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Politics Dominates the Million's Poet

The Million's Poet show, the biggest reality hit TV show in the Gulf region has everything going for it with 48 Poets, 15 live shows, SMS voting, MMS services, an interactive website and a monthly magazine.
VIP guests that attended the live show on Tuesday night included Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Khaled Al Nahyan, Head of the Board of Executors for the Al Ain Football Club and Mohammed Khalaf Al Mazrouie, Director General of the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage. It seems that the Poets from the first season of the Million's Poet show also can't keep away as Abdel Rahman Al Shammari, Mubarak Al Mansouri and Faisal Al Yami among others regularly attend the live show at the Al Raha Beach theatre in Abu Dhabi.

In Tuesday's episode five, the results were in from the last week's SMS voting and the viewers had made their choice. Ayed Al Qhahtani from Qatar and Badr Al Khalidi from Saudi Arabia beat the other three poets up for voting to succeed to the second round of the Million's Poet competition, which begins on 5^th February.

Eight new poets then competed in what was considered by many in the audience to be a very tough line up of competitors with a number of well known poets from around the Gulf region competing against each other. The poets included Mohammed bin Sheha from the UAE, Ibrahim Al A'anaizi, Abdullah Al O'taibi and Falah Al Dhafiri from Saudi Arabia; Jabar Al Buthi and Masha'al Al Rashidi from Kuwait; Khalil Al Tamimi from Qatar and Mohammed Yeslam from Mauritania.

Taking a break from the norm and the usual crowd from the Gulf region, audience members flew in all the way from Mauritania to watch Mohammed Yeslem perform. Lighting up the crowd with their brightly coloured traditional dresses and Mauritanian flags, men and women came in full force the other night to cheer on their favorite poet. Yeslam's performance sent strong political messages throughout the theatre, highlighting the struggles for freedom in troubled areas of Lebanon and Iraq. Trying to use a complex style of poetry mixing nabati with classical Arabic, Yeslam however disappointed the judges with his lack of poetic rhythm.

Abdullah Al O'taibi one of the strongest poets of the night according to the audience's votes, receiving 91% for excellence. O'taibi left the viewers feeling a cocktail of emotions as he flowed through his poem reciting on more than four topics. It is as common today as it was centuries ago to recite on the topics close to ones heart as well as what is effecting people around them. O'taibi painted a vivid mental image of the wealth gap in the Arab world today reciting about the common practice of the wealthy traveling to Switzerland and Portugal and the poor who have no choices available to them. He also sent a message to his fellow brothers of what it is to be a 'man' emphasizing the need to be strong and respectable. O'taibi moved his poem on to ask what have the Arabs done for Palestine and points the viewers in the direction of Iraq in what he calls a 'Theatre of death'.

However it was Khalil Al Tamimi and Jabar Al Buthi that impressed the Judges the most last night being chosen to go through to the second round. Khalil's Poem was the strongest in terms of language and poetic style, using complex metaphors and poetic techniques. Jabar took, in what traditional western poets might see as a more conventional route, reciting a poem of romance and sadness. Jabar recited 'My heart is like a baby bird, still growing inside me but has never been able to fly free'. Jabar tells viewers in his poem that he is in this competition for the honor of his tribe, and will do anything to win the title of 'The Million's Poet'.

Since its inception in 2006, the Million's Poet competition has elevated itself to one of the most prestigious poetry competitions in Arabic history. The Poets from this season have often referred to the competition in their poetry emphasizing the prestige of the show and the need to win the title. Family honor is imperative in this region and engulfs every aspect of people's lives, our poets will work harder than ever before to develop their poetic skills to win the honor of becoming the Million's Poet.

Unfortunately for the UAE, Mohammed bin Sheha from Abu Dhabi was eliminated from the competition on Tuesday night by the Judges as they emphasized the lack of structure and style in his poetry, although reciting about his love for his leaders Sheikh Zayed, Sheikh Khalifa and Sheikh Mohammed of Abu Dhabi his poem lacked the qualities that are needed to succeed in this competition.

Tune in today and Sunday to watch the Recap shows on Abu Dhabi TV and the Million's Poet Channel at 20:00 (UAE time). Viewers can watch exclusive interviews with this week's poets and find out what they got up to over the week.

The live shows are aired on Abu Dhabi TV on Tuesdays at 22:30. Repeats of the show and also extra exclusive behind the scenes footage can be viewed around the clock on the dedicated Million's Poet Channel on Nile Sat 11919 MHTz, Horizontal, 27500, ¾ and Arabsat Bader 4 DL, 11804 Horizontal, 27500, ¾.

It is free to attend the live show each week on Tuesdays at Al Raha Beach Theatre, audience members are asked to arrive by 21:00. This show has been commissioned by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage and is produced by Pyramedia.

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For more information, please contact:
Hana Al-Hirsi
Head of International Press & Publicity
Pyramedia FZ-LLC
Mobile: +971508187518
Fax: +97126211463
Email: hana.alhirsi@pyramedia.biz
Website: www.pyramedia.biz

© Press Release 2008

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