Renowned poet Napo Masheane is trying something different this Easter.

She will collaborate with a jazz ensemble and gospel group to perform a collection of some of her poems from her show Napo Masheane & Friends at the Soweto Theatre.

"I have to credit the Soweto Theatre who approached me and asked that I create something for the festival around poetry," says Masheane.

"Since it's Easter, it made sense for me to do something spiritual and I thought it would be nice to have 'spoken word meets jazz meets gospel' and just do a nice combination of my collection of poems."

The first of the two shows is on tonight while the other one is on Sunday evening.

In this well thought-out experiment, Masheane will collaborate with gospel a cappella group Beyond Vocals, the Ladies In Jazz ensemble and Fat Black Women Sing, who she's worked with in the past.

"I said let's go back and remember the gospel songs we sang as children.

"Whether it's Tsohle Tsohle or Akekho Ofana Naye - they'll sing a song and I write a poem around that," says Masheane.

She is a founding member of the spoken word collective Fella Sistah and a feminist through-and-through.

It's no surprise that her next play is scheduled for July at the Market Theatre Celebrates Women.

"Instead of talking about the Winnie Mandelas and Albertina Sisulus, I want to tell stories of ordinary women like domestic workers who took care of and breast-fed white kids, women whose names are not known."

Her past works on include Caves Speak In Metaphors , the provocative and moving My Bum Is Genetic Deal With It, and Mollo - The Woman In Me at the Joburg Theatre as well as Hair & Comb at the University of Pretoria.

tiwaneb@ timesmedia.co.za

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