A picture of graffiti on the wall paints the woes and tribulations of the masses while poetry echoing in a teary voice coats the last of the unsaid word. Kenyan Poet Dorphan brings together this two elements of art in his freshly minted expressive and thought-provoking spoken word video “Mashujaa”.
Laced with cries of despair from gifted vocalist Bua, Dorphan born Mutuma Dennis speaks of the blinding rage that boils in every young heart, lost in the abyss of unfulfilled dreams of the Kenyan and Africa’s true heroes.
The black and white video brings to light the irony of the present. Dorphan brashly ridicules the new Africa, a continent in the 21st Century and mirrors it with the days of struggle for liberation; mentioning the likes of; Dedan Kimathi, Thomas Sankara Steve Biko among others. He pleads with Kimathi, the esteemed Kenyan freedom fighter, to forgive him for “Bado na lamba miguu ndo nidishi, ndo nipate noti.” (I still lick people’s feet for me to get money and eat), a satirical chide to realities that befall the ordinary people; “Msee msoto kupata haki ni kama kulenga kiroboto na mkuki” (A broke man getting justice is like shooting a flea with an arrow) Dorphan dares the powers that be. The poet further addresses the concept of climate change, he reminds one that climate change is real, the poet alludes to the late, Nobel Laureate environmentalist Wangari Maathai as the last vocal environmentalist.
The vocal echoes on the track, reflects the cries from the voiceless, with respect to the past, the far Kenya and African has come and an interrogation on our current situation.
The video directed by Keter Sammy, Ogero Oscar and Erick Kirui was shot at dust Depo studios, Railway Museum in Nairobi. Its message and compelling videography, graffiti and emotions should not be taken as relics but as the spear that wakes consciousness to Africans oppressed by the pigmented colonialists.
Dorphan has once again, shown that he is at the top of his game not only as a poet but also as a satirist. His other pieces are Najua(I Know), Show Me, Ndoa Doa (marriage spot (literal), Brenda, Kings and Queens and Colussus.
You can watch his Video here: