Dubai - MENA Herald: The first episode of the third season of ‘El Beit’ poetry show kicked off live on Dubai Al Oula at 10.30 PM on Monday, January 4th 2016. It was organized and produced by Hamdan bin Mohammed Heritage Centre, the trusted and respected entity that promotes and disseminates the UAE’s national heritage. Filming took place at the show’s studio in Dubai Studio City.
The show’s third season was launched in line with the strategic vision of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, to use El Beit as an interactive platform for promoting Nabati poetry as an essential cultural symbol of the UAE in particular, and the Gulf region and the Arab world in general. This is a key factor in building bridges between the past and the present, while strengthening the concept of national identity and serving as a tributary to preserve cultural heritage.
“El Beit show is considered the focal point and pathway towards creativity and talented poets, the show aim to elevate Nabati poetry and endow the poetic field with new understandings. The latest technologies are being employed in studio and over social media, the show opens with a hologram of El Beit Logo, state of the art technologies are implemented to revive the heritage of the GCC. His Highness the Crown Prince of Dubai, is behind such unlimited and innovative ideas among several highly outstanding initiative.”
The launch of the third season of El Beit show, kicked off with both new and existing elements. In addition, joining the judging panel this season is the phenomenal Omani poet Hmoud Bin Wahqa, who is one of the winners of the 2nd season, only to prove that El Beit does create starts in the field of poetry.
El Beit anticipates reaching a broader audience through the variety of Nabaty poetry schools represented by the judges from different countries in the GCC, in addition to attracting a high response from viewers, and greater interaction with the participants. El Beit targets to shed light on talented young poets so that viewers can enjoy the show.
After a warm welcome in the first episode of the third season by the show’s host Barakat Al Wagayan, the competition revealed an initial chater (the second half of a poetic verse) on the show’s official website at 5PM on Monday, January 4th, which began with: ‘Those who pass away leaves loved ones in sorrow, yet you have left behind utter joy in our hearts’ This was the official kick-off of the show, energizing the audience of poetry and literature enthusiasts. In each episode, the audience must send the second verse until 7PM, through tweets on (@el_beit). These tweets are evaluated by a screening committee for quality control, before being sent to the jury without any knowledge of the participant's name.
There are three rounds in which the jury selects four or more deserving chater (second verses in this case) per round, to be displayed on the ‘silver screen’. Should there be more than four deserving verses, the jury must review them and narrow them down to the top four. After the end of the third round, the 12 best verses will be shown on the ‘golden screen’ before selecting the best overall verse.
The first episode began by introducing the judging panels, then revealing the featured image and verse which began: ‘‘Those who pass away leaves loved ones in sorrow, yet you have left behind utter joy in our hearts’ The first winner was Al Hareth Wazea, who composed the following verse in response: ‘The feelings of people reflects the value of those departed ’ His fluency and ability to understand deeper meanings qualified him into the Semi Finale episode where he stands the possibility to win AED 1,000,000 if he reaches the Grand Finale.
The last competition featured a picture that was a winner image internationally. Viewers will write a verse that sums up the concept of the image and send it to El Beit’s official Twitter account, where the competition will be open until 12PM on Friday. The winner will get AED 100,000 while two runners-up will each get AED 50,000. However only the first-placed participant qualifies to the Semi Finale and stands the possibility to reach and compete for the Grand Finale episode.
Among the most prominent additions this season is a guest of honors who will be hosted in each episode. The guests are pioneers and highly renowned masters in the performance of the traditional art of “Al Shalla”, The pronounced artist Aidha Al Minhali performed the 1st Shalla under the headline Sheikh of Loyalty gifted to His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of UAE, on the occasion of 10 years of leaderships and futuristic vision, the poetry written by Mohamad Al Murr BalAbed Al Meheri, and when asked about this form of performance he explained: “ The Shalla runs deep into the heritage of the GCC, it is a form of art that chants Nabai poetry without the use of musical instruments, other that Al Rababa, a musical instrument that plays only 1 cord and is highly popular in the heritage of the GCC.
The Guest of Al Shalla will be entrusted with selecting a winner should the judges be deadlocked in their votes. One of the two competing verses and the verse displayed on the golden screen will stand to win their composer AED 100,000, although he or she is not eligible to participate for the Grand Finale episode.
The show is hosted by Barakat Al Wagyan and the co-host for the third season is the Emirati poet Ahmed Al Bidwawi, who introduced the popular artist Aidha Al Minhali who in his turn chose the following verse by competitor Khaled Al Qahtani. He won AED 100,000, although he is now ineligible to participate in the Grand Finale episode. The surprise of the show was that all the participants on the golden screen that didn’t win were granted Dhs. 10,000/-
In this celebration of poetry, the guest of honour Aidha Al Minhali commented: "I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation to everyone in this show for their generosity and support. Hamdan Bin Mohammed Heritage Centre is a vital supporter of creativity and poetry, with the support of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai. This is not the first time we have seen such remarkable support, as the Centre is well-known for its ambitious initiatives that aim to revive poetry, and we look forward to seeing further success soon.”