Altona Meadows Slam Heat, VIC

The Altona Meadows heat was held at the Altona Meadows Library and Learning Centre on the evening of 20th October. The event was hosted by multi award-winning poet and slam champion, Emilie Zoe Baker, who has been and will be hosting all the Victorian heats.
Luka Haralampou was the winner of the heat, with 23 year old Meena Shamaly coming runner-up.

Meena is already familiar with the Slam, having got through to the National Final last year. He has been writing lyrics and songs since he was about 16, which then evolved into a bit of lyrical rap, before starting to write spoken word around 2007. Meena started performing his own songs at 18 and in 2008, he performed spoken word for the first time as part of a gig. Meena now performs spoken word quite often and says, "I always feel blessed to have a chance to share what I write, and blessed to be able to perform to a set of ears willing to respect what you've got to say and the fact that you've stepped up to speak it, regardless of the subject matter and whether they agree with what you say. I find that quite amazing and humbling."

Meena feels it is important for Australians to write and perform their own work.
"I pray for the day that poetry and spoken word is as big a stage in Australia as it is in America. I've found nothing more sincere than the poet performing their own words, because there is raw emotion delivered through the performance, and even when great writing carries itself eloquently, performance can really make it come alive. Plus, Australia's such a multi-cultural part of the world that the wealth of stories and the richness of what their words contain are probably beyond the capacity of the human mind to imagine. There is a world of diversity that is united through shared humanity - it's a beautiful thing that we shouldn't let go to waste."

When asked what his favourite style of writing and/or favourite writer were, Meena said it was a tough question to answer. "My admirations are as diverse as the diversity of writers and writing styles that exist. But I guess I favour writers who know how to captivate you into whatever world they've created with their words and the story they're telling, be that through elaborate wordplay or sincere simplicity. And when I say writers, I mean as much hip hop MCs and songwriters as I do poets and authors. It's way too hard to narrow it down."

Watch Meena perform his poem, 'Must Have Seemed' at the Altona Meadows Slam Heat



Meena Shamaly (runner-up) with Luka Haralampou (winner) receive their prizes at the Altona Meadows heat.

Luka and Meena are now through to the Victorian State Final, which will be held on 19th November at the State Library of Victoria.

Don't forget to check out the Victorian Heats Page on Facebook for more info and photos!