Story time with Loyd Kwasiba

Hello everyone, I hope you are all doing fine. I know the world is in a crazy place right now, but I figured that amidst the crazy chaos there is always room to share some inspiring light. After all, a little positivity never hurts. Today I will be writing about a good friend of mine who is also a spoken word artist. His name is Loyd Kwasiba. 

                                              Who is Loyd Kwasiba?

Loyd Kwasiba was born on 17-11-1989. Loyd says he is a Surinamese man with a Saramacaans ( Descendants of Maroons) origin. " I'm a son, brother, little brother, cousin, uncle brother in law, basically family! In my daily life, I work as a chef, besides that, I love Poëzie, spoken words, and sports. I'm someone that tries to make the best out of the things where my love goes to. My passion is things where I can express myself or tell my story, for example, working in the kitchen, word art, and my favorite sports like football, basketball, and athletics. What motivated me to become a chef is more my curiosity towards different foreign recipes that I saw as a little boy in books and magazines. It also gave me the idea that there is more than what we know in Suriname when it comes to food. It gives me a good feeling when people enjoy a meal that you know you prepared. I say this very carefully"

                      Loyd Kwasiba his journey as a spoken word artist

" My interest in spoken words started since I was 9 or 10 years old. Spoken words are also a form of Poëzie.  I always loved listening to rhymes and poems but I also liked reading. When I turned somewhat older between 15 and 18 years I also loved writing my own rhymes and poems in the form of jokes.  So since that age, it was already present. The only thing was that at that age I didn't know that it was one of the disciplines whits in word art. I asked Loyd what his first encounter with Spoken words was. " Officially I started in 2014 when I met Sharona, yes the one interviewing me right now. She asked me if I also performed Spoken words Until that moment I only knew Poëzie in the form of presenting a poem. She sent me videos of her favorite Spoken word artists and that's how I got introduced to Spoken words. I've been a member of Kokolampu for 3 years now. After I befriended Sharona I kept getting the idea that it became time to do more with Poëzie.  Then I started to write some poems and she gave me feedback. Two years later in 2016, the idea to become an artist appeared in my mind. I saw on Facebook that there was something shared from the Stichting Platform Support Suriname ( Foundation for Platform Support Suriname) Kokolampu poets collective ( a movement) is also a part of this foundation. I read that there were monthly poetry sessions held where they train you to further develop your talent as an artist. I thought this was necessary for the goal that I had thus I joined the group in 2017. My first performance was in C. C. S. in 2017 during nights in C. C. S. I experienced it as an introduction with the podium but also as a step to come into the rhythm of that I want to do more of in the future. In the future, I also have plans to do theater pieces because then I can also apply Poëzie in different disciples such as singing, dancing, rapping, and a little bit of comedy. My advice to people is that they should accept and appreciate themselves. That way you get to know yourself  And when you get to know yourself better you also have a better idea of what it is you love and have passion for without it being against your own will. Try to motivate yourself if needed to also bring up the discipline you need. For me, a Spoken word artist is a poet or someone who speaks out their thoughts by applying sounds, tone, intonation, and other things that need attention so that the message that you share with your audience is believable. To me, Spoken words are the way poets use to speak their minds and share their stories to express issues that bother them on a personal as well as a social area. I get my inspiration from the simple things that happen around us on a daily basis, social issues, and confrontation with myself. I want to advise young people that want to use their creative skills to research information about their creative interests and to locate the people who specialize in it and ask them for help or guidance. In the future, I plan on doing more performances. There is a couple of Spoken word artist I look up to like Zulile Blinker, Henry Tapoto, Koloku and Obed Kanape. Furthermore, others inspire me as well when I listen to them. Internationally I don't know a lot but from the few, I know right now those are Babs Gons and Rellie Telg. I think that in order to motivate Surinamese people to follow their passion more we should place discipline above the result. The economic situation should change as well.  Everyone has his or her own talents and I think people would like to passionately express that as well.  But people nowadays due to economic benefits aren't prepared to do something without getting paid. People would rather put effort into something that pays, I can understand that. My favorite performance of myself was the group act with Kokolampu during Poetry and beyond on the 1st of February in theater Thalia. We practiced a lot for it and had fun with executing the performance on that night itself. I look back grateful. On my journey as a Spoken word artist, I got to know that Poëzie can be much more spectacular than people think. I got to take a deeper dive into the artist world. I got to experience what it means to be an artist with whatever form of art. I got to take a long inspiration and motivation, I got to know people, and develop myself into a better person"

I hope you guys got inspired by Loyd Kwasiba his story. I wish him all the best of luck in his career as an artist, from one Spoken word Artist to another. May you keep on inspiring and touching hearts with your wise words, after all that's why we breathe poëzie. Be sure to hit the subscribe button to stay updated about new stories.