Kazungu Dennis
LIFE AND PASSION
Kazungu Dennis’
passion for the
spoken word
passion for the
spoken word
He has performed nationwide, won awards and built a fan base but his laid-back demeanor shows none of all that. Today, he reveals the current poetical industry pet peeve and his deep desire to change it.
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AZUNGU DENNIS is so normal. Just like the rest of us, he can run around, go grab dinner, hang out with friends and watch soccer with them as well. He can also do something extra. His great voice has been running Multimedia University (MMU) radio’s newscasts and shows. Except that he has a different skin pigmentation. He is living with albinism.
Somewhere in late February 2017, due to lack of anything particularly better to do, I set to hangout outside the studio. Kazungu was also there, just 20 minutes away from a 7:00pm newscast. I said hello, then we started talking about the constitution. He checks it regularly. He reads it like a high school set- book.
During the chat, he sporadically took out his phone to probably check for mails and Whatsapp messages. I could see that he strained looking at its screen. When I earlier asked if he remembered me, he curved in close just to check out my face. He was dressed in a cream sweater that resembled his hair. He also had blue jeans and sneakers on. Just like a regular collegian.
When he maintained eye-contact, I could see the searing enthusiasm in his hazel eyes burning trough the space between us. Eager to see the world beyond. Their capability to literally see beyond, I couldn’t tell. What I could however tell was the energy through which he spoke; especially about his journalism career and the upcoming newscasts. How he interacted with people was remarkable. His choice of words was splendid. One can’t really disdain his poetical skills even if they want to. Sample this;
Niliambiwa sometimes the best game is to lose (I was told sometimes the best game is to lose)
If so then I don’t wish everything that appears to be good
Juu kaa akili ni nywele nashuku zangu ni nyeupe (because if hair makes the brain, I think mine are white)
When he performed during the Lapid Leaders Conference MMU chapter, he didn’t strain much. He let the work speak for itself. The applaud that followed only affirmed the gorgeousness of his performance. Even though the poems do encompass more than one language in the same write-up, the blend in which the two weave together could only be done by him. Resulting into a poetical content in which it is okay to perform as just that—a poem—or sing like a song and still sway the crowd.
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He performed at the 2nd UNESCO National Celebrations held in Machakos, emerged the winner and was even awarded for it.
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AZUNGU is also very strong. His charism resembles that of an angel. Probably the reason he decidedly is not settling for less with the current status quo. One of the poetical geniuses he looked up to, Singer Juliani, has been silent for two years in a row and that is beginning to worry him. When the singer released his National anthem, Utawala, back in May 2013 denouncing corruption, that frightful ogre has only grown fatter and fatter.
Since 2014, Kazungu has relentlessly believed in three things that art can do; “inform, educate and entertain” in that order. That he is willing to compromise any of that is out of question, especially after other poets have less and less, year after year highlighted this country’s pertinent issues such as corruption in their work. When I ask about the specific number of poems he has churned out so far, he says it is a lot. A lot that he can’t even remember. The audience he has reached is big and the response he has gotten is huge. He is often mesmerized by all that himself.
He has already performed at the 2nd UNESCO National Celebrations held in Machakos and has been featured on Mashujaa Day Celebrations list last year in Adega Restaurant in Lavington, Nairobi as well. In the former event, He emerged the winner and was even awarded as the champion.
“Can you then rank your own work from the best transformative?” I get curious.
“No, I cannot. Fans often do it but it’s difficult for the artist to rank his own work. Especially considering that the subjects portrayed vary. There is love, politics and so on.” He answers.
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Paradigm Shift
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e is a third born in a family of four siblings. He has an artistic younger brother, Lucas, who’s also got a skin condition.
When he was still a child, he had a heart-wrenching experience. One day while playing soccer in his neighborhood in Malindi, Kilifi County, his team lost. A few of his team members weren’t particularly spastic and so they pinned it on him. That they lost probably because of his otherness.
Though he is very comfortable today, more so around his friends, he did develop “psychological disturbances” earlier in his life. Whether the disturbance arose from several other cases of discrimination and affected him in several other ways (say academically), he didn’t tell. He was really perturbed over reliving those years. His only focus now is his academics and the spoken word poetry—a genre he says is only written down for performance purposes. He balances the two combinations marvelously due to their intertwine-ability.
“When I am in the studio, I’m a journalist and when I’m out, I’m a poet. I don’t mix the two, ever.” He clarifies.
During an Event to commemorate one of their Upskull Performing Arts Group fallen hero, Benjamin, sometimes in January, he prepared a tribute poem and thrilled the crowd with it. A studio owner at the event spotted him, signed him up and he is now set to officially record that same tribute.
It is also through one of those Upskull performances—every Thursday inside a hall in Multimedia University of Kenya—that the president of Lapid Leaders spotted him and invited him over to perform at the conference.
“Do you often look for gigs?” I ask.
“No I don’t, I am invited to them.” He says.
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Y only mission is to reach greater audiences.” He later tells me. When I ask how he is set to do that, he says by creating a spoken word YouTube channel.
I now shift the focus back to the room in which we are seated. On the table in front of us is a brown, metallic sun-like faced brilliant piece of art that has a pair of eyes, several red and yellow hand-drown lines on its forehead and under its eyes. He tells me that that is an award he received at the UNESCO celebrations.
Back on the wall, right behind his head is a splendor calligraphy text displaying the word “UNDERATED”. I ask him about it and he tells me that he is not its original creator and he doesn’t know who is. So I enquire if he is experiencing any aspects of that word in his personal life.
“No, I’m not.” He says firmly. I give him the Are-You-Serious look and he points out that its artist chose that specific word probably to bring out the magnificence in the art and that it mightn’t have come out as beautiful if she/he had chosen a different word. “It is beautiful nonetheless,” he concludes. K
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