'FROM WHAT WE LOST,' AN EMOTIONAL POETRY SHOW ON HEALING PAST WOUNDS
A showcase packed tight with an array of emotions to trigger healing from the past wounds. Gufydox was on it again, this time unearthing the pains and scars we carry from our past.
‘From what we Lost,’ opened a tad late, which is a bit unusual for Kenyan Poet and filmmaker Gufydox Aka Ogero Oscar. Known for his punctuality, the curtains rose at around 8pm on 17th May 2024 at the Braeburn Theatre in Nairobi. The show was scheduled to begin at 7Pm. Though the wait was unusual for someone as tardy as Gufydox, the audience seem not to notice as many interacted in the hallway, smartphones tucked in purses and pockets. The camaraderie, snacks and drinks held them until the doors opened.
Before the audience could settle in their seats, the stage opened revealing a thoughtful Gufydox seated on a stool surrounded by the Babaz on the Instruments and Rockapella as the backing vocals.
The television Series Boston Legal (2004-2008) has an episode in which a young teenaged girl wants to get a court order to allow her take the ‘forgetting pill’ that would help her forget being assaulted by a rabbi. The girl’s argument, supported by her dad is that she would not want this image to forever haunt her making life even more unbearable in the future. On the other hand, the mother is against it, arguing that we are who we are because of our collective past experiences whether good or bad. This is the debate that Gufydox’s show would try to address.
After a traumatic experience, many of us are drawn to different coping mechanisms. Those who cannot bear the pain will resort to drugs, attempt suicide, or seek professional help including what the character in Boston Legal wanted. A majority however, must find a way to cope with the pain. For those who ‘recover,’ they look back to that memory as a learning experience or an experience that hardened them.
There are those who wipe away traumatic experiences to the back of their mind and try to forget them. It is this group, which Gufydox sought to address. ‘From what we Lost’ came live packed with childhood memories performed by Rockapella then descended into the abyss poking at the very memories that we lost- the memories so painful that we dare not bring them up.
In this show, Gufydox looked at the different losses we experience as we grow. Step by step he brought them back to life. As age catches up, we realize that we are getting old and we can no longer enjoy childhood singing games like we did. Such memories come to us with fondness and laughter as we recall the songs and dances. The Rockapella group, took us back in time to enjoy such lost memories. It was pleasant for the audience to enjoin those on stage as they sang to those melodious repetitive tunes.
However, those tunes are just masks to the relatives and friends we lost along the way. Gufydox made sure to prick that delicate scar. To remind the audience that behind that veil of happiness, there was always pain - pain of a friend or a relative that we lost. The constant reminder that we will never see them again. The songs were the only memories we recall playing and singing together until death took them from us. This was the moment to forget about the games and the singing and call their names as we would while they were around. As the audience shouted those names, the sound echoed the pain hidden and the voice brought back memories and in the din of the theatre, some shed tears.
This has always been Gufydox- a man so robust yet gentle with a voice that is too soft to shout. When he walks towards you, you see a giant with deep baritone voice only to hear a gentle voice say a greeting. With that voice, for almost a decade, Gufydox has healed many through his nostalgic poetry. He has also uplifted many to recognize that it is okay to be vulnerable.
Amateur photo: Gufydox on stage
Even though he had promised never to dampen his performances. And indeed staged two bubbly poetry shows; ‘The Other Things and Love’ and ‘Nairobi Dating Stories.’ Gufydox could not hold back. He just had to unearth the past.
Poetry is an art of the heart whose function is to heal, critic and observe the unforeseeable soul. For this reason, poets and creatives have used words to render their most memorable events and observation in verse. Alfred, Lord Tennyson penned ‘In Memoriam A.H.H to come to terms with the death of his friend Arthur Henry Hallam. Outside of poetry, Kenyan Artist Wambui Collymore created an art exhibition dubbed ‘All my Venus Days (2022)” to remember the death of her husband, the former Safaricom C.E.O Bob Collymore. Gufydox staged a show.
In this show Gufydox remembered how he lost a sibling, a friend, a parent and how it is not easy to heal from it. Like Wambui Collymore, Gufydox did not just create a place for himself but invited the audience to come and remember those they had lost. He shared his space with others thus mitigating the pain. This could be one of Gufydox’s most memorable event because it not only spoke to the heart but it was also minimalist.
