Shades of morning
Mantles of night ascending
Ghosts, like fears of the past,
Lay down softly to sleep at last.
Fear. Will whisper.
A thousand reasons to be a coward.
Until your inner man comes calling
The ground is so close
How come you’re still falling?
Beauty, soft kiss of dawn
Quietens you for a moment of tenderness
Before you shed your final skin
Of fear and pain
And stand up, never to crawl again.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
I’ve spent the last couple of days and weeks digging out my old recordings, singles and albums and putting them all online.
At the moment I’m working on my soundcloud page. (seen also above)
When I’m done with that, I’ll work on my reverbnation page.
Next year I’ll start giving concerts again (after 8 years of being away from the stage). I’m really looking forward to that – it’s been a long time. The only difference is that: this time I’m going to do it professionally.
And I’ll make a few music Videos too…
My first Videos can be vieewd on my YouTube page,
All my Albums, redesigned and re-released, can be found on my iTunes page here.
MUSIC AND ME
I’ve tried my hands and my heart at different types of Music over the years – as can be heard on my soundcloud page. Unlike my literature, I’ve always been very shy, almost insecure, about my Music. Creating Music and sharing it awakens a Feeling of Vulnerability.
I think…, maybe now I’ve come to embrace this vulnerability … and it does not scare me anymore. Instead I want to share it. And since my Music is its voice, I’m comfortable with sharing it now – in its many different facets.
I really hope to build a fan base over time of People who also appreciate something of my Music, no matter which type.
Because I am married, have two little children and also have a full-time Job, I have precious little time to devote to my literature and my Music – composing, writing, practising, Blogging, formatting, promoting, and – the most important things for an Artist – spending time, sometime with the world, and sometime with myself. To cap it all, I find I have little time for my favourite Hobby too – READING… books, other Blogs, the thoughts of others.
Hopefully the time will come when I can free myself enough to be able to devote my time and energies fully to this Thing I love so much – Poetry, Writing and MUSIC. Well I am hopeful that in life, there’ll be help along the way…
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Dein Atem
Wie Sonnenmondstrahlen
Wärmt meine Hoffnung
Eine Erinnerung glüht in meinem Hinterhirn
Wie heißer Winter
Getunkt in Wein
Und nun bin ich ein Fluß
Und Du bist meine Füße
Und wir eilten weg
Außer Atem.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
No, my love, my passion
Did not run astray
I was the ocean
Washed up on many a needing bay.
The furrows of your frown
The wrinkles of your smile
Handlebars holding me down
For a short – only a short, fulgurant – while.
Wide wide inviting shore
I came in only once
Sometimes I yearn for more
When I’m far away under foreign suns.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Heut hat mir mein Vater gefehlt
Gefehlt, wie er schwieg, litt und mit litt
Gefehlt, wie er sich mehrmals liebevoll wiederholte
Gefehlt, wie er mir verzieh jeden Fehltritt
Gefehlt, seine Strenge, gefehlt, seine Liebe
Gefehlt, seine Witze bei seltner guten Laune
Gefehlt, sein unerschütterlicher Glaube an sich selbst
Vor dem ich heute immer noch und ewig staune.
Die Wunden sind tief; durch den Tod getrennt sind wir
Doch tönen um so lauter heute seine Worte tief in mir.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
And then I remember Lagos
Red calabash and clay potholes hollow enough
So the colourful depth of abstract density
Can find its feet –
They are iodine feet, will crush
Every wound that opens its mouth
Don’t believe every boast you hear, or
They’ll laugh at you for being a fool
If you must believe, then follow
If you dare, the labyrinthine lagoons
One thing for sure, you will get lost in their veins
But, courage! – They all flow into the sea
Lagos, I miss you like a shark misses blood
Your wild rush, your noisy music, your
Unapologetic pride, your slang, in the heart of which
I fall silent and breathe, as one among friends.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
O nwe mmiri kewara
Ụbọchị na anyasị…
Nnukwu mmiri,
Ma o nweghị onye ma ụgbọ e ji
A ga fe ya…
Ị mechie anya
Ị fe pụ…
Ị mechie anya
Ị da ba…
Ị mechie anya
Ị kwụrụ n’oke mmiri ahụ kewara
Ụbọchị na anyasị…
Mgbe ụgbọmmiri ahụ na-ebu gị
Ọ nwee nnụnụ ị ga-anụ,
Nnụnụ na-agụ egwu, nwayọ nwayọ –
Echi, mgbe ị bili n’ụrǎ,
Ị gee nti, ị ga kwa anụ ọzọ
Mkpọtụ mmiri ahụ na olu nnụnụ ahụ
Nwayọ nwayọ n’ime obi ụwa ~
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Wary of thirst
Wary of wandering
Weary, I wet my cup
In a wellspring I met
By the wayside
And when I put my lip
To its wet lip, the cup shivered
For bitter was the bile
That rose up from the well
And choked its heart
Traveller, it sang, in a voice
That wavered in the distance
Guard your thirst –
For not every bird that sings
Sings of dawn.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Your silence deafens music
The songs don’t move me anymore
But to tears
Your absence ‘tis so loud
Woke me up with a jolt last night
And your emptiness shivered
And I recalled your poems by name
The rain, cheeky, in your hair
The palm wine melody line of dancing pain
It is our way
To do the things that cause us pain
And then share the pain with each other.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Words never stopped anyone
Whose heart was a gun
He’s just out to kill someone
Night never scared anyone
Whose heart was a sun
He’s just out to bring a new dawn.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 