MIDDLE EAST:A TV show featuring poets competing for a large cash prize has proved an Arab hit
Poetry, more than other art forms that have sometimes been frowned on by the religious establishment, has long held a special power to enchant in the Arab world.
Although it remains popular, and is still published on newspapers' front pages, its pre-eminence has been diluted by the dizzying offerings of more modern entertainments.
Thanks to a hit show on Abu Dhabi television, however, poetry is not only back but is now also capturing the imagination of a younger generation.
Now in its second season, the Million's Poet show, loosely modelled on American Idol, is part of Abu Dhabi's attempt to use its oil surplus to enhance its cultural credentials.
But the success of the show - it has spurred copycats, a television station that broadcasts only reruns and a slew of websites and blogs - has stunned even its creators.
"Everybody laughed at us when we said we were doing a poetry show because the media focuses on looks rather than substance, or it's political or musical," says Nashwa al-Ruwaini, head of Pyramedia, producer of the show. "But we won the bet - people found it brought them back to their roots." Nabati, the tribal form of poetry featured in the competition, can sound harsh and incomprehensible even to Arabic speakers. But in a Gulf region swimming in oil wealth and importing everything from financial centres to world-class museums, Nabati represents a comforting return to the past.
The number of people attending the show in an Abu Dhabi theatre quickly swelled from about 500 to more than 1,800, and hits on the website reached 11 million within hours of its launch.
Encouraged, the station commissioned a second poetry show - The Prince of Poets - giving a boost this time to classical Arab poetry, and a rare regional platform for young poets.
Nabati poetry has remained an integral part of UAE culture, but the Million's Poet show has widened its appeal and restored a special status to the poet. That the Abu Dhabi crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nayhan, regularly attends the Million's Poet show has only added to its popularity.
Winners may be invited by rulers of nearby states to recite poems. Ruwaini says an Iraqi contestant, called to Saudi Arabia to be congratulated, was rewarded with the citizenship he had been desperately seeking.
"We grow very fast but we need to protect our culture," says Mohammed Khalaf al-Mazrouei, director-general of the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage. "We brought back poetry, gave it life, gave it prestige, and this was the main mission." Financially too, the show has been a success. Each episode costs Dh45 million (€7.81 million) to produce, which includes the winner's Dh1 million prize, but, says Mazrouei, "all the major companies back it, with sponsorships and commercials".
Though jazzed up with star guests and dramatic music, the show remains in line with local political custom. Audiences have a say - but not on their own: poets succeed only if they also win the votes of the five judges. Although the show's producers say the poets can say what they like in the competition's first stage, praise for rulers and the region are recurrent topics. Poets are given the subjects for later stages, themes such as "love", "mother", "horse", "desert", "falcon".
Some of the five judges are tough, but always respectful - and the participants would react badly to ridicule, says Ruwaini. "Poets were the voice of the tribes, so you can't put them in a bad position because you'd be disrespectful towards the tribe - they're very touchy." So touchy, in fact, that some were offended by the "bad" category they could be put into if they failed to please audiences, forcing producers to come up with a more agreeable choice of "excellent", "good" or "medium".