Poets explore how the artform can unite people on different sides of conflict

A story is often told to illustrate how central poetry is to Yemeni culture: that of the visit of a famous lute player from Baghdad.

He was invited to play in Sana’a, where he performed enchanting and technically brilliant music for an hour. But when he stopped, the audience waited for the musician to start talking. Without any poetry, they thought, the entertainment could not possibly be over yet.

Sung and recited poetry is loved all over the Arab world, but especially so in Yemen. It is important for special occasions such as weddings and historical events, but also has a function in everyday life as part of dispute mediations between tribes and as a form of political and social commentary.

The millennia-old tradition is still thriving. In the 2011 Arab spring protests, ancient and new compositions were chanted in the streets of Sana’a. Even now, four years into Yemen’s civil war, established poets and emerging young writers are exploring how the art form can unite people on different sides of the war’s many fault lines.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Aisha al-Jaedy, a 20-year-old student. Photograph: Handout

“We have to say what we feel and what life is like in war, and what life was like before it. That’s what poetry is for,” said 20-year-old Aisha al-Jaedy, a student from Hadramaut who writes on the themes of women and peace. “It’s our job to give this message to the world.”

Jaedy volunteered for a recent project called In the Land of Shattered Windows, which involved nine young poets from different parts of Yemen writing in the tradition of balah, long poems composed and performed competitively or as part of a dialogue.

None of the participants had met, but they were connected in pairs in order to communicate what life was like for people on opposite sides of the conflict, exchanging audio recordings of original poems via WhatsApp. The result was deeply moving portraits of young Yemenis’ lives.

I have always told you:

You must be brave to say you are scared,

And scared enough to look brave.

From ‘Over a Bridge of Fears’ by Aisha al-Jaedy, translated by Hamdan Dammaj

Seven of the nine participants were able to travel to Sana’a to meet in person and perform together in February this year.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jala’a Abdulla, left, and Manal al-Adawi ,right, read poetry in Sana’a. Photograph: Handout

“We wanted to update the poetic tradition, make it younger and cooler,” said organiser Ibi Ibrahim, the founder of the Romooz Foundation, a new independent non-profit based in Sana’a dedicated to promoting and developing Yemeni art and culture.

“When I moved back to Yemen last year, it was astonishing for me to really see and internalise how life goes on despite the war. Outsiders think of Yemen as death and war and conflict. That is absolutely true. But what we are aiming to do is create another narrative that shows our humanity and resilience.”

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Creating art in times of war is not without its obstacles. In Yemen, the Houthi rebels and forces loyal to the Saudi-backed coalition have both imprisoned and tortured activists, journalists and intellectuals. Many people are afraid to express themselves truthfully - and political poetry, by its very nature, can inflame existing tensions.

Sana Uqba. Photograph: Handout

“Poetry is given a lot more value and honour in Yemen [than in the west],” said 27-year-old British-Yemeni poet Sana Uqba and author of War & Love. “So when writing my book, I knew it had to serve a purpose – a peacemaker but also an unconventional newspaper to inform readers of what is happening in Yemen in a more artistic and creative way. I’m a firm believer in art being a form of resistance.”

Poetry, for Uqba, is also a way of processing collective trauma. One of her performance poems, What do you know about Yemen?, was shared thousands of times on social media by Yemenis and the diaspora community keen to draw attention to their country’s rich history and cultural contributions to the world.

“[The collection is] designed to humanise what has quite obviously become a dehumanised war,” she said. “Beyond the headlines and death tolls, humans have bore the brunt of this unnecessary and devastating war.”

The sun rose and pushed them one by one

Onto the ageing bus

Fresh bread, a little butter

And some cheese

That’s all it took -

Oh and some tea

A whole lot of singing

And laughter; that’s a perfect day

At the beach

Untitled poem from ‘War & Love’ by Sana Uqba

Ibrahim’s team at the Ramooz Foundation is planning to nurture new literary talent in Sana’a with a new project called Kitabat, hosting a creative writing workshop in Sana’a in the summer and crowdsourcing funds for a writer in residence programme in the city.

“I feel lucky to witness the artistic energy in Yemen at the moment,” Ibrahim said. “It’s such an active scene in literature, visual arts, filmmaking. It deserves support.

“There’s a social responsibility to avoid the destruction of our culture and heritage and seeing how these young artists grow more confident in their talents when they get to share their work is amazing.”

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