Celebrate Urdu and Hindi at this literary cultural fest in Bandra

A previous edition of Spoken Fest

In a lead-up to Spoken Fest, the annual event that focuses on the power of words, Kommune brings us Spoken Salon to offer culture and literary lovers a timely dose of storytelling, poetry and music. The second edition of Spoken Salon called Shabd will be a celebration of Hindustani stories and verses, about which community manager and the curator of the edition, Pradumn R Chourey further explains, is a celebration of Urdu and Hindi and the friendship between the two. ‘This is Hindustani, the nayi waali Hindi, which is very conversational. It has words from Urdu, English and other languages that we speak, thrown into the mix," he remarks.

Nayab Midha, Piyush Mishra, Pradumn R Chourey and Priya Malik

With a curation of storytelling, spoken word, poetry, music and more, and following language as a theme, the line-up for the event will include ghazals from stand-up comic Rajat Sood, spoken word artists Nayab Midha's and Priya Malik's verses on love, storytelling performances from Amandeep Singh and a conversation helmed by actor, musician, lyricist, and author Piyush Mishra about his latest book Tumhari Auqat Kya Hai Piyush Mishra (Rajkamal Prakashan, 2023). Among these notable performances will be music and poems from Kashmir-based musician Mohammad Muneem who goes by the stage name, Alif.

Like a mix of borrowed words and loosely translated phrases that form the basis of this spoken language, the content, too, is a collection of relatable experiences - romance, relationships, moving between cities or into a metropolitan from a small town, second chances, and a celebration of our roots while we also trace today's culture and trends. Divya Prakash Dubey's performance illustrates this theme; Chourey continues, "Dubey's performance of storytelling will be funny and inspirational where he speaks about how one is considered learned if they speak English. It looks at [the knowledge of] the English language as a trend, not a skill."

Bringing us spoken word events since 2015, culture collective Kommune's Spoken Salon will be an intimate and experiential one-day show that will capture the spirit of the annual weekend event Spoken Fest, set to take place in February 2024.

On: August 12; 7 pm
At: Sheila Gopal Raheja Auditorium, near Patwardhan Udyan, Bandra West.
Log on to: insider.in
Cost: Rs 699 onwards