A Symbolic Green Shawl

ANI, "Devotees throng mausoleum of a Sufi saint in Punjab" - Thai Indian News - Bangkok, Thailand
Friday, August 15, 2008

Mianwali (Punjab): Scores of devotees thronged the mausoleum of a Sufi saint, Pir Baba Sheikh Brahm, situated on the India-Pakistan border near Mianwali village in Punjab, to pay their obeisance on Thursday.

The shrine, located in the Khemkaran Sector, which is barely 100 meters inside Indian territory, was decorated with glittering festoons and resounded to loud devotional music.

Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs religiously visit the mausoleum, who legend has it was greatly inspired by the teachings of Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh faith.

The Border Security Force (BSF), which looks after the shrine, allows pilgrims to visit the shrine only during the day. While the Indian pilgrims could easily reach the shrine and pay obeisance, their Pakistani counterparts had to be satisfied with festivities and celebrations on their side of the border due to international travel restrictions.

They had carried a symbolic green shawl that is ceremonially offered to the shrine and passed it on to the Indian security forces to be laid on the saint’’s tomb.

Virsa Singh Valtoha, a lawmaker representing the area, said: “Such common religious places could help in bringing the two age old rivals closer. Government should make arrangements so that Pakistani devotees of Sheikh could easily walk up to the ”dargah” (tomb) to offer prayers and seek his blessings as they did earlier.”

Villagers say, before the hostilities between the two neighbouring nations began, devotees from Pakistan were allowed to cross over to the Indian side to offer their prayers at the shrine.

For all pilgrims, the saint is regarded as manna from heaven. Though he is a 16th century contemporary of the Sikh saint Guru Nanak Dev, his followers believe his powers to bless them are witnessed even today.

The Passing On of a Saint

By Jamaaludeen ash-Shadhili - Message Islam - Cape Town, South Africa
Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Assalaamu 'Alaykum everyone
When I came back to the office now I received a very shocking email. It was from my dear friend and brother Achmat Kriel, and it informed me of the passing on of Shaykh Hassan Cisse.

Shaykh Hassan was from Senegal, and head of the blessed Tijani Sufi Order (Tariqa).

Alhamdu'Lillah I met Shaykh Hassan when he was in Cape Town a few years ago, and I was blessed to spend a lot of time with him and his companions. I have recently been listening to (for the umpteenth time) audio recordings of Shaykh Muhammad al-Yacoubi where he speaks about the passing on of Shaykh Abdurahmaan ash-Shagouri (Syria), and how these gnostics and Sufi Masters are a mercy for us on earth, and how their passing is a great loss to us.

This is how I feel about Shaykh Hassan. He has been doing so much work in Africa and all over the world in areas of spirituality, relief, and education. Read a brief (very brief) bio of him on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaykh_Hassan_Cisse.

I plan to do a tribute to him on Message Islam soon Insha'Allah.

As soon as I read Achmat's email I phoned Shaykh Fakhruddin Owaisi, who is from Madina and living and working in Cape Town for a number of years now. Shaykh Fakhruddin is a Mukaddam of Shaykh Hassan, and has gained a lot of respect worldwide in the Tijani Tariqa. Shaykh Fakhruddin said that the passing was this morning after Fajr, and Shaykh Hassan had just returned from Fez, Morocco - visiting the Maqam of Shaykh Ahmad Tijani.

Before ending I want to make 3 important points: Firstly, Tassawuf / Sufism is nothing foreign to Islam. It is, in fact, an integral part of Islam. I have written about this many times, but we have to defend the spiritual aspect of our Deen because there are misguided people popping up here and there saying that Tassawuf is a new innovation.

Also, there is no segregation or sects in Tassawuf. Yes there are many different Turuq (Sufi Orders) but they are merely different schools and paths with the same goal - ALLAH! Allah is the goal.

And we all love and respect each other. Today's occurences is a prime example. I follow the Shadhili Tariqa, my brother Achmat Kriel who informed me about Shaykh Hassan's passing is from the Naqshbandi Tariqa. Alhamdu'Lillah this is the beauty of the path of spirituality.

