Stirring lyrics at Abuja Poetry Slam

The ‘Poetry Slam' of the Abuja Literary Society has never failed to attract since its inception four years ago. Halima Ali, a youth corps member serving in the Federal Capital Territory won the maiden edition in 2006 while Dexmankind, Ford Manuel, Storyteller, Ekene Atusiubah and Ifueko are other past winners.

Though the slam, held on a quarterly basis, is popular, the ‘Grand Slam' held every December is more so, attracting hundreds of people. Ekene Atusiubah and Reward Enakerakpor, aka Storyteller, won in 2006 and 2007 respectively. The slam did not hold in 2008.

The fun in slamming

Slamming involves being able to combine writing good poetry with the ability to present it confidently in public. The seven contestants, including the defending champion and favourite for this year's title, Ifueko Ogbomo, proved themselves worthy on the night of Friday, December 4, at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.

It was a night of new voices as Simon Abiodun, Adeyi Othman and Ojo William, all first timers, joined the fray to vie for the N50, 000 cash prize at stake.

But it was not just a night of new poets wowing the audience. It was a night of soul searching as most of the poets took the audience on a journey along the patriotic trail. They charged people to rise to the challenge of taking Africa and Nigeria to the Promised Land. While two of the first timers made it to the second round, only one qualified for the final round of the contest. The defending champion, Ogbomo, produced a brilliant performance.

Biased judging?

Judging the slam has always elicited mixed reactions and it wasn't different at this year's edition. While some believe that some judges have crowned undeserving winners in the past, others believe the event should not be seen as a poetry competition.

The special guest and scholar, Ihechukwu Madubuike (co-author of ‘Towards the Decolonization of African Literature' with Chinweizu and Jemie Onwuchekwa) and the poet Chiedu Ezeanah believe that the quality of judging should be improved by getting seasoned poets to serve as judges and ensuring a balance between the quality of the work and the performance. Poet Lola Shoneyin however argues that slam is not the same as a poetry competition. "I do not want to judge people on the basis of their diction but on the substance of their presentation. Slam is mostly about performance and the relevance of their work which is usually measured by how well they appeal to the audience," she said.

New winner

After three keenly contested rounds, Gospel Emakunu emerged as the new Slam/Grand Slam Champion with a score of 43.50, the highest in the history of the slam. The defending champion, Ifueko Ogbomo dropped to 2nd position with 39.80 points while one of the new voices and the revelation of the night, Adeyi Othman with his dramatic rendition on Nigeria, came third with 34.80 points.

Ken Ike Okere, a co-founder of the Abuja Literary Society with Victor Anoliefo and Ike Anya introduced the quarterly slam contest which has become a hit among the literati in Abuja in 2006.