Dichol

The thirty-eight vigorous contemporary East African narrative poems contained in this collection are diamonds in the rough that also herold a guess for the future of African orature in the tradition of the song style pioneered by Okot pBitek in the 60s.

The term dichol is basically an epithet in the Luo community, in whose setting most of these poems have been drawn. It means dark in complexion. The term is symbolically used to define and celebrate the African people and their cultures, and so are the poems contained herein. The silver lining in writing these poems is that this surely provides infinite appreciation of our rich cultural heritage. Reading these poems, one can document sound, music, dance, movement and colour, and voice performances accompanied by drums and a singing chorus that blend standard Luo vocabulary with a delivery style reminiscent of both praise singers and African storytellers.

The song and dance at once demystify poetry as an art, and rekindles our interest in African poetry as a functional tool for romanticised expressions that merit discussions in scholarly circles especially in our newly invigorated universities.