LoveE Lebo!

Lebo Mashile heads first for the National  Arts Festival in Grahamstown where she performs on June 25, 26 and 27 alongside stage actress and expert improviser Phillippa Yaa de Villiers, and South Africa’s poet laureate Professor Keora-petse Kgositsile. 

Following a performance at Bloemfontein’s FIFA Fan Fest on July 3, Mashile fulfills a ‘lifelong dream’ to perform for former President Nelson Mandela at the flagship fundraising event for the Nelson Mandela Foundation on July 4.

Her performance is alongside former beauty queen and business mogul Basetsana Khumalo, Oscar winning actor Terrence Howard, crooners the Bala Brothers, enchanting jazz singer Judith Sephuma and the multi Grammy Award Winning gospel group, the Soweto Gospel Choir.

Mashile’s inclusion as the only performance poet in this lineup is confirmation of her peerless standing on the global cultural scene.

Another highlight of Mashile’s 2010 is a performance of the acclaimed poetry/dance piece, ‘Threads’, with the Moving into Dance Mophatong troupe at one of the most prestigious dance festivals in Kwa-Zulu Natal.

"In September, we will be taking threads to the JOMBA dance festival, one of the most important dance festivals in South Africa," explains Mashile.

This September performance of ‘Threads’ will be doubly special for Mashile: she is pregnant with her first child and will be six months pregnant during the time of the performance.

"The cast and I are looking forward to performing this piece with a highly pregnant star! But the idea of motherhood is actually very consistent with the piece thematically so I am very excited at the thought of it. We are also reworking my costume to make it even more lavish, and to truly celebrate the female form as it gets ready to give life." 

In now publicly revealing her pregnancy, Mashile says, "This child was a surprise but so are most of the greatest blessings that I have experienced from moving to South Africa, to becoming an artist. I accepted a long time ago that God has much better plans than I do, and this is evidence of it."

The blessing of pregnancy comes in a year that Mashile’s career has been soaring. On the international front, she scored a coup with the translation of ‘In A Rhythm of Ribbon’ into German.

Her recent shows in Berlin, Bremen, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Cologne, and the Black Forest were to promote this milestone in Mashile’s already enviable career.

For several of these, Mashile shared the platform with author and activist, Andre Brink, regarded as one of South Africa’s top writers.

The readings themselves were co-ordinated by the highly-acclaimed and award-winning German/Bulgarian writer, Ilija Trojanow.

This huge accomplishment considerably extends Mashile’s audience, with her words now reaching readers in Austria, Switzerland, and Germany. It also cements her international status which was already considerably enhanced five years ago when Mashile won the NOMA Award in 2006.

The German translation of ‘In A Ribbon Of Rhythm’ is titled ‘Tochter Von Morgen Gedichte’, a translation of ‘Tomorrow’s Daughters’, one of the poems in the collection. In yet more confirmation of Mashile’s gifts, ‘Tochter Von Morgen Gedichte’ has reached number four on Germany’s Best Books list which is selected by an esteemed panel of German authors and publishers and is widely regarded as the most important reference point for newly-translated works in that territory.

In yet another addition to her creative expression, Mashile has also released audio versions of both her anthologies - ‘In A Ribbon Of Rhythm’ and ‘Flying Above the Sky’ – which will be available for purchase from her website (www.lebomashile.com) from August. 

Mashile is eager to combine motherhood into her considerable creative work – indeed, the fit between Mashile’s female-centred and affirming work is only underscored by her pregnancy. She also places great stock in family; her mother, Prudence Matima, is her manager.

"My mother is dedicated, educated, and a loyal person. Having her in my life and now involved in my business is a blessing because you need to work with someone who has your back in order to make it in a cutthroat industry."

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