BUJUMBURA February 20th (ABP) – At a time when the majority of young people around the world in general and those in Burundi in particular were celebrating the Saint Valentine Day, the researcher in French-speaking Burundian literature, Mr. Joseph Mukubano hosted, on Tuesday, February 14, 2023, in Bujumbura, a conference for the people of Burundi who love literature, to discuss poetry in Burundi. It was also a question of exchanging on the theme: “the love poem in Burundi: new Ronsards.”
In an interview he gave to a check by ABP, Mr. Mukubano indicated that love poems exist in Burundi.
Nevertheless, he specified that Burundians express them in their own way because, according to him, love is a universal feeling and pointed out that Burundians experience that feeling like all peoples elsewhere.
When asked why he mentioned “new Ronsards” in Burundi, the researcher in French-speaking Burundian literature said that he wanted to emphasize the remarkable attraction of rhyme which is revealed in the love poetry of many young Burundians. He explained that those young people give rhyme for the pleasure of the sounds without realizing that they are harming classical versification, or are aware of that versification, know it or intentionally violate it; which shows that Burundian writing in French is a clear sign of post-colonialism, he said.
In that way, he made it known that “perhaps” the said poets seek to be part of a certain “movement of rhyme” which is found in songs in Kirundi or in French, adding that this movement seems to have been born with Christophe Matata in his song “Mukobwa ndagowe” while pointing out that it is yet to be verified.
As a researcher, Mr. Mukubano suggested that parents train their children to read at home, which would be an excellent start for loving literature and producing quality texts. He took advantage of that opportunity to show the role of research, which is to observe the facts, to establish relationships and to draw conclusions from them, as well as the identification of the writing/reading practices in which one finds those which would be specific to young people or concern them directly, he indicated.
In order to properly celebrate the Saint Valentine Day, a so-called “lovers’ Day celebrated on February 14 of each year”, the researcher Mukubano called on the Burundian youth to the creation as a poet than to buy flowers for the love that will fade tomorrow, in order to be real Ronsards and so that this day is a great opportunity for young Burundians to recite a few verses of love for their fiancées, he pointed out.
Remember that Ronsard is a major figure in the poetic literature of the Renaissance, he is among the French poets who marked the 16th century with his poems such as the loves, the odes, the hymns as well as the sonnets for Hélène.