By Evans Dakwa
Veteran Poet and 2024 NAMA’ Outstanding Poet winner Mambo Guramatunhu, has implored local Poets to be innovative and create quality content that will make their work easy to market .
Guramatunhu, real name Ngonidzashe Paradza spoke to Ziyah News Network in wide ranging interview, reflecting on his recent NAMA award and the poetry industry in Zimbabwe as a whole.
The Poet who has carved his name among the greats in Zimbabwean poetry, reckons poetry, being an industry that is growing, requires quality products to break the ceiling and be appreciated more.
“Poets must create competent content that reflects quality across board, which is quality in voice recordings, videos and be relevant to our people by touching on issues that address community issues. That way it becomes easier to demand space for poetry as the quality will be speaking for itself, said the Poet whose professional career is into its 14th year.
He urged other poets to follow him onto the more marketable poetry genre, Poesic.
“Poesic is a fusion of music and poetry which makes our poetry playable on more platforms like television and radio. This packaging of poetry to create Poesic, allows us to have background sounds, record professionally in studios. It is these innovations that will attract more followers and appreciation of the industry, he said.
For the seasoned Poet, winning the Outstanding Award at NAMA 2024 elevates his brand but also adds more pressure on him to be a role model to upcoming poets and to ensure he drives the poetry industry to grow in the country.
“Winning the award means the world is watching, I have to perfect my work as all eyes are on me. Industry wise, it gives me greater responsibility to nurture upcoming poets and clear their way into the industry, “added Mambo Guramatunhu
“Poetry is not about entertainment only, it’s also about educating, conscientising and awareness. It is edutainment and my generation of poets has a responsibility to really define poetry so that the upcoming ones do not lose the values and norms of the art of poetry.”
As aptly summed by the renowned poet, gone are the days when poetry was a past time, it has become an industry that can contribute to economy Zimbabwe if supported the same way as music. Work by poets is being studied in the school curriculum and the whole industry is a sleeping giant, a gold mine that awaits exploration through support from promoters.