Slam poetry is a combination of poetry, the spoken word and performing. Slam poets take to the stage to recite their work, which cannot be longer than three minutes, in front of an audience and a panel of judges. Its uniqueness lies in the performance element, with slam poets dramatising the reading, often the performance itself setting a piece apart.
In Cyprus, this genre of spoken word officially hit the island in 2017 with the first-ever Slam Poetry Cyprus with local and international poets competing. Awarded poets, Cyprus-based newcomers and emerging writers introduced the art of slam poetry to Nicosia residents and its organisers, Ideogramma, have turned it into an annual event. Except for in 2020 when the whole world turned upside down and everything was put on hold.
After postponing the 2020 edition twice, the event had to be cancelled. But now it is a new year and the 4th Slam Poetry Cyprus 2021 will take place on Sunday. From 5pm to 7.30pm poets from around the island will participate in a two-part competition with video-poems in their original language, subtitled in English. Though a digital event might not have the same feel as the physical ones, Ideogramma plans to make the competition as real as possible with dedicated presenters and judges, but it hasn’t been easy planning it.
“Ask me when it’s over,” laughed one of the founders of Ideogramma, Nora Hadjisotiriou. “We were inspired a lot by the European slam poetry competition which also took place online and we had good collaborators and a strong IT team who helped us make it possible.”
Six ‘slammers’ have been invited from abroad to participate, joining in from the Czech Republic, Finland, Austria, Belgium, Norway and Greece. All of them have participated in slam poetry events and competitions in the past, winning the category in their country or European awards.
They will be joined by 14 other poets selected through an open call Ideogramma announced last January, gathering poets based in Cyprus and abroad. These poets will compete against each other in the first part of the competition where a five-member jury will pick the 2021 Cyprus National Slam Champion, who in turn will represent Cyprus at various European and other international competitions. The Champion along with another five short-listed poets will go through to round two of the evening to compete with the six invited international slammers.
Besides the 2021 Poetry Slam Cyprus Champion, the audience has a special role this year as well. An online voting system will be set up, allowing the audience watching on their screens to vote for their favourite slammer from anywhere in the world. The poet to gather the most votes will win the title of Popular Vote.
“The last three editions of the Cyprus Poetry Slam Competition,” said Ideogramma, “organising and staging such events is important because it provides the platform on which young emerging as well as established poets are free to express themselves ‘outside the box’ and beyond the parameters of correctness usually imposed by their social surroundings.”
On Sunday, viewers can watch the competition through a Facebook Live link found on the Facebook pages of Ideogramma and Poetry Slam, Cyprus where local and international poets will gather to break down the barriers between slammers, judges and audiences, letting the words go free.
4th Poetry Slam Cyprus
International poetry slam competition with local and international poets. January 24. 5pm-7.30pm. Online through Facebook Live. Free
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