Poetry Slam Istanbul, the first open mic poetry slam event in Istanbul will bring poetry performers and an audience to Kaset Kadıköy on March 17th.
Poetry has always been an important part of the city from ancient Greek times, through the Byzantine era, to the Ottomans and into the Republic. People have been reading, reciting and writing poetry besides the Bosphorus for ages. So in some ways it is strange that poetry slam, the most vibrant and exciting of new poetic traditions hasn’t really gained a foothold here. Until now.
On 17th of March, between 19:00 and 21:00 the first Poetry Slam Istanbul will take place in Istanbul. Poetry Slam is a form of open mic poetry, mostly known for energetic performances of powerful poems all over the world. The evening will host two sets, one “Open Mic Poetry Set”, and a “Slam Competition Set”, that will be open to anyone who wants to perform and listen, free of charge.
For me, what matters is that people share something unique. That is what makes slam so different from other poetry events. We are bringing poetry and entertainment together, we want to encourage the poets to perform rather than just read. This is why each poet only gets a maximum of three minutes on stage. Slam also encourages the audience to participate. We like when the audience is active, can participate in games, or can react and state their opinions about the poet on stage with certain manners. You can snap, cheer and applaud for poems you like, but you can also boo or stomp your feet for terrible poems. If the poets have freedom of speech, so should the audience. We are going to keep the format similar to that of the original from Marc Smith, founder of Slam Poetry in Chicago.
Istanbul is such a natural setting for a slam competition. The city is full of expats and local people who want to mingle within an international, creative and entertaining context. We have been working closely with Spoken Word Istanbul (SWI), which takes place every Tuesday, gathering a diverse group of regulars and newcomers, to try and introduce their fantastic audience and preferment with a new style of open mic event. Besides its content, the event aims to be a bridge community between English speaking locals and foreigners. Merve Pehlivan founder and host of Spoken Word Istanbul, alongside Luke Frostick and Liam Murray editors of the Bosphorus Review of Books are helping with the organisation. Just like Spoken Word Istanbul, the event is open to any levels, so this could be your first time or you can be the world slam champion. You are welcomed. If you feel inexperienced don’t worry, the stage is where you get the experience.
The first set will be more similar to Spoken Word in that a healthy mix of established poets and newcomers will read poems from all over the world. After that the the second set is a competition. This is also open to anybody and is more about having fun than the nominal prize we will be offering. Random judges from the audience will score the poems based on whatever criteria that they chose, it could be the poems they like, the social/political message of the piece or the pop that it gets from the crowd. The most important thing from our point of view is that we all have fun doing it.
Anyone who wants to participate is invited to Kaset in Kadıköy on the 17th of March after 18:30 to sign up for the Open Mic or the Slam Competition, or to just enjoy the show that will start at 19:00.
Though of course feel free to reach out to us on Facebook or by email. You can find the official event here.
