Kojo Baffoe, Author at KOJO BAFFOE

Urban Soul Poetry Slam Winner – Buthelezi

Jun 2, 2009 | Words

I've never really been sure how I actually feel about poetry slams. I had the opportunity to tour the UK in 2006 as part of Hammer & Tongue's Four Continents Poetry Slam Tour and that was fun because it was the same 8 poets, grateful for the opportunity to share our work. I just find that, in some spaces 'the point IS the points and not the poetry'. Anyway, despite these feeble misgivings, I was a judge at the first ever Urban Soul Poetry Slam at Maponya Mall in Soweto and Buthelezi is the man who took the prize. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuynfozMzg8 I will be loading more videos...

Taalam Acey – Love/Erotik

Jun 2, 2009 | Words

As I crawl out the trenches, find my way through a self-inflicted writer's block, I have started to read, and watch, and listen to poetry again. I have stepped away from my desire to write and allow myself to experience the joy that is the written and spoken word. Someone I have recently come across is Taalam Acey. This is a recent performance of his at UrbanErotika, Bowery Poetry Club in New York. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWJOMyP9hE0 I hope it speaks to you and you find relevance between the lines. I know I did.

ramblings – is there such a thing as an anti-expert?

May 29, 2009 | Random

Image by Siphiwe Mhlambi I’ve recently come to the conclusion that I am not an expert. I know a bit about a lot of things and a lot more about a couple of things but there is nothing that I know inside out. I love music, but I can’t quote you dates, and albums, and lyrics, and whatever. I can tell you how it makes me feel and that I like it, and possibly some reasons why I like it. But that’s as far as I go. I love gadgets, and spend a lot of time fiddling with them, but it’s more about how the fit into a daily schedule rather than the specs and intricacy of the features. I may use it a...

Hanging with DJ Black

May 21, 2009 | Random

When I was in Accra last, I spent a lot of time chilling with DJ Black at the Joy Fm studios. This is one of those times. Still more to come. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drlOglbZz-0 August 2020: I have been going through my past blog posts, debating about which to keep and which to delete. This was around the time I started visiting Ghana, my father's birthplace, again regularly. I hadn't been there in 35 years. DJ Black is a good friend, and that friendship has endured to this day. Funny thing is, when I shot this video, it would take forever to upload video to YouTube. Fortunately,...

Poetry Performance At The Blues Room

May 16, 2009 | Words

Confession. I posted this years ago and, one day (in July 2020), looking at what I wrote, it made absolutely no sense to me. So I have reposted the video, deleted what I had written and added this. The Blues Room in Johannesburg was one of those spaces that became legendary. When I first moved to city, they had a lot of live music performances. At some stage, some people started a poetry night there and, with a new camera that I didn't know how to use, I performed there. This is the result. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpSyLaZJJ_k It's a funny thing. I try not to watch these videos much,...

ramblings – new beginnings

May 16, 2009 | Random

The last couple of months have been long. A journey laced with apathy, lethargy and a lack of direction as I make a transition out of where I was to where I think I want to go. The one thing my last job taught me is that I am not necessarily the most employable person out there and, therefore, I need to focus on my own projects, my own ideas, my own dreams, my own structures. Working on Blaque magazine taught me a great deal about myself and the rag trade and I would not change the experience for anything. We are where we are supposed to be, doing...