Mbali Vilakazi is a child of the city by the sea, who came into being under the watchful eye of a silent mountain. She is born on the 9th day of the 9th sign. The Archer. She is Nona’s daughter, Mzamo’s sister and Avumile’s aunt. A woman who holds the gaze – the spectator in her own life. Touched by the wisdom in children, she remembers that it is always the little things. Soul Activist. Poet. Flower. She is a fairy. And the queen in exile. With pen as sceptre, her throne a cloud. On a mission to answer the call. She hears voices, sees in the dark and when she grows up she wants to be Sade.”
Emerging voice, Mbali Vilakazi is a 27 year old Cape Town based Poet/Writer/Performer who traces her beginnings as a patient journey through and within the heart of the city, into herself. She contextualises herself as a Soul Activist, with the dream of a youth that rises to assume both its relevance and place.
Some of her appearances include performances:
– Drudge Dialect, Vudu Lounge, Cape Town, 25 March ,2005
- Spoken Word Concert, The Warehouse, Windhoek, Namibia, 29 July, 2005
- Verses Heritage Day Concert, Zula, Cape Town, 24 September, 2005
- Arts Alive ‘Imbokodo Women in Art: 60th Anniversary Celebration of the 1956 Women’s March’, Newton, Johannesburg, 8 August, 2006
- The Cape Town Festival, Human Rights Concert, Company Gardens, Cape Town, 23 March, 2008
- The Vagina Monologues, Kippies, Newtown, Johannesburg, 11 April, 2007
- New Contrast Literature Journal’s ‘Off The Wall Sessions’, A Touch of Madness, Observatory, Cape Town, 14 July, 2008
- Channel O’s ‘Poetry Delight’, Season Finale, Café Sofia, Cape Town, 3 0ctober, 2008
- The SA Lifestyle Festival: Celebrating Black, Kenilworth Racecourse, Cape Town, 11/12 October, 2008
- The Cape Town Jazzathon, Waterfront Amphitheatre, Cape Town, 9 January, 2009
- Verses Sessions, Zula, Cape Town, 25 February, 2009
- Featured Poet on Morning Live, Hugh Masekela 70th Birthday Celebration, 5 April, 2009
- Youth Day Celebrations, Pollsmoor Prison, Tokai, Cape Town, 25 June, 2009
- Featured poet on Voices Of Africa Project, DVD project of 60 Southern Africa poets, 2005 – 2007
- The Cape Town Book Fair, with Lefifi Tladi, Cape Town, 16 – 19 June, 2007
- Asia Africa Literature Festival Launch, Seoul, South Korea, 4-9 September, 2007
- Asia Africa Literature Inaugural Festival, Seoul + Jeonju, South Korea, 7-14 November, 2007
- Speak The Mind Festival, Artscape Theatre, Cape Town, 16 – 20 September, 2008
- The Obz Festival with ‘Natives from the Sun’, Observatory, Cape Town, 5-7 December, 2008
- International Badilisha Poetry Exchange Festival (Formerly Spier Poetry Festival), Original Production Entitled ‘Enough’ Collaboration with Kai Lossgott, New Space Theatre, Africa Centre, Cape Town, 22-25 May, 2009
- Urban Voices Arts Festival, The Baxter Theatre, Cape Town, 22- 28 July, 2009
- Most recently, she won the Silver Medal for South Africa at the International Delphic Games, Jeju Island, South Korea, 9 – 15 September, 2009.
- Global Earthdance Festival, Cape Town, 25 – 27 September 2009.
- Cape Cultural Collective, ‘Green Expectations’, District Six Museum, Cape Town, 23 October, 2009
Her journey has been chronicled on a number of platforms such as SAFM; YFM; Good Hope FM; NBC; KBS1; Hype Magazine; The Cape Times; Femina Magazine; Fairlady Magazine. With guest appearances on shows The
Power Within Television Show; Sistahood; YoTV; The Cypher; Curious Culture; Walala Wasala and Cape Town TV, SABC News ‘Morning Live’.
Notably she was the Cover feature story for The Deal Magazine 2007 Sept/Oct on Young South Africans to watch out for.
Mbali also works as a workshop facilitator, using art as a conduit in her work with juvenile female prisoners at Pollsmoor Prison. She is also the host of a children’s show ‘The Radio Workshop’ on SAFM and aswell as the presenter of Cape Town TV’s Community orientated Current Affairs show ‘Currents’.
She is currently compiling a first anthology of her works, ‘The Keeper of The Moment’.
Her thoughts are comfortable.
