Cultural aspect of Mushaira highlighted at Adab Festival

Mushaira is not purely a literary programme. It is more of a cultural programme, said poet and literary scholar Iftikhar Arif at a session on the concluding day of the Adab Festival Pakistan on Sunday.

He stressed that if 10,000 people could understand a poem or its stanza, it could not qualify to be a poem. He added that a poem to be included in a book was different than a poem to be read out in a Mushaira.

He was speaking at a session titled ‘Urdu Literature in London: The 80s in the Limelight’ on Sunday's second day of Adab Festival.

He mentioned that in a Mushaira, we mostly heard the kind of poetry that could generate Daad (verbal applause). When less experienced poets recited their poems and received appreciation, five more poems on the same topic came in the market, he added.

Poet and writer Kishwar Naheed said she was not good at reciting poems in mushaira. She mirrored a mushaira to that of a comedy show. She said that a lot of people listened to a comedy show but only a few people in a mushaira truly understood what was being said.

She recalled how once in Lahore she attended a mushaira in which Zehra Nigah was to read one of her first poems. She recalled that the poet’s eloquence, recitation, expressions and accent were amazing so much so that everyone got engaged to a level that she ended up reciting three of her poems three times due to repeated requests from the audience. “Everyone was mesmerised,” Kishwar said.

She said that earlier people used to listen to renowned poets such as Faiz and Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi with respect.

Zehra Nigah said that one should keep into account rhythm while reciting a poem. She said that for a poem, rhythm must not be something less important, and poets should understand this.