Indrani Perera

poet, publisher & mentor

Tag: performance

  • The Melbourne Spoken Word Prize

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    On Friday night I headed into town for the extravaganza of words and wit that is the Melbourne Spoken Word Prize. Now in its fifth year, the prize features twenty-five of Melbourne's spoken word artists as nominated by the convenors of the regular poetry gigs held around Melbourne each week. If you're poet, Melbourne is the town to be in. If you don't believe me, head on over to Melbourne Spoken Word to check out the gigs on now.

    The Prize was held in the ornate Collingwood Town Hall and filled with a group of chattering poets all keen to see who would take out the prize for Melbourne's best spoken word artist. There were three prizes for the night – Convenors Prize for most nominated poet, the People's Choice Award and the Judges Prize worth a cool $1400.

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    The poetry community is welcoming, supportive and inclusive. It's a safe space where you can be vulnerable and share your darkest and most painful moments. Going to a spoken word event is like getting a huge hug from all your friends. It was great to be there on Friday night, hearing amazing poetry and catching up with my poetry buddies.

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    The calibre of the performers was incredible. Their performances were electric. The way they could take a word and make it sing, turn a phrase with a deft ear, flip metaphors on their head and leave you shouting for more. I didn't envy the judges their choice at all. It was hard enough figuring out who to vote for in the People's Choice Award when all the performers were outstanding.

    Emilie Collyer asked who I voted for – was it the poet whose language I admired? Or perhaps the one who tugged at my heart strings. Or maybe even the one who surprised and took the poem to unexpected places. I went for the person who moved me most. My stand out performers in a night of stars were Amy Bodossian with her poignant piece and incredible singing. Ren Alessandra with her don't mess with me feminist call to arms. Loran Steinberg with her quiet and compelling voice. Yoram Symons with his call to ad felinity to the divinity. Wahibe Moussa who hit me right in the feels. And Josh Cake for his timely piece about how much time we have left.

    In the end it was Tabani Tshuma who won. And when I say won I mean he won all the prizes. The Convenors' Award, The People's Choice and the Judges' Prize. His performance was amazing. Masterful and powerful with an incredible use of language and imagery. 

     

  • Going Out With A Bang

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    The closing night for the Melbourne Spoken Word & Poetry Festival at Howler in Brunswick on Sunday night was incredible. Six featured poets, four hours of spoken word and more inspiration than you could poke a stick at.

    Jon Englezos had me wiping away surreptitious tears with his beautiful poem about his yai yai. A masterful example of the power of story to connect us all. 

    I am so lucky to live in country where we can all speak up and be heard. Huge thanks to Melbourne Spoken Word for bringing Rania Ahmed to the stage last night to share her poetry. Seeing the world through her eyes was a revelation.

    Legendary poet Claire Gaskin rocked the stage last night with her reinterpretation of Greek mythology, giving voice to the women ignored by his/story.

    I'm steeling reeling from Tenda McFly's performance. A mixture of spoken and sung word plus video and collaboration. If you're a poet, go check out Gladiator. It will inspire you to keep writing.

    American poet Bill Moran gave a stream of consciousness Beat style performance melding spoken word and music with haunting images. He has got the most expressive face I think I've ever seen.

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    Headlining the event was the Individual World Poetry Slam champion Mic Ting. I was mesmerized by his eloquence and use of gestures to illustrate a point or heighten the moment. I attended his Extended Metaphor workshop on Saturday which was amazing. It was wonderful to then hear how he incorporates metaphor into his work. He also used characters and personas in his performance. This was beyond poetry. It was a masterclass in storytelling.

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    I hung around for the after party, chatting to fellow poets, meeting the features and not wanting the night to end. The whole festival has been the most incredible experience and I am so grateful to Benjamin Solah and the whole team over at Melbourne Spoken Word for all their hard work in putting the festival on. 

     

  • Book Fair

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    Sunday morning saw me packing all my books into bags and heading back in to town for the Melbourne Spoken Word & Poetry Festival Book Fair at Siteworks in Brunswick.

