Watch: Spoken word poet Jurczok 1001's verses take on the media, politics and fake news

Shot by Aneesh Arora & Nikita Rana | Produced by Nikita Rana | Concept and text by Neerja Deodhar

fake news fake news you are fake news you are fake news   great news great news I’ve got great news I love you   fake news again —An excerpt from ‘New News’ * At the very start of his poem ‘New News’, spoken word poet Jurczok 1001 jolts you into listening with his warning. Such warnings are interjected with false promises — of love, “great news” and news that is up-to-date. The context of this work is America, with Jurczok 1001 even employing the phrasing that is associated with US President Donald Trump (‘we will build billions of new news’). There’s a reference to Russia, as well as a boastful line about buying and hiring news, which makes this poem resonant in any country where the media is accused of being subservient to the State or controlled by vested interests. ‘New News’ is part of the poet’s new collection titled Spoken Beats, which comprises the spoken word poems he wrote in the last decade. He performed from the collection at the last edition of the Tata Literature Live! in Mumbai. A resident of Zurich, he writes in German, Swiss German and English. The use of repetition in this poem also characterises his other works, which span across the themes of love, fate, politics and everything in between. He has always believed in performing with “scripts” — sheets from which he reads, onto which he scribbles notes, deletions and additions. He has been writing under his chosen moniker since 1996 and has six albums to his credit.