Godessa (South Africa)

Shamema Wiliams, Eloise Jones a.k.a EJ von Lyrik and Bernadette Amansure a.k.a Burni formed the trailblazing hip-hop group Godessa in 2000 and since then have continued to break ground as the only recording and performing female hip-hop crew in South Africa . Godessa's debut single “Social Ills”, released in 2003 by independent label African Dope Records, was play-listed on both local and international radio stations.

2004 saw the group release their first album Spillage , another indie release under the High Voltage label. The critically and commercial well-received album was produced by Grenville Williams and Godessa lead vocalist EJ von Lyrik. A mixture of genres such as reggae, funk and jazz filtered through a hip-hop sensibility, the album tackled themes such as HIV/Aids, globalization, privatization and crime.

Godessa have performed in Europe, the USA and South Africa at events and festivals such as Pukkelpop, Hovelive, Planet Hiphop, Wemilere, Frauenveld, Gurten, Afro-Pfingsten, Couleur Café, Festi'Neuch, Oppikoppi, Macufe, Hiphop Indaba, Battle of the Year ( Switzerland and South Africa ), Black August, North Sea Jazz Festival, Spier Poetry Festival, Rage for Revolution and various conferences for the United Nations. In 2004, the group was invited by Pro Helvetia on an artist residency in Switzerland . The residency led to Godessa initiating a multi-cultural project known as Rogue State Alliance, where they mobilised 30 artists from the hip-hop scene in both countries resulting in the collaborative Rogue State of Mind album.

Shameema, Burni and EJ have separately and together as a group been involved in projects such as youth work in correctional institutions and HIV/Aids workshops using hip-hop as a learning tool. They comment: “Godessa is based on the belief that women represent eternal life through giving birth, carrying knowledge with the balance of being psychological and analytical thinkers. We are also driven by the need for more representation of positive black women as role models within all forms of media and entertainment.”

A new album is forthcoming this year while EJ and Burni have released solo albums.  

Visit: www.godessa.com
 

PENCIL TEST (extract)
 
My free day will come
Once you stop putting me in a box
Can't you see that
I'm breathing, feeling, weeping, sleeping
Just like you
 
I'm a Cape Coloured slave raped by a Dutch male
With such tales I'd probably hate what they won't say or scribe
In books bounds in lies
These crooks found it wise
To describe my people in a bad light
I'm a gam, kroeskop mix of so many different breeds
I'm Afrikan and Malay rolled into one being
from St. Helena and Java
Madagascar and the east
From the south to the west
From up north I believe
I'm well traveled even though I've neva crossed the seas
But thru the souls of my ancestors they left me with these dreams
I'm a strandloper like Henri stripped of my real name
Seen as a product exchanged in the trade
Of the 17 th century by masters in ceremony of markets
Who laughed with?
Pastors and fathers
Godless and fast with the whip if we faltered
They tripped us and stripped us like heartless bastards
Split us apart
Sent to the farms
Chanting our songs with our hearts in our palms
I'm the past of my people that overcame the evil
Long gone like the mind of a psychopathic demon
Or even
Through the eyes of a soul that knows its leaving
I'm breathing
Long enough to see my own seeds breeding
Into armies strong enough to march into the future seeing
Slavery and apartheid
Divided and conquered
It can no longer hide
The history of my people's pride
 
Are you a sister, a mother
a queen or a lover
A father, a brother
reigning supreme over others
A Khoisan, a Coloured
A mixed breed above the skin
You're derived from the bastard within
 
So what if speak English
I'm not defined through linguistics
I wont ever apologise for my speech its
Well formed and pronounced
Well kids its
Not your typical bourgeois sounds
I'm black even though I speak Afrikaans
When I walk I hear the footsteps of the Khoisan dance
I even move with the spirit of Anton Frans
I hear the voices
I hear a small bird chant
I see poetry even in a bboy stance
If you thinking we clowns you are taking a chance
We not gangsters and klopse the yes baas or
The stuck in the middle
Can't make up your mind
Thinking we're better
Stereotypical kind
Its all tactics and ploys to weaken the mind
And even after apartheid
10 years down the line
Reference Cape Coloured
Now what do you find?
 
*Can be heard on the ‘ Rogue State of Mind' Swiss collaboration album released independently in 2006 by Otravez(CH) and High Voltage Entertainment(SA)
 
 
all poems' rights remain with the authors