Thursday, February 25, 2010

HECTOR KUNENE: YOUNG POET GLITTERS

Hector Kunene...

Hector Kunene is a young South African aspiring poet, who was born and bred at Hammersdale in 1992. “A place where politics reigned with bloodshed and the burning of houses for the fight of dominance between ANC and IFP in general around” he says in his poetic manner.

He told Free State news that he is the first born in the family with two other siblings. “I worked in my life just after completing my matric and the love of art and poetry continued from there; after it all began in high school.” Hector, who oozes superb confidence, emphasises that it is very important for one to realise his/her potential from an early stage.

His work is yet to be published in book form; but one of the poems he wrote called Bloody Corpuscles appeared in the national paper, Sunday World. “From there on I continued putting finishing touches to my first offering, an anthology called Through the tunnel. The poem Bloody Corpuscles is about the alarming use of the specific words when talking especially to the young ones.”

Hector’s performances straddle places called Caprivi in Tembisa North Johannesburg where he would normally attend weekly poetry sessions and perform with artists from all spheres who would come and showcase their gifts.

The flamboyant young poet from Kwazulu Natal is a full-fledged Zulu who still “speaks a breasted (Mother tongue) language” though he spent the rest of his high school life in Johannesburg from 1996-2001. His poems are written mainly in English, “although I still write in Zulu - Inkomo Zobaba and Maye Kufa which are normally shared in funerals”

He is hoping to get a publisher soon and be able to release his book that is titled “Through the tunnel . His message to young aspiring writers is that they must spend time assiduously doing what they love and explore their talent. The one person that inspires him is the great Kgafela wa Magogodi who shot to fame with “Thy Condom Come” and wrote the play “I write what I like”
- S Botsime
* Reproduced by kind permission of Free State News

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