Bahman Farmanara’s (بهمن فرمانآرا) movie A House Built on Water (خانهای روی آب) begins with a dark screen, or shall we say darkness, and Ahmad Shamlou’s (احمد شاملو) voice reciting a very beautiful poem by Mawlānā Jalāl-ad Dīn Muhammad Rūmī (مولانا جلال الدین محمد رومی). I know Mawlānā’s poetry mostly via Iranian music, and the little that I know about his life I have read in anthologies of his poetry. So, I am no Rūmī expert but consider من غلام قمرم to be one of his most beautiful poems. It is probably not a coincidence that Shamlou’s collection begins with this poem. Even though this one is all over the Internet, I wanted to have it on my blog, so here it goes:
من غلام قمرم غیر قمر هیچ مگو
پیش من جز سخن شمع و شکر هیچ مگو
سخن رنج مگو جز سخن گنج مگو
ور از این بی خبری رنج مبر هیچ مگو
دوش دیوانه شدم عشق مرا دید و بگفت
آمدم نعره مزن جامه مدر هیچ مگو
گفتم ای عشق من از چیز دگر می ترسم
گفت آن چیز دگر نیست دگر هیچ مگو
من به گوش تو سخن های نهان خواهم گفت
سر بجنبان که بلی جز که به سر هیچ مگو
گفتم این روی فرشتهست عجب یا بشر است
گفت این غیر فرشتهست و بشر هیچ مگو
گفتم این چیست بگو زیر و زبر خواهم شد
گفت میباش چنین زیر و زبر هیچ مگو
ای نشسته تو در این خانۀ پر نقش و خیال
خیز از این خانه برو رخت ببر هیچ مگو
If you ever find a chance to see that movie, don’t miss it! It is worth it, even if you happen to dislike its symbolism.
I found this beautiful oral poem from the Gilbert Islands, Southern Pacific, while I was working on orality:
How deep are my thoughts as I sit on the point of land
Thinking of her tonight,
Her feet are luminous over dark ways,
Even as the moon stepping between clouds,
Her shoulders shine like Kaama in the South
Her hands, in the sitting dance,
Trouble my eyes as the flicker of stars;
And at the lifting of her eyes to mine I am abashed,
I, who have looked undaunted into the sun.
Arthur Grimble describes these poems as `clear-cut gems of diction, polished and repolished with loving care, according to the canons of a technique as exciting as it is beautiful’.
A film from the creators of Persepolis Recreated. This illuminating documentary showcases numerous examples of some 7,000 years of Iran’s elebrated culture, art and architecture.
Producer: Farzin Rezaeian
USA, 2006, 60 minutes
BP Lecture Theatre
Admission free, booking required
I found an interesting article on the Transoxiana website. Considering literary sources as well as archaeological evidence it discusses Buddhist activity in pre-Islamic Iran. The article concludes that caves dating to the Ilkhanid era remain the only certain traces of Buddhist activity in Iran.
Date: 28.11.2007, 09:00 - 19:00 Uhr
Location: Einsteinsaal der Berlin-Brandenburgischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Jägerstr. 22/23, 10117 Berlin
Vortragsreihe zur Sogdiana, veranstaltet von der Turfanforschung (BBAW)
Der Workshop am 28. November 2007 widmet sich dem Austausch zwischen Archäologen und Philologen zur Sogdiana im ersten Jahrtausend u.Z. Die Vorträge von auswärtigen und in Berlin ansässigen Archäologen und Philologen sind in englischer Sprache. Kleine Veränderungen im Programm können sich noch ergeben.
This may be useful for those who have a hard time using Unicode to display diacritics in (the output of) their LaTeX files. Given that you run a fairly up to date Debian system, then all you need to do is to insert the following three lines into your LaTeX files:
This should do it. Variations of the first two lines seem to be possible, important is that you specify T1 (8bit) instead of the default OT1 (7bit), if you use diacritics in your files.
I have been thinking for a while now of including a video of Ostad Lotfi on my site. As a sign of my adoration. I could not, however, decide which video. His excellent performances do not make the decision easy. But now that he will be performing in London on October 28th, I’ve gone ahead and chosen his Bayat-e Esfahan, dedicated to the memory of Ostad Banan. In my opinion, this video represents a transition phase in the artistic development of his music. Enjoy!
Small in numbers, but big in history, these days Zoroastrians seem to live a quite life without much publicity surrounding their religious beliefs and practices. It is rather rare that the attention of the public is drawn to Zoroastrianism. That’s why Ted Rall’s choice to use Zoroastrianism as the theme of one of his cartoons is so surprising.
According to Press TV a joint Iranian-Polish team has started excavations at the site of the Azar Barzin Mehr fire temple in Sabzevar, northeastern Iran. This fire temple dates back to the Sassanid era.
