‘BEKO THE STORY TELLER’ IS BACK

It is an undeniable fact that life is all about regrouping and reprioritising choices. After all the standing ovations after a superb performance, reality waits on the concert door and reality dawns to everyone.

Because of this, Beko The Storyteller, real name Nontobeko Dlamini, opted to concentrate on her Social Science Degree which she was furthering at UNISWA.
And yes, this talented nubian who graces the stage with her strong presence and pours out words like honey graduated and she is back on the scene.

Beko The Storyteller’s career strongly came alive in 2014 but in 2016, while she was alliances with Arts Awake which is headed by Musa Ndzimandze, she was gracing the stages at least every month.

She is ready to take on the stage and she broke the ice on Thursday night when she hosted a show at Alliance Francaise dubbed ‘I am my mother’s daughter’ and was in dedication to Women’s Day.

Beko is everything but she preferred to describe herself to GCWALA.
“I am many things. I am a human, an extraordinary young woman. In the arts industry, Beko is an arts practitioner, specialising in poetry, storytelling, creative writing, and theatre.

I am also a social activist should I say a social activist. My art work is inspired by a range of social issues that influence societies “art, gender, natural environment, entrepreneurship, you name it. My work explores topics of gender, nature, love and socioeconomics. I am passionate about character driven work of art especially poetry that tell stories of people and our society. I guess that what interested me in pursuing social sciences in tertiary.

“I was born and bred in Mbabane. I have been blessed to live in other areas both in the country and outside and I feel these areas have helped me grow in many ways as a young woman.
“I am part of a very large family blessed with lots of brothers and one sister. I am a true definition of a child raised by a village because my mothers, grandmothers, aunts have really had a hand in my upbringing and to the young woman I am today,” said the artist.

Beko was 12 years when she discovered her love for words. She was inspired by a Swazi Folklore book “Bekukhona”, a popular primary school book. To this day, she confesses to be very grateful to have had a chance to open and read that book.

“I remember vividly that I started translating the folklore book from siSwati to English. It was my mother who told me to start writing my own work. I am not sure if she knows how much she has influenced my work as an artist but she certainly has. From there I never stopped writing. I began keeping a journal in high school. I have written poetry, to short stories to stage plays to screen plays,” she says.
The poet laughed when she was asked about her unceremonious leave.

“Hahaha… There are some things in one person’s life that just demands the whole to themselves and my final year in tertiary was just one of those things. This was a decision that I took, so to make sure that I put all my attention to it. Final year is a very pivotal juncture in one’s life and demands FOCUS. I had a great time really focusing on my research project which I enjoyed and I had the best supervisor while doing it. It is a time I treasure in my academic life. And being away from the scene during that time, allowed me to reflect on my work and that was an important element for growth,” she said.

Beko is focused and yes, the fruits were seen last year October when she strode down the red carpet to accept her university degree.
Fast forward, she is back on stage and she confesses that the scene is not the same as she left it.

“The industry is growing bit by bit and that’s good. I’ve noticed that there are new arts movements that have been created in different cities, and this is a good sign for growth as it means many platforms are being availed for artists to perform. But there is still a lot of work we need to put to grow the individual artists to their full potential in the country so they can be able to live through their art,” she said.

The intelligent and quiet yet sharp poet emphasised that her fans and poetry lovers should be on the lookout for her new material.
“People should stay on the lookout, Beko being part of the Arts Awake movement, the movement will be hosting a number of arts events this year and more details will be shared soon. Also, I, as Beko, through the movement will be hosting one of my theatre projects which has been on the pipeline and was delayed because of tertiary commitments,” she said.

a QUICK Q&A WITH BEKO

How has your career gained momentum and how do you improve it?
It has really gained shape. I started in theatre. In theatre I was able to learn all the performing art forms and that’s when I got to know my strongest trait which is poetry and also acting. I improve by writing more, watching other production and more rehearsals.

Please list your projects in full and how you executed them?
There are so many projects that I have executed some at a personal level and others through Arts Awake and I wouldn’t really want to list them. But on a personal scale some of the projects that I have done that really stand out in my life include releasing my EP “Strong As Black Coffee”, performing my monologue play which won the Matiwane Manana Performing Arts Drama competition and also my latest Screen play that I wrote under the Kwasukasukela Screenwriting project. Execution for me in these projects meant being focus, setting a timeframe and having enough time to rehearse.

Your EP ‘Strong As Black Coffee’, please tell us all about it, its successes and challenges.
My EP is one of the projects I embarked on with a very talented young man Ralph Smit, we just had fun with this one, recorded some of my poems and then he added some touch of sounds and music into the poems. To have had launched the product is a real success on its own and having had sold some copies is really amazing. 

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