Karaoke Poetry: A Collective Reading was part of VERSE 2025 from 17–26 January 2025 at The Arts House at the Old Parliament.
As a celebration of Singapore literature, the event engaged audiences in a unique fusion of poetry, performance, and play. VERSE 2025 was also the opening chapter of Arts House Limited’s year-long literary arts programmes, transforming words and stories into immersive, multi-sensory experiences.
About Karaoke Poetry
Presented by Tusitala and Matterless, Karaoke Poetry: A Collective Reading offered an innovative and playful way to experience Singaporean Chinese literary works through digital interactions. Inspired by the communal nature of karaoke, this experience reimagined reading as a shared and dynamic act.
Two participants read the text aloud while audience members engaged in real-time prompts on their smartphones, fostering a collective and reflective engagement with the story. The full experience lasted 10 minutes.
Featured work: White Bird by Yeng Pway Ngon
At the heart of Karaoke Poetry was White Bird by Cultural Medallion recipient Yeng Pway Ngon, an introspective exploration of identity, emotional intimacy, and personal transformation. Blending contemporary and fantastical elements, White Bird was both relatable and thought-provoking.
Participants engaged with the themes of communication, work and identity, and shifts in personal relationships, responding to the festival’s theme: “Do You See Me?” The text was presented in Chinese characters and/or hanyu pinyin for participants to read aloud, with an English synopsis provided for context.
Its gendered perspective—where red lines were sung by women and blue by men, mirroring traditional karaoke formats—added a unique duet-style dynamic. The work also resonated deeply with Light to Night’s overarching theme, exploring how our sense of self and relationships are often intertwined with our work, and how these dynamics shift with changes in employment status.
As a tribute to Yeng Pway Ngon’s literary legacy, the original short story was adapted into a poetic dialogue format specifically for this project.
Interactive engagement
Throughout the experience, participants were guided through three thought-provoking questions, accompanied by background music of their choice:
- Personal reflection – “What do you do when you can’t communicate?”
- Speculative interpretation – “What do you think the husband is telling the bird?”
- Symbolic meaning – “What does the white bird symbolise?”
Finally, audiences were invited to draw or write their own interpretation of White Bird, adding a personal and creative element to the experience.
Participant reflections
The format was fresh and interesting. It made me feel more empathetic toward my husband and the challenges he might face, and how we might prevent the appearance of such white birds. It encouraged self-reflection and more dialogue between myself and my husband.
— Anonymous woman, 30s (read with her husband)
I really liked the audience response parts as they created lighter moments. Through the poem and the crowd-sourced responses, you realise that loneliness and communication issues are shared human experiences.
— Daniel, 19
It was very fun and interactive! The experience also felt unexpected and fresh, and that’s coming from someone who used to run international festivals. Usually, Chinese people don’t read aloud, so this was a unique experience—it was like playing a game. Doing it together with someone else also made it fun.
— Jac, early 40s
The story was meaningful and interesting. It seems like everyone read it differently too. At first, I thought it was about an affair, but later I realised there were other ways to interpret it. It made me think about how asking others for their perspectives, especially regarding mid-life crises, could be useful.
— Yang, 18
It was an interesting experience, and I’ve never done anything like this before. The interactive element and the use of Mandarin were engaging. It would be great to have more Singapore Chinese literary text like this available. Normally, we’re exposed to classical English literature, so it was nice to see Singaporean literature presented in such an accessible way.
— Katelyn, 17
I’ve read Yeng Pway Ngon’s works before, and I enjoyed this experience. It was an accessible way to introduce local poetry in a relaxed manner. The karaoke format helped lessen the pressure of engaging with poetry, but the themes of pain and reality still came through and resonated with me.
— Elaine, 40s
Read more
This is a great way to connect with poetry. Reading it aloud gives another layer of emotions, compared to reading it on our own.
— Jasper, 35
It is fun to listen to the readers read the poetry. It feels very “real” and fun. I especially liked the interactive part with the audience.
— Athena (audience), 29
The entire text was in mandarin, which I do not understand. However, I was able to connect to it on another layer, and enjoyed the entire experience. Even though I did not understand the words, the way it was spoken made sense to me. It felt relaxing and the choice of music was nice. The experience was very cool!
— Claire, 59
It was fun! Very therapeutic to read together, and loved the audience interactions.
— A group of anonymous readers, 17 – 22 years old
读了让我觉得很有成就感，觉得得很好玩！
— Anonymous, 20s
This experience allowed me to put myself into the shoes of the characters.
— Timothy, 28
Compared to reading the original book with this experience, this made it more readable due to its length, and how the text is split into bite-sized segments.
— Anonymous
About our partner
Matter.Less is a multidisciplinary arts collective and incubation space where young artists with different quirks and diverse creative practices experiment, collide and synthesise.
