Tue, Mar 29, 2016 page10

• A festival of poetry and music under the cotton trees 木棉樹下吟詩 鹽水詩路醉人

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  With the red flowers of cotton trees now in bloom, the Taiwanese Poetry Recital has for the 16th year in a row been held on “Taiwan poetry avenue” in Yanshuei District’s Tianliao Township in Tainan. With nine poets reading from their own poems and five singers singing a medley of songs, the event elevated the poetic atmosphere of springtime in Tainan.

  The recital has been held by the Yanshuei Tianliao Community Development Association and Tainan City Yuejin Literature and History Community Development Association since 2000. It is now in its 16th year. The event attracts many people from all over the country to listen to the poetry.

  This year, after the songs If Ruan opens the door to my inner soul and Longing for the Spring Breeze raised the curtain on the event, nine poets including Fang Yao-chien, Lee Kuei-hsien, Lee Je-ying, Hsiang Yang and Yen Shang took it in turns to stand on the stage under the cotton trees and recite their poems. The recitals were paired with performances from five singers: Wang Su-chu, Chiang Mei-hui, Lee Shu-yuan, Huang San-lang and Huang Yi-nan. Whether read as poetry or sung as verse, the line: “The gentle caress of the spring breeze” transported those present into the imaginative world of the poetry.

  

  Taiwanese poet Hsiang Yang recites his poetry under cotton trees on March 20 in Tainan’s Yanshuei District. 台灣詩人向陽在木棉樹下朗誦詩歌作品，攝於三月二十日台南鹽水區。

  Photo: Liu Wan-chun, Liberty Times
  照片：自由時報記者劉婉君攝

  Fang says, at this year’s event, each of the nine poets read two of their own works. With the exception of one poem, written in Mandarin Chinese, Fang says they were all written in Taiwanese, and that one was written about the major earthquake that shook Tainan last month. Several of the poems have featured at international poetry festivals, including poetry festivals in Bangladesh, Cuba and Myanmar. Fang says he hopes the event will encourage Taiwanese poets to set foot on the world stage, read poems in their mother tongue and give the world the chance to hear the voice of Taiwan, while also allowing the Taiwanese public to hear the beauty of Taiwanese poetry.

  (Liberty Times, translated by Edward Jones)

  紅紅的木棉花開，「台灣詩歌吟唱會」連續十六年在鹽水區田寮里的「台灣詩路」舉辦，九名詩人吟誦自己的作品，還有五名歌手接力獻唱，為台南的春天增添詩意。

  「台灣詩歌吟唱會」由鹽水田寮社區發展協會、台南市月津文史發展協會自二○○○年開始舉辦，今年已邁入第十六屆，吸引許多民眾從各地湧入聆賞。

  在《阮若打開心內的門窗》、《望春風》的歌聲揭開序幕後，方耀乾、李魁賢、李若鶯、向陽、岩上等九位詩人，輪流站在木棉樹下的舞台吟詩，搭配王素珠、江玫慧、李淑媛、黃三郎、黃一男等五位歌手的演唱，春風吹拂，不論是詩句還是歌聲，都令在場人士陶醉於意境之中。

  方耀乾表示，此次活動中，九位詩人每人吟誦兩首自己的作品，除了一首為華文之外，其餘均是以台語創作；其中有為了二月初台南大地震而寫的詩，也有多首是參加孟加拉、古巴、緬甸等國際詩歌節的作品。鼓勵台灣詩人們走向世界舞台，吟唱母語的詩歌，讓世界有機會聽見台灣的聲音，也讓國內民眾聽見台灣詩歌之美。

  (自由時報記者劉婉君)
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