8100 Café, Loulé / Fri 14 APR 18h00 Slam Poetry / 120' / M12 / Free Admission
The concept of slam poetry was born in Chicago, Illinois, in the 1980s, when Marc Kelly Smith – a local poet and construction worker – felt that poetry had lost its true passion. Smith then created a weekly poetry event called Poetry Slam, where anyone could join. In these poetry slam events, poets read their original work but also perform it live for the audience, who then vote based on the enthusiasm created by the performers. Like the Beat poets of the 1940s and the 1950s, poetry slam does not follow any strict rules regarding poetic structure like rhyme or syllable counting. There are no rules about content, but it usually reflects cultural trends and social issues. A slam poem can be about any topic that moves the poet, and is a form of poetry that combines elements of performance, writing, competition and audience participation.
OPEN CALL - SLAM POETRY Legend has it that poetry is the Mother of all Arts and for our 11th edition we couldn’t go without it! Wham, Slam, Poetic Jam is an exciting poetic 'death' battle among self-proposed 'fighters', moderated by the Poeta qu'Pariu collective. Spoken word, rap, freestyle, recitative poetry or epic monologue, we are looking for word-based proposals needing to be heard, and which may (or may not) combine different performance elements. In this Slam there are some exceptions to the normal rules – we allow props, musical instruments or any other sound and stage-based element. Each performance must not exceed the 3 minutes and 40 seconds timeslot. There are no rules regarding structure or theme, and texts/performances must be authored by each performer. We don’t allow hate speech or any kind of racist or xenophobic content! For voting, we randomly select a jury from the audience. They will be asked to vote according to their own emotions, thus welcoming more subjectivity, but knowing that the most moving performance is generally the most voted. The event is made up of 3 rounds where the highest scoring poet will go through to the next round. The final round will decide the winner. Number of participants in each round will depend on the total number of entries. EXAMPLE - 1st round: 10 participants / 2nd round: 6 participants / 3rd round: 2 participants Participants must come prepared with 3 texts/performances, in case they pass to the next round. Voting and event structure will also be explained on location by the moderators. 1st place will win a 150€ prize money and, together with the 2nd and 3rd places, will be given the chance to go to the Poetry Slam regionals, also organised by Poeta qu'Pariu, which will take place in Faro or Loulé on a date TBA. The regional winner will go on to perform in the Poetry Slam National Championship, organised by Portugal SLAM, this year in Almada, on a date TBA. So, if you have your own poems, or if you are still going to write them, or if you just want to do improv from the top of your head, or have a really important thing the world needs to hear, send us your proposal until April 11th to info@festivalveraoazul.com. Write it, and come show us what moves you!