Front Row

There's been a surge of local productions that directly incorporate poetry with other performance disciplines like music, theatre, dance, and the visual arts. This episode, Sheena Baharudin explores the different ways poetry engages with the arts. In conversation with her to do just that are Veshalini Naidu and Hannan Barakbah.

Music Credit: Lakey Inspired

Track Name: Days Like These

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The travelling minstrel was a medieval poet and a musician. Also known as a troubadour, they often travelled in troupes across countries and continents bringing stories and weaving. Joining Elaine Foster on this month’s edition of Speak Easy is a modern day minstrel and travelling poet from Singapore, Deborah Emmanuel.

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After a short hiatus, Speak Easy is back for Season 2 with a new host, Sheena Baharudin, joined by last season’s host, Elaine Foster. We kick off this season with a change of scene by leaving the open mic stage in pubs for the experimental theatre space. Find out how poetry and cabaret come together to create a dazzling, delightful fusion of performance art.

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The travelling minstrel was a medieval poet and a musician. Also known as a troubadour, they often travelled in troupes across countries and continents bringing stories and weaving. Joining Elaine Foster on this month’s edition of Speak Easy is a modern day minstrel and travelling poet from Singapore, Deborah Emmanuel.

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Speak Easy turns one! From biblical psalms to Quranic verses, poetry has helped us explore the meaning of our existence. In the season finale of Speak Easy, Elaine Foster speaks to Sheena Baharudin to examine the role of poetry in spirituality. Together with producer, Tina Carmillia, they also announce future plans for the second season of Speak Easy after a short hiatus.

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The history of women’s writing is inextricably linked to the history of the women’s movement. Spaces, before the movement for women’s right, private or public were dominated by men and that included the spaces occupied by the literary communities. But how relevant is the women’s movement to today’s young women poets? Elaine Foster checks in with Caits Meissner for her thoughts on poetry and women’s writing, as well as her writing programmes in prison.

Caits also premiers two poems in progress, neither of which are published (yet) titled ‘Acupuncturist Teaches Her 10-Year-Old Son The Craft” and “Making Sisters”.

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Poetry and theatre are part of the same discipline, and yet there's often a perceived division between the two. Can we argue that all theatre is, in one sense at least, poetry performed? Seasoned theatre practitioner of KL Shakespeare Players and BFM’s own Lim Soon Heng weighs in on this contentious topic.

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This month on Speak Easy, Elaine Foster invites two poets to do a round-up of the year that was 2017. Azam Rais is a seasoned poet and host of Poet X, an online podcast series of spoken word poetry, while Julian Matthews only discovered spoken word poetry recently. The contrasting experiences of both guests provide a thought-provoking insight into the spoken word scene in Malaysia.

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This month, Speak Easy focuses on how poetry and poetry slam are being used in education across schools and universities in Malaysia to improve things students’ confidence, develop their self expression, and language skills. But poetry in education can do a whole lot more. We hear from poetry educator Yohanna Yusrinal, as well as poet-students Tee Yen, Amanda Lim, Elissa Foong and Taarani Mahadeva.

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There has been no bigger influence on contemporary poetry than hip hop. It’s difficult to see where hip hop begins and spoken word poetry ends. But despite all their similarities, academics still argue whether rap is poetry. This month on Speak Easy, Elaine Foster speaks to Malaysian hip hop artist, Jin Hackman, and spoken word poet, Sheena Baharudin, about poetry and hip hop.

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