We have only love for everyone. Alhamdu'Lillah over the past few years I have grown to love Shaykh Hassan and the Tijani Tariqa, and just 2 Saturdays ago I was blessed to attend the Mawlid of Shaykh Hassan's grandfather, Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse which was held at Shaykh Fakhruddin's mosque in Hout Bay.

Secondly, Shaykh Hassan - and the Tijani Tariqa - is a proof that there is no racism in Islam. Shaykh Hassan had the blackest of black skin. Yet his skin colour made no difference. We loved him the same, learnt from him the same, and kissed his hand the same. I know white Americans who are students and followers of Shaykh Hassan.

No policy, no revolution, no law in the world can solve the problem of racism - only the teachings of Islam can!

Thirdly, you will notice I said that Shaykh Hassan "passed on" and not "passed away" - this is because Shaykh Hazim Abu Ghazaleh taught us this year that we really only pass "on" to another stage of existence. The ruh (soul) "tastes" death, it does not die.

I think this is something we need to reflect on, Insha'Allah.

For those in Cape Town, there will be Quranic recitals for Shaykh Hassan at the Tijani Zawiya in Guguletu tonight - in fact it's been going on all day already. I will be going, and I urge more people to attend Insha'Allah, especially if Allah blessed you to sit - even once - in the company of Shaykh Hassan.

I also urge people all over the world to prayer the funeral prayer in absentia for Shaykh Hassan - you can read the Fiqh ruling about this at the SunniPath website here: http://qa.sunnipath.com/issue_view.asp?HD=3&ID=4108&CATE=408.

My sister has informed me that people have even already left from South Africa to Senegal.

From Allah do we come, and unto Him is our return. May Allah Almighty bless Shaykh Hassan, give him a high rank in al-Jannah, forgive all his sins and shortcomings, and give him the companionship of the Blessed Prophet (May Allah bless him and give him peace), Ameen.

And may Allah Almighty give ease in the hearts of his Mureeds (devout students) and his lovers (like myself, and hopefully yourself).
The unworthy servant of the people of Allah Jamaaludeen ash-Shadhili.

Mushaaira: Rising Above Through the Language of Love

WSN Network, "VIPSA’s multi-lingual mushaaira attracts massive interest" - World Sikh News - San Jose, CA, USA

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Milpitas, CA: Vishav Punjabi Sahit Academy of California organized a Multi Lingual Kavi-Darbar (Mushaaira/Poetry Recital) at Milpitas Community Library, recently that attracted a large number of literary enthusiasts from all South Asian communities and was well attended by prominent Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu poets.

The program started with a welcome note by Chairman of Academy’s Bay Area unit Resham Sidhu who stressed upon the need to bring people together rising above the narrow divisions and develop common bonds by sharing our life experiences through literary works.

Academy’s general secretary Jagjit Naushehrvi introduced to audience the distinguished poets Sham Narain Shukla (Hindi), Tashi Zaheer (Urdu), Dr. Gurumel Sidhu, Dr. Sohinder Bir (India), Gurdit Singh Kang, Resham Sidhu and Prof Sarbjit S Aulakh (India) and invited them to stage to preside over the function.

Program was conducted by renowned Urdu poetess from Pakistan Miss Noshi Gilani who started the Mushaaira by saying that only language of poetry is the language of love and we are here today to express ourselves through our poetry.

She invited the poets to recite their poems intermingling the Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi verses creating a very captivating environment.

The function was gifted with a very patient and literarily matured audience who applauded at every good verse with claps and calls for reciting it again.

Poems presented formed a wide variety of genre which included ghazals, nazams, songs, humor, romantic as well as poems written in multiple languages. Many of the poets presented their poems by singing (in tarannum).

Function was attended by Hindi poets Sham Narain Shukla, Neelu Gupta, Brahmanand Pandey, Archana Pandey, Nirmala Shukla, Davindra Shukla; Urdu poets Tashi Zaheer, Noshi Gilani, Ram Narain Raunki, Nasir Himayun, Azad Jallandhari, Ishar Singh Moman and Punjabi poets Dr. Sohinder Bir (India), Gurdit Singh Kang, Dr Gurumel Sidhu, Kulwinder, Surinder Seerat, Resham Sidhu, Gurcharan Singh Falak, Darshan Nat, Kamal Banga, Dilawar Chahal, Jagjit Naushehrvi, Amandeep Boparai, Karamjit Singh Noor, Prof Sarbjit Singh Aulakh (India), Harjinder Kang and Sukhi Dhaliwal.

