PLU Open Mic Interviews: S’phongo
Paris Lit Up’s Open Mic in Belleville, Paris, has been bringing performers together for 10 years. Every week, we have a featured performer who has a 20-30 minute slot to share their work in more depth. On January 5 2023, we welcome S’phongo who has kindly responded to the 10 questions we ask each feature. Enjoy!
S’phongo is on a European Tour at the beginning of 2023 and will be featuring at Paris Lit Up on 5 January, 2023.
1. Who are you and who do you write for?
I am life, a, village boy with a dream born without a name, named Tennson Ncube by my parents, inheriting the last name from my mother, a goddess who walks the earth. A few months later, my auntie named me Siphongo, translating to forehead in isiNdenbele. I write, perform my writing and I play music for fun.
I write for myself, an exercise that helps me bring my thoughts to life. I write for my ancestors, though passed from the earth, they still live in me. I write for all the village kids who scream, ‘fromatshina, fromatshina’, all the time they see a plane in the sky: they have dreams of being in that plane. I write with hopes that my life as an artist inspires them to dream big and learn how to manifest those dreams.
2. When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?
When I think about it, I have always been a writer from the day I learnt to write. I have this memory of me sitting under the shade of a square hut that was next to our homestead’s main gate, scribbling a T and some funny looking characters on the sand. At school my favorite subjects were isiNdebele and English coz I got to imagine through composition writing.
3. What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
You can never tell my story when you can’t tell yours. Be you, be authentic, the world already had a Shakespeare, now there is you.
4. What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Of course, I do call customer service to give positive feedback or complain about services. When I’m being handed flowers, I receive them with gratitude. When I’m being guided, I take notes, weigh the information, see where it fits in my vision then apply if possible. When I’m being insulted, I say thanks and quickly move away from the negative energy that person is bringing.
5. What do you miss most about the pre-pandemic world?
I can’t think of anything I miss really but I know that I am grateful that the pandemic allowed creators the chance to explore the creation of online events. I got to know about Paris Lit Up at an open mic held on Zoom. I forgot the name of the person who suggested I look you up, but if they get to read this, thank you.
6. How has your work developed over the last 12 months?
How? Through practice, self-belief, dedication, and more practice.
7. What does the future look like you to?
The future will be what we want it to be. More people will raise their voices and leave the discomfort of what chains them. Greed, as everything that exists is a ticking time bomb as long as we practice and teach the opposite.
8. What importance has other people’s art had for you and your creative process?
I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for artists. In a way, I was created by artists who helped me push my pen. These are artists who created the exciting short stories I found in school textbooks, the artists who made illustrated books… I read a lot of those in primary school. The me you will know a year from now will definitely be owing some of his techniques to artists I am yet to meet.
9. Have you looked at different ways of expressing yourself or taken on a new medium?
I do that every day. I believe I sing and rap good, a few people know. I’ve started singing in some of the sets I’m creating. I create videos and when I’m comfortable to do so, I am learning drawing.
10. Tell us about someone’s work you admire.
I admire a lot of people’s work, but seeing I have space for only one, allow me to talk about my mother. Coming from a small village in the mountains of Matopo in Zimbabwe, she brought me this far. If she didn’t spend most of her time outside the border scrubbing floors just so I can go to school, I probably wouldn’t be who I am today.