Malawian-born singer and poet Chigo Gondwe describes herself as “an ethno-urban-hiphop-soul-poetess.” Raised in South Africa, Gondwe returned to Malawi in 2008 after 18 years away. She believes strongly in the using the medium of arts and culture to promote the positive aspects of Africa and thus balancing the often negative views expressed about the continent in the world media.

In her corporate and creative work, Gondwe, a former radio deejay and SABC television presenter, strives to highlight and fight against racism, xenophobia, tribalism and other forms of discrimination prevalent in African communities. She comments: “My purpose is simple: to unite Africans towards a common goal of development and eradication of poverty through (re)education.”

A former band vocalist, Gondwe has over the years curtain-raised and shared the stage with international and African creative legends such as Black Thought (The Roots), Talib Kweli, Dead Prez, Sarah Jones, Mutabaruka, Basement Jaxx, Keorapetse Kgositsile, DJ Kofi and Semtex, Tananas and Tidal Waves.

Having first appeared on the Oppikoppi festival stage in 1999 as the first black female hiphop artist to perform live with a band, Gondwe has since performed for head of states, dignitaries and ordinary people around the world. She has also been featured in various international poetry and hiphop film documentaries, including the more recent South African Sistaz in Hiphop and BET's Women in Hiphop.

With partial funding from National Arts Council of South Africa she self-published her first poetry anthology titled Journey to Womanhood in 2005 and is set to publish her second anthology this year – both through her company Afro Poetics Creations. She also independently co-produced and released her self-funded hiphop/poetry album M'Evolution: Free as Style in 2005 following her first EP M released in 1999.

Soul Prints (Extract)

Dedicated to Mzansi

I want to be part of your celebration of life

Show me the soul print of your journeys

The driving force of your dreams

Let me travel the same that I may

Feel – See – Hear – Taste – Smell

That my senses may be heightened

By the firmness of your hands

The gentleness in your eyes

The whispers of your breath

The clicking of your tongues

The sharpness of your scent

When it mingles with time

I have long been told that the purpose of the soul

Is to journey to no end and explore other worlds

That the purpose of our senses is to share with others,

ever so accurately, the jewel called memory

I have long yearned to walk these roads of time –

Tar marked, dusty, rocky and concrete

In the crevices of my mind I have travelled these

Highways, byways, skyways and streets

From desert to city, from border to post

With my family and friends I have searched for this place

Where eternity manifests and dreams become reality

When enchanted and very away my imagination soars

Scouring the corners of my bedroom walls

Shuffling its feet on Newtown dance floors

Buzzing in shopping malls, between open market stalls

Discovering the heart's rhythm in the harmony of its senses

I cool my chapped feet in swirling whirlpools of exhilaration

And I rest my tired soul in the cradle of human nations

I release my desires and finally cross the border…

…In this city – a home away from home –

I wonder where to start and who will be my companion

How will these mingling senses journey into my heart?

Let me travel the same that I may Feel – See – Hear – Taste – Smell

That my senses may be heightened