Mushaira Aberystwyth – A Celebration of the World’s Poetry

21 November 2017

The Mercator Institute is holding a Mushaira on Wednesday, 22 November 2017 at Arad Goch, Bath Street, Aberystwyth.

A Mushaira is a gathering of poets held in the Indian subcontinent to encourage Urdu poetry or shayari.

In a Mushaira, poets’ words are illuminated by the glow of a candle that is passed from one person to another, indicating whose turn it is to perform.

Mushaira Aberystwyth will follow the same format, with contributions in Welsh, English, Urdu, Hindi, German, Japanese, and much more.

There will also be live music from the fantasic folk group Deuair.

The event is arranged by Mohini Gupta, a Charles Wallace Trust Fellow on a 3 month visit to the Mercator Institute, and Dewi Huw Owen, a Welsh tutor at Aberystwyth University and researcher in the field of Translation Studies.

They invite you to join the poetic celebrations.

Speaking ahead of the event, Dewi Huw Owen said: “You can come to listen to the poetry, or you can come to contribute to the Mushaira. If you’d like to contribute, please bring two pieces that take no more than 5 minutes each to perform. These can be poems written by others or original compositions.”

“There is no set theme to the Mushaira, but the emphasis of the event is on multilingualism and multiculturalism, so the more languages and the more poetic styles, the better.”

The event officially starts at 7:30pm, and all performers are asked to arrive at 7pm, so that they can compile a running order of poets for the evening. The entry fee for all is £4 each.

Professor Elin Haf Gruffydd Jones, the Director of the Mercator Institute said: “We’re delighted to host this event, probably the first Mushaira in Aberystwyth. The Mushaira tradition of sharing poetry and music by candlelight was introduced to us by Mohini Gupta, our Charles Wallace India Trust Fellow for 2017. It’s a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the richness of creativity and multilingualism here in Aberystwyth.”

For more information visit the Mushaira’s Facebook page.