At several
places across the country and on social media, there has been a growing space and an audience for platforms that
have spoken word performances. One of the USPs of such events is how powerful
the entire experience can be. Spoken word is a dynamic performance art that is
word-based. It leaves room for the poet to become the poem and allows the
listener to truly experience the poetry.
Goa recently witnessed the first edition of Rumination, a series
of poetry, theatre and music that is lyrically performed. Held at Rumi Goa,
Episode 1 of Rumination was conducted on Valentine’s Day. It consisted of a
poetry performance by Rochelle D’Silva, titled, ‘40 Rules of Love’.
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Rochelle is a spoken word poet based in Goa, who has been
performing poetry for the last 8 years. She has been a part of a multitude of
literary festivals including the Goa Art and Lit Fest, Melbourne Spoken Word
and Poetry Festival, Kala Ghoda Art and Literature Festival.
It may be recalled
that she put out her first spoken word poetry album in India in 2017. Her solo
collection of poems – ‘When Home is an Idea’, has been widely appreciated as a
conduit to talk about identity and belonging. Her poems give voice to feelings
of displacement, love and loss. Both her spoken word albums (‘A Thin Veneer of
Coping’ and ‘Best Apology Face’) are available on Bandcamp/iTunes/Spotify. She
curates storytelling experiences and workshops.
And Rochelle
certainly captivated the audience at the Taleigao based event and performance
space. “The entire premise for my performance was a response to the question –
where do you find love. It was inspired by one of Rumi’s quotes, “Your task is
not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within
yourself that you have built against it,” said Rochelle.
The poetry was
accompanied by music by two artistes, Daulat and Soul Random. The music
elevated the poetry and gave it more character.
“I thought it was
important to talk about love in all its shades and all its manifestations. The
poems ranged from parental love, to romantic love, to self love, love for a
child, learning from lost love, healing from heartache and of course hope and
the grandeur of love. The themes were quite universal, because at the end of
the day, love is what unifies us all. Poetry as an art form has always dabbled
with love in one form or the other and the good thing about spoken word poetry
is that it is more conversational and easier to grasp,” added Rochelle.
Rochelle’s
performance at Rumi Goa was followed by a vocal music performance by Valerie
D’Silva, a songwriter from Mumbai. The next episode of Rumination will happen
in Mid March which will be on the lines of theatre. “The Idea of Rumination is
to give perspective on Individual thought and emotion, through the sharing of
stories of the performance in their style of poetry, theatre and other art
forms,” said the organisers of the event.
