Mockingbirds, the city’s first spoken word/poetry collective, is celebrating its fifth anniversary with online events curated to create awareness on this less-explored art.
Chennai :
To have your voice heard without judgement, to give shape and sound to your thoughts, to get a place under the spotlight (even if it’s only for a couple of minutes), to string words together and perform in front of an audience — for any budding poet and spoken word artiste, to have a conducive platform is essential to grow. Five years ago, when the city lacked such a definite space, a group of friends gathered at a cafe and discussed ways through which their poetry and spoken word can find an audience.
The group, instead of waiting for serendipity, decided to create it and in April 2015, on a summery afternoon, Mockingbirds, the city’s first spoken word/poetry collective was born. In several interviews, Michelle Ann James, one of the co-founders, has often reiterated that the group is built on these lines from the award-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird — ‘Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy.
They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird’. Over the years, the group has diligently stuck to its vision — of providing a platform to budding performers and inspiring expression through versification. “It’s all about poetry for poetry’s sake,” says Michelle. To commemorate their fifth year anniversary, the group recently curated an Instagram live open mic session — of poetry reading in English and Tamil. “We had about 136 people join us for the live session and about 33 active participants. That’s a lot, especially for something as niche as spoken word and performance poetry,” details Michelle.
Growth and adversity
From curating poetry performances in quaint cafes and open terraces to conducting workshops and aiding literary events, the group has slowly yet firmly carved a space for itself in the city. “Back when we started out, Instagram wasn’t a popular medium, so, most events were announced through Facebook and people came to know about us through word of mouth. I vividly remember one of the initial events we had curated. It was at Spaces, Besant Nagar, and we had just one participant. A lot of people had promised to make it but didn’t turn up. We were heartbroken but we kept going,” recalls the word artist. Yet, something constructive was born out of the adversity.
The sole participant who made it to the event — Ishvar Krishnan — eventually became one of the core members of Mockingbirds. “Ishvar experiments with sound, music and words. I remember the first time I met him — he came for the performance with a bunch of papers, nervous, his hands shivering. Now, he has grown, has his own style and audience. That’s what Mockingbirds aims to do — act as a non-judgemental platform for people to explore and grow,” she says. Similarly, Aashika Suresh, another performer who skipped work to attend one of Mockingbirds’ open mic performances has now found her calling. “She is one of our core members. She is now a freelance writer and poet. Our growth as a group has been organic,” says Michelle.
Magic through words
Weaving magic with the inherent music in language and verbal expression, the group has been a force to reckon with. As performers, the group is also informed about their responsibility to give back to society and to raise consciousness. This is perhaps why, most of their events are a free ground for expression — about mental health, politics and whatnots.
As they step into a new year, Mockingbirds aims to become a resource organisation, take alternative ways of interpreting poetry — to understand ideas and concepts — into educational institutions. With the lockdown in place, several online-based events and workshops are scheduled to take place. “Our main commitment is to poetry as a craft. We are also in the process of organising longer workshops and open mics in the coming weeks. We want to receive video entries of spoken word and create an audience for the performers,” she adds. For details, visit Instagram page @mockingbirdsinmadras or send a mail to projectmockingbirds@ gmail.com
UPCOMING EVENTS
Hindi open mic poetry (Insta live) on April 25 from 8 pm to 9 pm. An introductory workshop on Poetry
Appreciation in English by Aswin Vijayan, poet and assistant professor of English, on April 26 from 7 pm to 9 pm. This is a pay-as-you-wish workshop.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Roshne Balasubramanian / Express News Service / April 23rd, 2020