Malichaba 'Churbby' Mbeka

Simple and to the point Churbby real name ‘Malichaba Mbeka has been making her way through the local poetry sphere tremendously. For her poetry is quite useless if it is never understood. For those who like simplicity and rhyming in poetry all given out in a sweet voice then Churbby is one of the female poets you should be listening to. Join Poets Blog as it finds more about this simple beautiful gifted poet

Q: Please tell us about yourself and who Churbby is in poetry.
A: well am actually a very talkative individual, I am in too many things drawing, poetry you name them all. In poetry I am just a simply poet, I try to write in a way that is readily accessible to the people because I strongly believe that poetry that is not understood is somewhat useless.

Q: When did you start writing poetry and why poetry out of all art forms?
A: Well to start with I could not do emceeing because I cannot speak English fast; hence I had problems with the delivery of lyrics in hip hop so I went for poetry which is much cheaper. I started poetry a while back while I was in primary school, it was part of our English syllabus but I guess I grew up with it till now.

Q: What do you by poetry is ‘much cheaper’?
A: I meant poetry is just diverse; you can approach it in many different ways and still be accepted as a poet. I believe that even a short story can be a poem or even a song this is why I sometimes resides songs because I believe they can be poetic at times.

Q: Who are your top three local poets and your top three international poets?
A: Locally it has to be Lineo Kolobe, Lineo Segoete, Lerato Brown and Sechaba Keketsi commonly known as Lyrical Bacteria. Internationally I like Tumi, Lebogang Mashile and Kgafela Magogodi.

Q: How can one recognize your poetry?
A: Well written down my poetry is replete with rhymes, I always use rhymes in my poems the same goes for when I am on stage although I try employ different rhythms when on stage.

Q: Where has Churbby performed thus far if at all she has performed?
A: Oh yes I have performed live, the first performance was at A. M.E. hall at a poetry session that was organized by the then Miss PC fm in June 2007, then I decided to go on radio at the Ultimate fm on Miss P ‘s poetry corner, at a pre- independence poetry session that was organized by Ma –lord ‘Ice ‘ ‘Mefane in 2007,at the Worlds AIDS DAY poetry session that was also organized by Ice also in 2007, at the pre World AIDS day poetry session at Maseru club bowling ground and my last performance was Times café at the Redds ladies night.

Q: What do you think about the standard of poetry in the country?
A: Well with no doubt poetry is growing because I have seen a lot of underground poets coming out to share what they have with the people. I mean the country’s biggest poetry group; Poetry Farm is growing massively holding successful shows repeatedly and it is now on the internet, Miss P is also about to start a poetry club so that’s how big poetry is growing.

Q: Your last words to your fellow poets?
A: Do what you do, do not try and imitate anyone. Work on improving your craft because eventually an individual poets’ growth results in growth for the entire local poetry sphere.