Goa, apart from being a spectacular tourist destination, has always been known as a cultural destination as well. Along with preserving a number of traditional folk arts and customs, Goa is primarily known for its contribution in the field of music and theatre (tiatr). Recent years have seen a pleasant growth in the art scene in Goa as well, as the state has opened its arms to different forms and genres of art, including storytelling, stand-up comedy, regional theatre, and so on. The increasing popularity of performance poetry is also a part of this movement.
“Spoken poetry or performance poetry is a relatively new genre
in the rest of the country as well. It’s certainly catching on in India, and
it’s good to see that Goa too is catching up with it quickly,” says Rochelle
D’Silva, a performance poet. What’s making this poetry so popular among the
poets as well as audience, according to Rochelle, is the fact that it is very
accessible. “The poetry performed in such slams and recitation events is not
like the ones we studied in our schools; far from difficult language and deep
philosophical references, this is more of conversational poetry. It’s more
about the expression of what we feel and what we see in our day-to-day life, in
a simple, yet catchy way. I think this is what makes it click,” she maintains.
Leonard Fernandes of Dogears Bookshop, Margao, that has hosted a
number of poetry slams in the last few years, shares a similar opinion, saying,
“We have had a good response wit slam and people, especially youngsters, have
used this platform quite well. I think performance poetry has caught on more
because it is a no-rules avenue for self-expression.”
Prof Andrew Barreto of the Department of English at Parvatibai
Chowgule College of Arts and Science, Margao, takes a keen interest in
encouraging performance poetry among students. “I realised that compared to
regional poetry, where the performances are really powerful, English poetry
recitation and performance was quite weak among young poets. With the aim of
promoting this art, I first included this at Pegasus, Chowgule College’s
inter-collegiate literary festival, as an event. I also started having sessions
with students to inform them on how to improve their English poem recitation,”
states Prof Barreto.
Avril Antao, the student coordinator of Hastags 2k16 – a talent
exposure event at Don Bosco College, Panjim, feels that though performance
poetry has not yet taken off among the youth, the participation is surely
showing an increasing graph. “Rhyme-Poe (titled after Allan Edgar Poe) was the
slam poetry event in Hashtags 2k16 wherein participants performed rather than
recited a poetry written by them. Fourteen out of the 15 higher secondary
schools participated in the event. Most competitions across the state have
poetry recitations while only few have performance poetry, which is a
combination of the actor and poet in you,” she explains.
Talking about whether this form of art is gaining prominence as
a form of entertainment among Goan audience, Prof Barreto opines, “People are
becoming more receptive to this form but at this point, it is still niche
entertainment. Looking at the talent on display and the power-packed
performances, I truly believe that performance poetry has beautiful days to
come. Slam poetry is where substance meets performance, which equals art!”
Nilankur Das of 6 Assagao, who recently hosted an evening of
poetry recitation with renowned poets, seconds this, saying that not just
poetry, but even hip hop and other forms of spoken word are getting popular
these days. “I believe its the natural progression in this age of
communication. This popularity is evident in all kinds of art forms. As the
world is opening up, more people now have found poetry or other forms of art as
their mode of expression and there are more avenues of publishing or
performing,” he concludes.