Majorly, Gufydox’s set is usually immersive merging with the performance to bring to the table an impressive work of art. This show was different. The stage was simply lit with lanterns a premonition of what is to come like the candles lit in remembrance of the departed. Hanging from the roof were thirty or so chandeliers illuminating the stage. Dressed in off-white, the backing vocals would mimic the spirit world thus completing Gufydox’s shrine. It was that simple, yet the message profound.
Gufydox was not alone, he shared the stage with his brother Mbunge Aliyeparara (Gregory Onyango) and Abe Rogato. Rogato’s performance came down like drizzling rain that wouldn’t stop yet within it are filled memories and reflections. The memories haunt yet reflections point out to the future decisions we ought to make. In all these, there are relatives and friends who yearn to see you move yet you are a young person stuck at the very end of teenage hood. Rogato in his tenor sought to show the intersection between youth and adulthood and how a fight between traditional culture and modernity redefines growth. Laced with dark humour and difficult questions to the existence of the deity he exposed the vulnerable existence of religion at a point in time when there are many questions than answers brought about by the suffering of the youth. He was deliberate and at the same time reckless yet he left a lot to be desired as he sauntered off the stage.
Mbunge Aliyeparara rarely performs alongside his brother but in this show, he came armed with fluent Swahili laced with sheng. Delivered in soft conversational tone, Mbunge will espouse wisdom on the audience in pun, rich metaphor and simile tailored for the intellectual and novice as well. Like a sweet song his melodious delivery will carry the audience to the end of his lines while like a seasoned teacher imparting knowledge on good governance and individual liberties.
There is a longstanding rivalry between Gufydox and Stella Kivuti that reached its climax in ‘The Other Things and Love.’ Stella Kivuti, a slam queen plays the role of Gufydox’s ex-girlfriend who is still bitter of the break up and the fact that Gufydox has refused to grow up. He is not a man enough yet he does not see it. On the other hand, Gufydox is the proud ex who wants to prove a point and hide his weaknesses as an African man. Through their exchanges and hitting below the belt, the duo leave the audience in stitches. Their well-orchestrated dialogue is a pastiche of the modern day dating where an independent girl is free to speak her mind. She is no longer demure, she is bold and knows what to expect in a relationship. The boy on the other hand, still lingers on the traditional masculinity which is a thin veil of the his own weakness- he cannot control an independent woman.
Through this, Gufydox and Stella Kivuti bring to the table the shift in the dating scene that has seen like-minded individuals meet at the intersection of the challenges with modern day courtship and the traditional norms that guided the institution of marriage. It is within this confines that the modern man is confronted with the reality of life; she is no longer the shy housewife material but a partner. She is sophisticated and at the same time exposed to the vicissitudes of life and knows exactly what she wants. In such a conundrum, it is either the man to accept or ship out.
Though delivered in a witty presentation, Gufydox and Stella are very philosophical. Through their interplay, one can hear the words, feel them echo through the stage and at the same time observe the body language of the two performers. Strictly speaking, their stage presence inundates not comic relief but the frustrations that lie within the current society especially among the youth.
Kenya has shifted to a new age where a majority of her youth are educated. Most of this young people were raised in urban centers or with working parents. Having little exposure to parents, this generation is ill-equipped to confront the adult life as regards sexuality and camaraderie. Also, they have little or no knowledge about their tradition as regards courtship. Therefore, armed with the knowledge on TV and the internet, they confront the murky world of love and life being bruised with betrayal and and heartbreaks. It is interesting that two poets can discuss such serous issues with wit and sarcasm thus bringing to the table topics treated as mundane by the school, church and parenting.
The show 'From What We Lost,' brought to light a lot of societal issues that still have not been taken seriously by the society. It unearthed the past to show that the passage of time does not actually heal the hurt of the past but contributes towards the hardening of the society or collective amnesia often confused as healing. The show, through music, film and performance elevated the art of healing through seeking help and speaking about it. It seemed to say, ‘It’s ok to speak about it.” Gufydox indeed has mastered the art of storytelling and we are yet to see the best of him.
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