Dubai: Schoolchildren with a passion and talent for reciting poetry completed their final round in a poetry competition yesterday held by the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, and were honoured for being able to confidently recite classical and Nabati poetry in front of a panel of judges.
In an effort to promote a revival of Emirati heritage and highlight the beauty of the spoken word, the festival — in collaboration with the Hamdan Bin Mohammad Heritage Centre — launched the ‘Qasidah Par Coeur’ competition last October, which means ‘poetry by heart’ and encouraged students in the age groups of 8 to 13 and 14 to 18 to participate and get a chance to be awarded during the second day of the festival.
Students who participated in the competition were given a chance to choose to recite poems in English, Arabic, or their mother tongue for a chance to win first, second, or third place and be awarded in the ceremony.
In a separate hall, classical and Nabati poems, which were being recited by a number of finalists, echoed all around as parents watched and clapped for their children.
Dr Ahmad Al Shaikh proudly watched his son receive his first prize after the judges announced the names of the top winners. He said it was not the first time his had son excelled at delivering Nabati poetry, but it was the first time his son had entered this event.
“Events like these are able to connect past to present and encourage them to learn more about poetry, whether classical or Nabati,” he said. “As my son began rehearsing the poem he chose out of the selected poems, he was interested in learning more about history, the meaning of specific words, and the message behind the poem.”
He said Nabati poetry is a rich form of poetry that describes specific events in history and has preserved the Emirati heritage.
Ahmad Al Bidwawi, an Emirati poet who was on the panel of judges, said the goal of such events is to encourage younger generations to become more passionate about poetry and to also build their confidence.
“They are being given a chance to recite in front of an audience, and this will naturally motivate them to continue their journey in reciting and writing poetry. We are very focused on making them more aware of Nabati poetry and this is why we had this as a main category in the competition,” he said.
He also said that the Heritage Centre selected the Arabic poems by well-known poets, whether classical or Nabati, for students to choose from. “We conducted workshops for them before the semi-final to train them on how to recite the poems properly. This was very important because the main criteria used to select the winners was mostly based on the accuracy of pronunciation and the level of their voice.”
Yara Mirdad, organiser of all the children’s festival competitions, said this is the second year of the poetry competition, which she believes is very important because students are not always taught how to recite poetry.
“There has been a shift towards writing poetry rather than performing it,” she said. “Here we’re trying to focus on performance and the beauty of the Arabic language, since it has been a bit ignored by younger ones who don’t want to learn Arabic much. But so far we have seen a great response from Emirati students who were really willing to perform in their native language and dialect.”
The seventh edition of the festival, which will host various writers from around the world, is being held under the patronage of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and is taking place in InterContinental Dubai Festival City from March 5 to March 7 with workshops and main event programmes engaging both adults and children.
