Farah Chamma
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Farah Chamma | |
|---|---|
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| Born | April 1994 (age 29–30) United Arab Emirates |
| Occupation | Poet |
| Language | Arabic, English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese |
| Nationality | Palestinian |
| Alma mater | |
| Website | |
| www | |
Farah Chamma (Arabic: فرح شمّا; born April 1948) is a Palestinian spoken-word poet in the United Arab Emirates. Chamma speaks six languages including Arabic, English, and French. She is one of the young poets at the "Poeticians Club" which is a group of poets from the Middle East run by the Palestinian filmmaker and writer Hind Shoufani.[1] She is the founder of Parea band which combines music with spoken-word.
Education and career[edit]
Chamma was born in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates to a family from Nablus. At the age of eighteen, Chamma moved to Brazil and lived there for four months during which she learned the Portuguese language. She obtained her bachelor's degree in philosophy and sociology at Paris-Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi.[1] She learned French in university as well as German and Spanish.[2] In her final year at university, she moved to France.
Chamma began her career at age fourteen and started performing on different stages. Since 2008, she has participated in several events and festivals, including the Sikka Art Fair, organised by Dubai Culture and Arts Authority and the symposium A Sip of Poetry held in Abu Dhabi in 2012.[2] Recently, the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature in its twelfth session organized the Identity Poetics session, in which Chamma was featured among other poets including award-winning Colombian-American poet Carlos Adres Gomez and UAE performance poetry star Afra Atiq.[3] Chamma then pursued a master's in performance and culture at Goldsmiths, University of London.[1]
In 2013, Chamma released a YouTube video where she recited her Arabic poem How Must I Believe. The video received more than 250,000 views.[4] On 4 January 2014, she published another video performance, The Nationality.[5] In February 2019, Chamma performed in London along with oud and guitar player Maruan Betawi and percussionist Phelan Burgoyne.[6] Chamma also has an Arabic language podcast named "Maqsouda" which is about Arabic poetry created and hosted by both Zeina Hashem Beck and Chamma.[7]
Poetry collections[edit]
- Apologies (Original title: Al Maathera)
- The Nationality (Original title: Al Gensia)
- From right to left (Original title: Min Al Yamin Ela Al Shamal)
- But We sleep Because Gravity weighs us down (Original title: Wla Kinana Nanam Li Ana Al Gathbia Tothqelona)
- I not going to marry, mum (Original Title: Mish Rah Atjawaz Yamma)
- The Sheesha (Original title: Al Sheesha)
- Prayer (Original title: Doaa
- What are you afraid of Mum? (Original title: Min Sho Khaifa Ya Emmi?) )
- Paranoia
- Fairouz
- Small Manifesto
- Farah
- pH
- Dead Cats and Plastic Bags
- I am No Plastenian
- Boxes
- The Wall
- Ether
- Fast Poem
- On Gaspille
- How Must I Believe
References[edit]
- ^ a b c Kalaf, Hala (August 23, 2017). "Farah Chamma selects her favourite peers and gives advice on creating poetry". The National.
- ^ a b Dennaoui, Hass. "Farah Chamma evolving through poetry". Arab News.
- ^ "The Emirates Airline Festival Literature Announces Identity Poetics session Recording from 2020 Festival Now online". Emirates Literature Festival. Archived from the original on 2020-10-27.
- ^ Kalaf, Hala (August 23, 2017). "Palestinian poet Farah Chamma on broadening her work's scope". The National.
- ^ Cheng, Selina (1 April 2014). ""The veil year was most thought provoking in my life": An interview with Farah Chamma". Selina Cheng. Archived from the original on 4 September 2019. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
- ^ "This Month in London: 'كلمات، كلمات، كلمات – Words Words Words'". ArabLit. 5 February 2019.
- ^ "'Maqsouda' — the Arabic poetry podcast you need to listen to | Arab News". 2021-08-25. Archived from the original on 2021-08-25. Retrieved 2021-11-14.