The Nazombe family will this Sunday hold a memorial show to celebrate the lives of poets Obrien Nazombe and his younger brother Mollen.

Obrien, who was a poet and an active promoter of the art, is credited with revamping vernacular poetry on local radio stations and during live shows.

Promoted vernacular poetry: Obrien

In an interview, a family representative Devlin Nazombe said the family look at the lives of the two brothers with pride, knowing they both contributed to the promotion and appreciation of poetry.

“Obrien’s love for poetry was profound. He promoted poetry through his radio programme Patsinde on Joy Radio as well as shows where local and up-and-coming poets were given a platform to flourish,” he said.

The family representative added that Mollen was gifted with perfect organisation of poetry events.

“Poetry events organised by Mollen were always a hit. He was really gifted as an organiser. He was also a great poet,” he said.

Nazombe said during the memorial event scheduled for South Lunzu Primary School ground in Machinjiri, Blantyre, various poets, who once worked with the two brothers, will perform.

“We have lined up poets such as Raphael Sitima, Joseph Madzedze, Sylvester Kalizang’oma and Hudson Chamasowa, among others,” he said.

The free-of-charge event will also include the sharing of local foods such as thobwa, roasted maize, banana fritters and many more, just like the two brothers used to do when hosting poetry shows.

In a separate interview, Joy Radio station manager Blessings Cheleuka said the late Obrien was an extraordinary presenter who started the poetry programme Patsinde from scratch.

He said: “It was actually challenging starting the poetry programme since vernacular poetry was then not that popular. But with his presentation skills and passion, we saw the rise of vernacular poetry to the extent that as Joy Radio, we started hosting live shows and fill up the venues.”

Cheleuka said after this, several other private radio stations emulated the example and started airing poetry programmes. The late Obrien Nazombe died on June 27 2011 while the late Mollen died on March 27 2019.

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