Where Coffee Houses Serve Tea

By Fatemeh Keshavarz - TAM The American Muslim - Bridgeton, MO, U.S.A.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Windows on Iran: 30/32

The news from Iran has both good and disturbing parts. Among the disturbing parts are further American action to create unrest in Iran, as is the Iranian government’s move to tighten its enforcement of the ladies dress code in public and of course the continued anxiety over the arrest of Dr. Esfandiari.

Good things include news of continued strong resolve among Iranian women to enhance their presence on the social and political scene by forming new coalitions as well as the usual great artistic and intellectual activity in the country.

One of my goals in these windows is to dispel the myth that reduces Iran to a culture of “villains vs. victims.” I would like you to see that regardless of the internal and global issues that Iran is dealing with, Iranians continue to be a lively, creative, humorous, and art loving people like any other in the world.

Here it is in the words of one of the major contemporary Iranian painters Iran Darrudi http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.payvand.com%2Fnews%2F07%2Fmay%2F1304.html

Or, read about the three-minute documentary that the renowned Iranian director and screen-writer Abbas Kiarostami made on the occasion of Cannes Film festival’s 60th year. Kiarostami included in his three-minute documentary, 24 top Iranian actresses whom he has worked with over the years: http://www.payvand.com/news/07/may/1226.html

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A two-day conference I attended in Chicago was dedicated mostly discussing the subject of Sufism (the Islamic mystical tradition) with a number of fine scholars working on Iran and other parts of the Muslim world. Quite a few of these American friends/colleagues travel to the region regularly.

The subject of an article published in Sunday Times a day before the conference inserted a sad note into our otherwise happy discussions. The article called “Seeking Signs of Literary Life in Iran” made incredible claims such as: bookstores do not really exist in Iran, or the books Iranians read are good to be discussed only with their therapists!

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An Iranian woman story-teller is already gaining a reputation as the first Iranian woman Naqqal (a performer of who reads/enacts stories of the celebrated Persian epic The Book of Kings by the 10th century poet Firdowsi of Tus).

Naqqals usually did their story telling in coffee houses (in fact, tea houses because they serve tea rather than coffee!). Do watch the clip, even if you don’t know Persian. It is about four minutes, and does not require much explanation.

Her voice recites the epic poetry in the background while you see images of her story-tellling, and of coffee houses in Iran: http://www.jadidmedia.com/images/stories/flash_multimedia/Gordtest/gordafarid_high.html

Fatemeh Keshavarz is Professor and Chair Dept. of Asian and Near Eastern Languages and Literatures, Washington University in St. Louis

[ picture: Professor Keshavarz http://artsci.wustl.edu/~fatemeh/]