    It was super fun to be spending a day hanging out with other poets and checking out all the cool things they're publishing. Lots of chapbooks, zines, second hand poetry books (thanks Fiona for the great haul!) and more. I loved Kat's beautiful chapbook, Hungry and her illustrated posters. Eddie Burger had a humongous range of zines for sale. Adiba was selling books in Syriac (the first international language), Arabic and English. Imagine being able to speak and write in three languages!

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    I was selling Defenestration, my hand bound chapbook, Wild Heart, as well as bookmarks and postcards from the book. I did really well and only have left 3 copies of my limited edition run of 25 for Wild Heart. If you couldn't make it to the Book Fair but want to buy a book, they're for sale in my online shop.

    There was an open mic for the stall holders and Tim did a series of interviews with the authors during the day. It was great to chat to all the other poets and see what they're creating. I'm feeling very inspired now!

     

  • When I Say Spoken You Say Word

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    I've just had the most amazing weekend filled with spoken word goodness. It's all thanks to Benjamin Solah and the incredible team at Melbourne Spoken Word. They're worked their butts off to put together an incredible two and half weeks of events and workshops in and around Melbourne for 2019's Melbourne Spoken Word and Poetry Festival.

    On Friday I headed into the city to the Toff in Town for the opening night of the festival. I got to see seven incredible artists strut their stuff in a room jam packed with enthusiastic poets and word enthusiasts. Natalie Jeffreys was heart-felt and moving. The rhythm and sound of Zaynab G Farah's voice was captivating. Emilie Collyer brought a moment of stillness with quiet poems to lean in to. Arielle Cottingham's performance blew my mind – it was a rollercoaster full of movement and sound that I never wanted to end. Eleanor Jackson was assured, cheeky and just a little bit outrageous. All she wanted was for someone to buy her a drink, there was no metaphor, there was never a metaphor. She was just thirsty. Singaporean poet Stephanie Dogfoot was funny and charismatic. I wanted to be as cool as her. And as young. Luka Lesson had presence and gravity and when he got together with Mena Shamaly on the oud and they improvised it was sublime.

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    Saturday saw me attending the Fresh Voices workshop with American poet Arielle Cottingham. After seeing her live the night before I was super psyched to learn with her and she didn't disappoint. Arielle's favourite part of the writing process is the editing and she shared some awesome techniques for improving your work which were just what I was looking for. It's super easy to look at someone else's work and say – get rid of this line or that's a cliche. It's much harder when it's your own stuff. I even got a poem out of the workshop which is always a bonus.

    Yesterday was another day of poetry immersion, this time focussing on performance with Scott Wings. The workshop was incredible – we pretty much spent the whole time our feet, in our bodies and moving around the room with kinaesthetic response and other techniques. It was brilliant to be back in my body and I didn't want the workshop to end. 

    Over the weekend I learnt some awesome skills, meet some fabulous fellow poets and had a ball. Thanks Melbourne Spoken Word, you put on an awesome festival. And it's not over yet!

     

  • Open Mike Adventures

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    I've been diving head first into the terrifying recently. Going to spoken word gigs and putting my name down for the open mike section. Getting up there and reading my work to a room full of strangers. Like I said, terrifying and incredibly humbling to share a stage with giants in the Melbourne scene.

    I've been to Passionate Tongues at the Brothers Arms in Fitzroy, Dan Poets at the Dan O'Connell in Carlton, Littlefoot & Co in Narrewarren and Girls on Key in Northcote. The first time I got up behind the mike I was petrified. Everyone was looking. And no-one was being distracted, they were all staring. And listening. To me. I somehow got through that very first poem, hand shaking as I held the piece of paper and spoke into the microphone. The audience were amazing and supportive. When I said it was my first open mike ever, they whooped and hollered. The poetry community here in Melbourne is the best!

    I love hearing poets read their own work. There's nothing quite like it. Sometimes a word captures my ear and my imagination. Other times it's the poet's voice rolling and crashing on the shores of my memories. In the last few moths I've had the privilege of hearing Fenella Edwards, Benjamin Solah, Waffle Irongirl, Wani, Robbie Coburn and Krish Prasad. And they're just the featured artists.

    If you're interested in spoken word and live in Melbourne check out the excellent Melbourne Spoken Word for gigs near you. There are amazing poets performing in venues all across Melbourne and a lot of the gigs are free. You can pretty much go see live poetry every night of the week. It's awesome. Go check it out!