Urdu is one of the largest community languages spoken in Manchester, and Urdu books are the most borrowed books from Manchester libraries in a language other than English. Urdu has an incredibly vast and rich poetic heritage. It was Anjum Malik, Lecturer in Creative Writing (Script and Poetry) at the Manchester Writing School, who first introduced us to the idea of a mushaira, a traditional poetry gathering at which Urdu poetry is read, sung and recited.
Manchester is probably one of the most diverse cities in the world in terms of the languages spoken in the city. There’s about 200 languages spoken here. We need to reflect that diversity, especially in terms of literature and the arts. So, doing a poetry recital, mushaira, in Urdu is a very traditional thing, it’s very very popular, and we wanted to bring some of that into the mainstream, into the heart of the university. Audiences that never come to the university come to the university. And university audiences that never ever go to a mushaira get to see one, an Urdu recital. To have the kind of fusion of culture, the kind of understanding of someone else’s perspective of art and poetry…tonight’s been amazing. To see people who’ve never heard an Urdu poem before and in some cases we didn’t even offer a translation so you can get the music of the poem and in fact there was some singing! So, the universality of poetry, that’s what I think tonight is about. Even though it’s in a different language it speaks in all tongues.
Zahid Hussain, Chair of Governors, Manchester City of Literature and founder of Manchester Muslim Writers, speaking at Mushaira (Urdu Poetry) at Manchester Metropolitan University 2018