A trio gave voice to its art, as music, dancing and poetry came to the fore at the AlUla Wellness Festival.
Raghad Fatahadeen sat on an elevated platform reciting poetry in a soothing voice, while Mustafa Fahmi played music in the background. In the front, dancer Bilal Allaf performed an elaborate dance that encapsulated emotions the poet was trying to convey.
Fatahadeen, 27, said of her work: “It’s not exactly poetry, and it’s almost like a guided meditation, like a speech. You don’t know what it is, so we call it spoken poetry.”
Allaf’s introduction to Fatahadeen came when he saw her read her poetry in an open mic night. He said: “I didn’t know what Raghad wrote; it wasn’t necessarily poetry but nature. So I approached her and asked her if there was a piece she would like to read while I improvised it, and she first naturally opposed the idea. It took a bit of convincing, and then finally we performed on stage for the first time.”
They both said the audience went completely silent during their first dance performance. Initially they thought the assembled crowd disapproved, but the applause that followed was loud enough to ease their doubts.
The duo then added Mustafa Fahmi to the mix to provide background music to the multisensory experience.—Agencies
