Get to know the poets behind the remarkable promo: Mumbi Macharia, Lebohang Masango, and Chika Jones as they share their journey in storytelling
As Africa’s most loved storyteller, MultiChoice is committed to showcasing the continuously evolving journey of African creative greats as we tell the stories of our past, present, and future.
We are humbled by the role television has played in the lives of people across the continent and we wanted to find a way to remind people how our lives are shaped through what we see on screen. We embarked on creating a heartfelt piece of work for our viewers across the continent.
In this extraordinary on-air piece, we celebrated the joy of storytelling across our content, by showcasing our diversity and highlighting the importance of the stories told by Africans. In celebrating the joy of storytelling under the #tenthousandstories, we asked three African poets to share their thoughts on the role of storytelling in Africa.
Lebohang Masango, the writer and performer of the script for this work, is a South African writer and a poet with an MA in Social Anthropology from the University of Witwatersrand. She salutes MultiChoice, not only for bringing African stars to our screens but for getting Africans involved in all the production aspects of the shows, spreading creative magic across the continent. Lebohang finds the oral storytelling tradition fascination, she admires the unique ability of Africans to naturally convert history into entertaining stories.
Her current favourite African story is The River, which airs on 1Magic, DStv Channel 103, weekdays at 20:00 CAT.
“Working with the MultiChoice team was a career highlight for me. Storytelling is an integral part of who I am, and it has been a true privilege to be part of the creative community that’s working to develop and preserve the collective memories of Africans’ Said Lebohang Masango, Poet and Writer
Mumbi Macharia, is aperforming spoken-word poet, writer, blogger, content creator and event curator from Nairobi, Kenya. For her, watching relatable shows on our various channels made by Africans for Africans is a major win for entertainment on the continent; it allows youngsters to dream big and believe that they, too, could become stars one day.
Mumbi also highlights the importance of making educational and inspirational content available to children who are constantly learning.
She feels it’s important for local viewers to watch and enjoy content curated especially for them and recognise that these productions are equal to – or even better than – those created internationally.
Her current favourite is Sol Family, which airs on Maisha Magic East, DStv Channel 163 and GOtv Channel 4, on Sundays at 07:30 pm CAT.
While filming the 10,000 stories promo, Mumbi felt an intense sense of gratitude for being part of an artistic community with the ability to build and inspire greater African stories.
Chika Jones is a Nigerian performance poet, theatre critic, and previous winner of the National poetry slam ‘War of Words’. As a storyteller, Chika recognises the importance of platforms like DStv to showcase important African stories uniquely. He also acknowledges MultiChoice as a vital component of job creation and skills development across Africa.
“Storytelling has had a huge impact on my life, it provided me with many opportunities, and it plays a key role in Africa’s future.” Chika Jones, Performance poet.
Chika thoroughly enjoyed watching Big Brother Nigeria Season Five and is currently looking to find a new favourite.
Through storytelling, MultiChoice continues to showcase the very best African cultures and traditions which will stay preserved in our modern world.