Spoken Stage is an organisation encouraging freedom of expression by experimenting with the tradition of oral poetry and the spoken word. For fervent poets and audiences, the spoken word poetry events are an artistic haven, where ideas and opinions are respected and where passionate writers can perform their original pieces in an innovative way.
Mariam Paracha, the founder of Spoken Stage and a recent graduate from IVS, who is greatly inspired by romantic poets, as well as spoken word, designed her thesis around oral word poetry in her last semester.
“Spoken word is not a competition. It forms a connection between the audience and the performer. Once people see the performances, they keep going back to it because of the amazing way they were delivered, which makes the piece all the more relatable,” says Paracha.
With emerging poets like Sarah Kay and Andrea Gibson, spoken word performances are surpassing popularity at an increasing trend in the West. The audience waits anxiously for months to get tickets to Gibson’s long awaited spoken word performances.
Brave New Voices is an international platform in the US, which largely focuses on creating safe spaces for youth between the ages of 13-24 to express themselves through poetry. Students perform their pieces in creative ways with music playing in the background, as well as embedding interesting props, slideshows and pictures in their performances which enable them to tell their story in fascinating ways. In Pakistan, however, the art still has a very long way to go.
“I have some crazy ideas for projects that I can’t wait to carry out. I want to hold bigger events at the Arts Council and Napa, but first, I have to sow the seed and for that I have to start small,” adds Paracha. In March, she began going to primary schools in Karachi to encourage students to get up, talk and share anything they have written.
Paracha’s journey of dedicating herself to motivating young writers to perform has been a rocky one. She made an organisation solely for oral word poets, something that had never been carried out in Pakistan before.
“You cannot have an event if you don’t have a line of people willing to perform and come ahead with creative ideas,” she said. People were oblivious to this new art and she faced the challenge of boosting people to come to the events.
However, platforms like Desi Writers Lounge and Open Letters have recently come forward and are encouraging this art through their submission call outs, which is gradually getting the word out. Omung Poetry puts up videos of contemporary poets from all over Pakistan with translations so that their pieces are easily understood by people belonging to different countries.
According to Paracha, getting poets from different countries on board is very difficult but it’s rewarding as it exposes people to different cultures and broadens minds to stories across the borders.
In one of Spoken Stage’s events, a popular poet from Palestine, Hind Soufani, performed her enthralling piece via Skype about her struggles of being a refugee in Palestine. Renowned British poet, Lemn Sissay performed live about his parents and his love life which awed the audience at how quickly they could relate to the poet through his performance.
On a final note, Paracha, who is hopeful about the future of spoken word poetry in Pakistan, says: “Don’t write to impress but instead write from the heart. If you are true to yourself, your writing will surely be respected.”
Published in The Express Tribune, July 16th, 2014.
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