Poetry-Slam: „Papa, warum weinst du nicht?“ | Anuraj Sri Rajarajendran | TEDxLandau

As a featured artist at TEDxLandau 2025, Anuraj Sri Rajarajendran brought the stage to a standstill with his powerful poetry slam. In "Papa, warum weinst du nicht?" (Dad, why aren't you crying?), he grapples with his father's silence and with traditional notions of masculinity that devalue emotions as weakness. The text is a personal, socially relevant reflection on emotional restraint, familial conditioning, and the question of what it means to be "a man" today. Anuraj advocates for a new, more open definition of strength—one in which crying is allowed. His performance was quiet, yet effective, and resonated deeply with many in the audience, striking a chord where words move most: at their core. Anuraj Sri Rajarajendran is a poetry slammer, rapper, and student from Landau. The son of Sri Lankan war refugees, he grew up in Germany and was shaped by diverse cultures. Even as a child, he discovered his love for hip-hop through his older brother and began writing his own rap lyrics with socially critical and ironic themes. Anuraj is considered a rising star in the poetry slam scene: Just two years after his first performance, he won the title of German-language champion in Bielefeld in 2024, having already won the Rhineland-Palatinate championships. His lyrics combine humor with emotional depth and address personal experiences as well as social issues, as in "I'm a 10 out of 10" and "Dad, why aren't you crying?". He is also studying to become a teacher at RPTU Landau and is working on other cultural projects and book publications. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx