Malaysian Poetry Idol

Some pictures from last night's poetry extravaganza at Wayang Kata IV at No Black Tie.

As usual the event was entertainingly compared by Jerome Kugan and Jasmine Low doing their famous double act.

Jerome also rolled up his sleeves and sang for us:

Jasmine read some of her poetry, and Shahrul Nizam read some pieces from his new collection If Only. (And was a lot less shy reading than I thought he'd be!)

Then the six poets competing for three places to go to the Singapore Writers' Festival in December:

Priya K.

Liyana Yusof

Bathsheba Zlikha Arsalan

Datuk Shan

Patricia Low

And ... oh my goodness, realised that I didn't get a photo of Divya KM Jiwa! My biggest apologies.

Members of the audience got to vote for their favourite. Daphne Lee, Pang Khee Teik, and I were the judges and we looked for those whose words had touched us most deeply. The standard overall was high (and I'm so happy to see how far these guys have come on, performing their work). A special commendation to Shan for making us laugh and Zlikha for her dazzling showmanship which involved several changes of clothing.

When the votes and our marks were tallied, the winners were Priya, Liyana and Divya. Well done, guys.

I missed some of the later stuff as I was hiding from all the cigarette smoke which was bringing back the hacking cough I thought I'd got rid of. But who was the woman with the truly astonishing singing voice? I want to buy her album! And who was the hip-hop poet? I want him for my readings later on!

Wayang Kata IV ... and the Road to Singapore

And talking about poetry in performance, a quick plug for an exciting event that's coming up soon. This from the British Council's website:

WAYANG KATA IV: AN EVENING OF SPOKEN WORD

Getting it across!

Some say good things come in three’s but we beg to differ! Presenting the fourth edition of Wayang Kata – harder, better, faster, stronger!

Wayang Kata IV will feature an all-Malaysian line-up of poets that have attended our poetry workshops but here’s the twist: we’re going to have these wordsmiths battling it out for an opportunity to attend and perform at the Singapore Writers Festival in December.

The poets will be assessed by a panel of guest judges but ultimately the audience gets to sway the final decision! If you’re thinking Poetry Idol, you’re getting warm…

Back as emcees are Jerome Kugan and Jasmine Low also known as Troubagangers, our Wayang Kata co-presentors. The evening will also include special performances by our hosts, guest judges and new talent as well. Watch this space for updates and details.

Check out the competitors, note the dates and see you there!
Date Wednesday, 24 October 2007
Venue No Black Tie, 17 Jalan Mesui off Jalan Nagasari, KL
Time 8.30 p.m.
Admission RM10 at the door

For more information, email us at arts@britishcouncil.org.my

Well, there's nothing like a little competition to motivate folks to do their best, and judging by the list of poets who are up for it, it's going to be a tough contest!

This is what we know so far about the Singapore Writers' Festival:

In 2007, the nine-day festival will feature over 100 exciting programmes including film screenings (of literary adaptations), a book exhibition, panel discussions, literary tours and lunches, literary-related music performances and of course talks, book signings and readings by prominent writers.

The festival will be presenting, for the first time, a professional symposium, specifically focusing on the literary publishing industry. Industry experts from all over the world will be invited to give talks and take part in panel discussions. These sessions will also be opportunities for industry networking and information sharing among the key players in the literary ecosystem.

To generate buzz for the festival in December and to nurture a sustained interest in the literary arts, there will be monthly literary events leading up to the festival from February to October 2007.

The literary ecosystem? Either someone's been reading my blog or they're just as brilliant as I am. Publishing is an ecosystem, in which all parts must be healthy and in balance.

I know where I'm going to be in December!

Sharanya's Launch at Indie Scene Cafe

There's been a lot going on this weekend. and I'm only just getting round to blogging it!

First Sharanya had a do at the Indie Scene Cafe Fiday night to launch her prety chapbook, Iyari. The event was supposed to start at 7 p.m. but it was a total nightmare to get down there with all the jams and it was after 8 when I arrived ... and that after running from the top of Bukit Bintang because I couldn't stand any more crawling in traffic.

Luckily (for me!) the start of the reading was delayed by the carolling "Santarinas" in the foyer of Piccolo Galleria. Sharanya had got a great crowd of friends there, and the atmosphere was just so warm and supportive. Even before anyone began to read, I was glad I had got my lazy self out of the house.

Sharanya has posted everyone's biodatas on her blog, so please go there for more information on her invited "talents". But here follows the pics I took.

Sharanya looked gorgeous in a black sari with gold trim and with big white roses in her hair. (She had also grown a few inches thanks to her platform shoes!) She did her job as host very well indeed - the open mic readings falling between her own readings. it was very special to hear her read poems that I've only seen on the page before.

Hafiz performed a beautiful song called Dengarkanlah (Please Listen) with lyrics by Nizam Zakaria (below). (You can download a demo version of the song here.) I didn't snap Hafiz because I was busy eating pizza!

Roy read a piece about being stopped at a police road block when neither he or his friend had a valid driver's license and ... er ... coming to an arrangement with a policeman.

Datuk Shan and Faridah Manaf did a nice little duet with a poem they had bounced back and forward by e-mail the night before.

Tshiung Han See read his poems ...

... and Priya K read a short piece ...

Nicholas Wong is distressingly talented for one so young (17) and has already won awards for his writing and had his poetry published. He's off to Columbia University in September to read Comparative Literature and Creative Writing.

Another very talented young man ... known simply as KG! His cousin also read a piece.

Somewhere in there too was me. Sharanya introduced me as the matriach of the local writing scene. Aiyoh, that sounds very scary!

I read a short short about an old couple warring over a dining chair that ends up abandoned and ruined in the garden. I wrote it some months ago and still haven't got polished to the point where I'd feel happy sending it out. Maybe after this I'll revise it again.

Thanks to Sharanya for inviting me and putting such an enjoyable evening together. Thanks too to Jasmine and Nicky for making this excellent little venue available to us. Indie Scene Cafe closes at the end of the month. How nice it would be to have a more permananent home for it ...

Poet Mong-Lan at Indie Scene Cafe

Award-winning poet Mong-Lan performed yesterday in the intimate space of Indie Scene Cafe.

We kicked off and ended with a few open mic readers:, Jasmine Low (below), KG, Sharanya, and meself ('cos i knew Jasmine wouldn't let me run away from it again!).

While Antonio Banderas look-alike flamenco guitarist Nick Razman strummed chords to capture the duende of the poems, Mong Lan read from her two collections Song of the Cicadas and Why is the Edge Always Windy ... and a series of love poems to cafe au lait, green tea, spinach, red chilli and taufu!

I had told the audience about Mong-Lan's expertise in the tango, and how she wowed the crowds by dancing at Ubud Festival. Now since Nick doesn't play tango, Jasmine asked "Can you dance flamenco for us?" And you know, she did just that!

After the performance I went to have dinner with Mong-Lan and husband Joe. We went exploring for a little local colour and found it plentifully in Jalan Alor. The seafood was excellent
and Mong-Lan fell in love with yet another dish: kangkung belachan. Expect a poem about it soon!

I was admiring Joe's artistic tie, and it turnss out that Mong-Lan hand paints all his ties!


I recorded Mong-Lan's poem Overhearing Water from her second collection so even if you weren't there, you can have a little taste!



P.S. Don't forget to check the Doppelganger website for news of more events organised by Jasmine.

Indie Scene Cafe

A feature in today by Michael Cheang about Jasmine Low, Nikki Yeo and the exciting venue for words they have set up, Indie Scene Café at Picolo Galleria, between KL Plaza and Lot 10 in Kuala Lumpur. It's not your typical "cafe" though, but a temporary new home for a whole range of independent arts events.

Jasmine (on the right) and Nikki, who also organise events as Doppelganger KL (and I've written about them before as part of the team that organised the Troubagangers events in conjunction with the British Council) were offered the use of shop lot free of charge for the month of December and plan to use it as a space for performance, art, music "or anything else". They will also be selling indie music CDs, chapbooks, handmade jewellery and much more.

So what's cooking at the cafe?

Well one event close to my heart and here follows an ad for it.

Vietnamese-American poet Mong Lan will be reading on the December 17th at 5 p.m.

I met Mong Lan at the Ubud Readers' and Writers' festival a couple of months back when I moderated a session featuring two poets who are also artists. (Fate must have chucked me into it, because I am fascinated by the connection between words and art.)

