POET vs WILD successfully pulls off nine-hours in Publika, readies Sisiseni for Johor takeover

IN celebrating friendship, poetry, and music, Poet vs Wild returns with a big bang for its third installment. Focusing on the love people have for poetry, the event brought about 60 art enthusiasts to The Stage and Black Box, Publika. Here, witnesses of the same frame of mind gathered under one roof for what they knew best.

The heavy downpour hitting Kuala Lumpur last Saturday did not stop a crowd from wanting to share knowledge, witness poetry readings, and enjoy music. This nine-hour edition titled Poet vs Wild Vol. III was spread into four different section.

In conjunction with Merdeka and the upcoming Malaysia Day, organisers Sisiseni Production was in full throttle, putting together a independent and popular artists for a celebration of creativity and the human bond.

Poet vs Wild was first held in Nomad Café, Empire Damansara on 13 February earlier this year but it was brought back as a collaboration with Minut Init and The Daily Seni during pop-up arts festival BINTANGXBULAN in April. Managing Poet vs Wild, Farah Idayu Kamsari said that besides music and poetry, the objective of the event is to celebrate togetherness, but in a cool way.

“We hoped to give people the experience of enjoying the show as well as connecting with others,” the petite singer-songwriter tells us in between acts. “With each installment, Poet vs Wild has only grown bigger and better — this is our largest line-up to date.”

Poet vs Wild Vol. III began with a talk session titled Collective Go Wild – Interdependently Evolve. Moderated by Cech Andrea, the laidback session gave opportunity to the public to engage in dialogue with these artists.

The talk was was followed by another discussion centered around Malaysia’s favourite pastime. Not Only Serve Food – Café as Alternate Space for Poetry and Community Events saw poets and café owners relate their knowledge in upholding local poetry while incorporating it into the food and beverage business. Guest panelists like Hakim Alias (Rantai Art), Khairunazwan Rodzy (Revolution Stage), Mohd Jayzuan (Projek Rabak), Akmyr Azwan (Jibril SS15), and Fuad (Bendang Kitchen) exchanged their experiences in the café business and other happenings such as reading poetry, jamming sessions and many more.

Their aspiration is to create spaces which don’t only serve food, but also events showcasing the ambience, traffic and location of these eateries.

Later that evening, a poetry jam took place through which participants faced off with each other in front of five public members of the jury. This was a highly useful introduction to poetry slam for audience members. The night ended with a mini concert which featured poetry adapted into songs. Acts included Surnia Fizul, Asmaraloka, Intan Nor Saina, Jamal Raslan, Lara Hassan, Lea Ismail, Iqbal M. and even Amir Jahari, all of whom performed some of their best work.

“We want to show that independent music and poetry can be achieved through the company of good friends — we’re all having fun being creative on the stage,” continues Farah.

“At the same time, it’s hard to believe we’ve done this three times this year! I think we’ll all be taking a break from Poet vs Wild until next year, but in the meantime Sisiseni is heavily involved in Zombi Serang Joho and Zombi Serang Bas.“

These two titles she’s referring to are upcoming interactive plays by the collective revolving around zombie apocalypses. Currently, the Sisiseni team has been trying to balance a full plate, as on top of Poet vs Wild they have two plays opening this month.

Zombi Serang Joho in particular will be held as part of , a two-day mini-arts festival taking place at Iskarnival Kreatif from 17-18 September. It is part of Sisiseni’s Zombi series — Zombi Serang Panggung and Zombi Serang Kolumpo are two popular examples — and it will take place in Mall of Medini as part of KITARAN.

Formerly directed by Sisiseni main man and writer Cech Adrea, this one-off staging is set to be directed by Nawfal Zamri, whose stage directorial effort Kau Rasa? received a glowing review from our team.

“We’re very excited to be taking this show to Johor for the first time; we’ve even adapted the script so Johoreans will be able to relate further,” Farah exclaims. “Utilising a one-of-a-kind set designed collaboratively with The Daily Seni, Minut Init, The Keepers Studio and The Tomoe, this is going to be a very special entry from the series.”

Make sure to catch these guys next weekend for the exclusive run of Zombi Serang Johor!

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For more information about Poet vs Wild, make sure to check out ! Zombi Serang Johor will be held at 3:30pm from 17-18 September at . Entry is completely free! Written by Yolanda Amelia.