival

"I would like to talk to you about my pain... terrorists of all colours," recited Otemptic, who was accompanied on the stage by a guitarist, keyboardist and drummer. "Authors of barbarism, those who stop the development of my proud homeland."

Otemptic, born Kabre Adjaratou in Yamoussoukro, the Ivorian capital, is based in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. As she performed, poets from the host nation and other Francophone countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Algeria huddled at the side of the stage, snapping their fingers intermittently in support.

This story is from the December 11, 2024 edition of The Guardian.

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This story is from the December 11, 2024 edition of The Guardian.

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