The first poet was Amol Titus, who introduced his poetry and wonderful art project, Darkness at Bamiyan, and the second was Mong Lan who showed slides of her very impressive paintings which have been exhibited at major galleries in the US, and then read some of her poetry. I particularly loved a series of sensual love poems ... for food. You can get a good taste of all the things she does at her website, so please do go and explore.

But not only can Mong Lan deliver words on the page, it turns out she's a pretty mean performer of her work.

At the Ubud festival there was a poetry slam with some pretty big name poets from across the region and across the world. Mong Lan wowed the crowd and won the crown. Sadly, I missed the event but I did catch her performance the next night at Jazz Cafe where she read over the strains of a guitar. And then she stepped out in style with husband Joseph to show us what the Argentine tango is made of!

I told Mong Lan that if she ever found herself in KL, she should do a reading for us because we are trying to grow a culture of poetry in performance.

A week or two later (so fast!) I got an email saying she was coming to KL and asking if I could arrange a venue. Thanks to Jasmine and her Indie cafe we can.

(Click and click to enlarge, and then put on your reading glasses.)

Another event to watch out for is a poetry workshop for kids, lead by Sharanya:

POETRY WORKSHOP
for 7 to 12 year olds
conducted by Sharanya Manivannan

APPRECIATION
WRITING
PERFORMANCE

When?
DECEMBER 27th-28th 2006 (Wednesday, Thursday)
2.00 pm - 6.00 pm
with a small presentation on
DECEMBER 28th 2006 at 7.00 pm

Where?
Indie Scene Café,
Piccolo Galleria, Bukit Bintang
(between Lot 10 and KL Plaza)

Deadline for application: December 25th 2006
Places are limited so don’t disappoint your child, apply early!

More information is available on Sharanya's blog.

And then there's the famous Doppelganger KL Open Mike session every Friday where everyone is welcome to strut their stuff.

Check the Doppelganger website for news of what's going on when.

It should be an exciting month ... and hopefully the beginning of something ongoing.

Readings at Seksen's

Phew! That's all I can say. Yesterday's readings at Seksen's place not only happened but came off rather well, I thought, considering that I hadn't had much time to organise the event and hadn't advertised it very widely. (Blogvertising works well!) Many thanks to everyone who passed the word on - there was a good crowd there.

Ted Mahsun had his parents and girlfriend there to support. This was the first reading for this keen and hardworking young writer. I'm so glad he read his story The Ghost in the Garden as I personally like it best of all the pieces of his I've so far read. It's an autobigraphical piece in which you can really hear the voices of the characters. I love the gentle humour of it and sense that it could be developed into a longer piece. (You can read the whole story here.)

We got two thirds of the writers of Snapshots! Jessie Michael read The Change, one of the stories I like best in the collection because it makes visibly the disadvantaged community in Malacca's Portuguese Settlement. The story tells of one man who does his best to break out of the poverty trap but finds circumstances cruelly against him ...

... while co-writer Saradha Narayanan read her Rani, a moving portrait of an elderly woman.


I just loved this young guy, Roy aka Fairul Nizam who entertained the crowd with his poetry. How many miles from the traditional Malay deklamasi puisy has this new generation of poets come, with driving rhythms and street-wise language? Read his poetry here.

Sharanya reading another extract from her novel. Lyrical and sensual writing. I am really looking forward to the finish work.

The sporting Jasmine Low stepped in at the last minute to read some of her shorter pieces. She's so relaxed - love the way she relates to the crowd. it's one thing to write the words, another to show ownership of them when read aloud. She read some newly written short pieces including one partly written in Hokkien which I enjoyed very much.

We had a couple of "open mic" readers: Patrick Dominic and a very young guy called kG who positively shone with enthusiasm.

So it came off. It was okay ... even if I'm not as cool as Bernice! Phew again.

Many thanks to all the brave souls who put their work out there. (It is scary!) Many thanks to the crowd who supported. Many thanks (again) to all who spread the word about the event.

Many thanks to Seksen for allowing us to use this beautiful space.

Many thanks to Budi (?) who helped me to set everything up.

Many thanks to La Bodega for generously supplying the wines.

I hope to organise Readings again for 23rd September. More news soon.

Before then though, why not go to the readings organised by Jasmine at La Bodega on Wednesday night? It promises to be very good.

Postscript

Much nicer photos than mine are turning up on different blogs. I love Sharanya's arty set. Leon's are here. Nizam's are here. And here's a very honest account by Vovin.