Sidaja. International poetry meetings

In his latest book “Iraqi Breviary”, Silvio Cumpeta, one of the protagonists of Sidaja 2004 – International Poetry Meetings, writes: “The foul Empire / of this American Babylon destroys Babel / A single “yes” will dominate the earth”. Sidaja (Si - Da - Ja), the title word of this event now in its fourth year of activity, is the antidote, in some ways, to the plague of languages ​​that reduces them to skeletons, useless for formulating complex and articulated thoughts; not just one "YES", therefore, but as many "YES" as there are languages ​​in the world, to say "NO" to that mixture of selfishness and resentment that always gives rise to new hotbeds of conflict, racial hatred, religious persecution. For this magic of the encounter between reality and utopia to come true, we considered it essential to also build this fourth edition of Sidaja starting from the primary element of the body of the poet who reads his text, thus reuniting with the orality of the genesis of the poem. So we have once again reduced to the bare minimum what stands between this event and the listener, allowing (also through the video projection of the translations) direct, almost physical contact, a sort of embrace from the public who recognizes its poet. In the same way we have continued to encourage contamination between languages, insisting on multimedia. We continue to favor the interaction between poets and musicians, which in our opinion offers a new dimension that is not only emotional, but above all expressive. Sidaja, therefore, the meeting of different people, the tolerance of differences, the wish for conciliation, the endless love and mutual respect so that each of us can say, after having listened to and read the verses of the poets: "yes, I am Syrian!", "yes, I am Bosnian", "yes, I am American". Sidaja 2004 – House of poetry _________________ SIDAJA - International poetry meetings, an event now in its fourth edition, are not just three days of poetry in Trieste, a simple sequence of readings, but rather a nucleus of a broader project of intercultural exchanges, of "languages ​​of translation". Reading and listening to poetry must be experienced as a reconquest, a growth. When we listen to or read foreign poetry, then, we have the taste of discovering the other, of the desire to know everything that is different from us, what is different from ourselves. It seems to me that in the world, today more than ever, there is a need for poetry, the need to save oneself in poetry. As Nobel Prize winner Brodsky wrote:... since civilizations are something finite, in everyone's life there comes a moment when the center no longer holds. What then saves us from disintegration is not the strength of the legions but that of the language..." The organizers of SIDAJA therefore hope that this initiative can grow from year to year, to be increasingly enriched by prestigious presences, such as the 10 poets of this edition, working through artistic expression, a channel through which to build a dialogue between different languages and cultures in order to, in some way, acquire citizenship in the form of words. Roberto Antonaz Councilor for Culture Autonomous Region Friuli – Venezia Giulia

Program

Trieste, 16-18 October 2004 Saturday, 16 October 2004 4.00 pm Welcome toast 9.00 pm Teatro Miela (P.zza Duca degli Abruzzi 3) Readings Luciano Morandini (Italy) Ciril Zlobec (Slovenia) Judi Benson (United States/Great Britain) Marko Vesovic (Bosnia) Aleksij Pregarc (Italy-Slovenia). Sunday, 17 October 2004 at 9.00 pm Teatro Miela (P.zza Duca degli Abruzzi 3) Reading Silvio Cumpeta (Italy) Iztok Osojnik (Slovenia) Maram al Masri (Syria) Sinan Gudzevic (Serbia-Croatia) Eloy Josè Santos (Spain) Monday, 18 October 2004 at 6.00 pm Knulp Bar-Bookshop (Via Madonna del Mare, 7/a) Presentation of Ugo Pierri's book "Steel away". Translations by Jack Hirschman. Speakers: Luigi Nacci, Luigi Urdih and Fabio Malusà. 9.00 pm "Izet Sarajlic. Sarajevo March 1994" (video-letter) and a memory of Ante Zemljar. Following presentation of the Third Edition of the "International Poetry Meetings Sarajevo 2004". Speakers: Sergio Iagulli, Raffaella Marzano, Sinan Gudzevic, Josip Osti, Tomaz Salamun. Musicians: Marco Collazzoni (sax), Luca Colussi (drums and percussion), Riccardo Morpurgo (pianos), Martin O'Loughlin (didgeridoo and tuba).

Information

Autonomous Region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia Department of Education and Culture Banca di Credito Cooperativo del Carso/ Zadružna Kraška Banka Thanks to: International Literature Festival VILENICA 2004 PEN Club Slovenia bar-bookshop KNULP Cooperativa Bonawentura - Teatro Miela