KENYAN POET CELEBRATES A DECADE OF POETRY IN STYLE

 Gufydox has maintained a consistency of immersive performance that not only engages the audience but also takes it into an emotional journey. From stage arrangement, musical instruments, costumes and the presentations, Gufydox not only drives the point home but also creates deep conversations on issues affecting the society.

Kenyan poet, Gufydox is celebrating ten years of poetry performance. In a decade, Gufydox, born Ogero Oscar has proven to be a guru in the performance poetry in his home country Kenya. Through the years, he has staged tens of shows all of which have been sold out. 

     Photos by Murathe Ngigi 

This year being his tenth, Gufydox launched his Fourth album, ‘The Kids are Alive’ and hosted an event with the same name. Like his previous albums, Gufydox released his album online in August and staged a two-day showcase at the National Museums in Nairobi on 31st October and 1st November.   

The Kids are Alive event was sold out and well attended bringing both veteran Gufydox fans and newbies to the National Museums of Kenya Headquarters’ amphitheater in Nairobi. The usual silent museum night was interrupted by music and recitation accompanied by audience applause. Throughout the night, Gufydox delivered one of the best shows to a very receptive audience.  

Gufydox is a Kenyan poet and filmmaker who has been a prolific performer in the Kenyan poetry scene since 2015. Through his poetry, Gufydox found a voice through which he could speak to the society about life and its intricacies. His poetry has majorly been a roller-coaster of emotions. 

Photo by author 

In the Kids are Alive, Gufydox is at the height of his poetry creativity. You could feel the stage reverberate with ten years of experience. The poet on stage was not a young boy anymore, but a man who has, in the past decade used his wit and charm to wow the audience and at the same time engage them in deep conversation. The poet seemed to tell the audience, ‘we’ve made it this far.’

The poetry was rich in style and word choice. The intonation and variation at per with the backing instrumental music. Creating an array of emotions, Gufydox would carry the audience with him to his wonder world. He would overwhelm them with his rich charm and in his soft spoken manner make them leave their bodies’ sitted still in the amphitheater while souls wandered about in the poetry world. The audience was silent, not because they were compelled to, but because they would hang on every word stitched along by the musical ensemble, the backing vocals and the well-chosen collaborators. 

In order to make things perfect, Gufydox brought along his favorite band, The Babaz, together with Hornsphere and Gugz. The Babaz were on the keys and the strings while Gugz filled the air with the percussion. On the other hand, Hornsphere blew the night chills out with their range of horns make the performance not only entertaining but also perfect for the ear. The musical ensemble paired well with Ashley on the backing vocals. 

Gufydox also collaborated with several musical artists in this showcase. He collaborated with Coster Ojwang, Mutoriah, Ras Armor, Polaris, Njoki Karu among others. 

During the entire performance, Gufydox’s recitation spoke about an array of issues affecting the modern day individual. From his performance, one could see a struggling artist trying to make his art alive. As an artist, there is constant need to create art but also make money out of it. However, the prospects of successful career in the arts is wishful thinking. The reality hits hard. 

Besides, the artist, the average modern day individual grapples with an array of issues stemming from bad leadership, selfish self-love and egotism. In the Kids are Alive, the artist wished to rekindle childlike characteristics among his audience. He wished to go back to innocence, selflessness, playfulness, equality, happiness that knows no bounds and so on. In childhood, there are no lingering heartbreaks and the pain of betrayal- a hallmark of adulthood. 

The Kids are Alive was nostalgic not only evoking memories but poking at the core question: when did the rain starting beating us? In it you could smell a whiff of regret, a tinge of pain, a smell of fear and a resolve to keep fighting. The poet looked at the man in the mirror and threw him to the audience- a reflection that whatever is wrong with us begun at the very core; our individual personalities. 

He was philosophical as well as obvious; he was direct in his attacks as well as satirical. In naming the show The Kids are Alive, he wanted the audience to look at the kids around and those inside of them. He wanted the kids inside to come out. Life is a game, and in this game, some are hurt while some are lost. Though life continues but do we really take a look at our past to correct the present? Do we take any responsibility for our wrongs? 

In this questions, Gufydox brought to life the mistakes we do in our own personal life and how those mistakes shape our own egotistical self. In order to justify our choices, we make drastic decisions based on our pains while exonerating ourselves from blame. For instance, in “Cry About it,’ the poet describes the building blocks of hate in relationships and how love slowly dies. The poem may seem shallow but when looked beyond the obvious lines, its true meaning manifests. It eulogizes the death commitment and partnerships due to perceived happiness that cannot be achieved when one expects too much but brings less. 

By extension, the poem ‘Freedom’ talks about love in its broader perspective. Love begets freedom and as a child, one feels free and when at home the freedom is boundless. But this freedom is confining, it has boundaries forged in hate. “And maybe that is how love houses hate,” is a painful line that brings back the memories of the 2008 Post Election Violence in Kenya. The poet observes how quick those we love turned into enemies based on tribe- a monster that has formed the bedrock of division in Kenya’s politics.

He laments the loss of childlike innocence when tribal division leads to friends becoming foes. ‘Freedom,’ performed in collaboration with Coster Ojwang- a singer-songwriter and visual artist with deep cultural roots in his Luo heritage that comes alive in his art, kept tugging at the truth that we are who we are and not what the society says of us. From Freedom, we learn the spirit of embracing each other regardless of our backgrounds. 

Broadly, The Kids are Alive album is about the self and the society. The poems speak about love and freedoms. Focusing on Kenya, the poet looks at manipulative leadership stemming from colonial times that has forever besieged his country. Creating tribal divisions, the leaders have become colonial pawns who continuously spread racism and neocolonialism while having a tight grip on power despite the ever present civil unrest. In this post-colonial political configurations, the subjects are forever inundated by conflicting information spread by the media thus hard to choose whatever is right. It is for this reason that change benefits the powerful while the sharply divided proletariat continuously hope for change creating a cycle of a dog chasing its own tail.

If you follow Gufydox’s work closely, it speaks a lot about the change that comes from reading whatever is between the lines. As much as he condemns bad leadership, corruption and selfishness, the poet has always believed that an enlightened society cannot be gas lighted. It is from this belief that most of his work draws its origin. 

The Kids are Alive album can be streamed online on YouTube, Spotify and all your favorite streaming platforms.

His other albums are: Misimu, Love and How it Comes and Black Boy Love.