Famous Punjabi singer Sukhdev Sahil and Sarabjit Kaur Bhasin (visiting from India) presented some very impressive pieces from Shiv Kumar Batalvi collection, Punjabi Sufi poetry and folklore.

Community activist Sardar Vikram Singh thanked all the poets and VIPSA organizing committee for putting together such a wonderful program.

Audience were so enthralled by the poetic environment that progam ran into after hours of the library’s closing time.

Out of the Quagmire

By Ratnadeep Banerji "The sway of the Bauls:Oblivious minstrels of soul" - Organiser - New Delhi, India
Weekly issue: August 17, 2008

Baul etymologically arises from Sanskrit batul or byakul that literally means divinely inane or fervently eager

The Charyapadas (Buddhist hymns) which gave rise to Bengali bear references to the precepts of Baul. It is conjectured that around 6th century AD, Mahaprabhu Chaitanya, culled this esoteric coterie of Bauls as a formal community though the word ‘Baul’ appeared in Bengali texts around 15th century.

Bauls are essentially mystic minstrels hailing from the hinterland of West Bengal and Bangladesh. Baul is not just a music tradition but it’s also a syncretic religious sect out of Vaishnavite Hindus, Sufi Muslims and Hindu tantric sect of the Kartabhajas as well as Tantric Buddhist schools like Sahajia.

Austerity and detachment is their keyword. Their itinerant cult possessing minimal accoutrement sans mundane trappings evokes a permeating effect of soul onto the macrocosm – unbound, unhindered and without obliterations. They remain out of the mundane quagmire despite being footed to the terra firma.

These undogmatic Bauls revel in a concept of iconography that transcends the visual apparent onto abstract, mystical rumination. And so, Radha-Krishna communion is embodiment of divine love and not idols to be worshipped in the home. This transmutes into subtle tenets on life taking cognizance of societal concerns and thereby churns out an admixture of exotic tradition of Baul wisdom.

(...)

Bauls are a very heterogenous group cutting across despicable denominations of religion, caste, creed and sex. Lalon Fakir (1774-1890), considered the greatest of them all had remarked, “What form does caste have? I have never seen it, brother, with these eyes of mine!”

They have varied lifestyles – domestics as well as ascetics, both exist. The ascetic Bauls do not marry and follow a strict ritualistic and religious lifestyle. They have no fixed dwelling place, keep hopping from one akhara to another. These akharas often come up in areas having graves of their earlier gurus and are kept at bay from the village communities.

The Bauls generally wear a sort of half-dhoti and an alkhalla on the top, both being saffron in colour. Traditionally Bauls don’t cut their hair so they coil it and make a bun atop their head. Around their neck they wear a rosary of basil beads and carry a big jhola, a shoulder bag.

The domestics however lead a family life though they opt to remain in secluded part of a village and do not mix freely with other members of the community.

Bauls do not pay heed to any organised religion being non-conformists, they are iconoclasts and humanists whose sole pursuit is to seek the moner manush – the God within, to ferret out the ultimate Truth through meditation. They bring about a fusion of the Sahajiya and Sufi concept of devotion believing that the human body is the seat of all truths centering which they follow some secret devotional practices.

(...)

Baul music solemnises celestial bliss of ethereal permeation. These songs of exultation are soul wrenching.

Several Baul songs have undergone changes owing to Vaishnava influence of kirtans and also under the influence of Sufism.

Though Baul songs are prevalent in both West Bengal and Bangladesh, they differ in both tune and theme. In West Bengal Baul songs, there is an increased presence of Sahajiya Vaishnavism while in Bangladesh, Baul songs have an affluence of Sufi ghazals.

The following couplet is an extract from an English translation of one of the most prevalent Baul songs. Every song may have two interpretations of human love or Divine love, the Bauls refer to them as lower stream and upper stream.

Where shall I meet him, the Man of my Heart?
He is lost to me and I seek him
wandering from land to land.
I am listless for that moonrise of beauty,
which is to light my life,
which I long to see in the fullness of vision
in gladness of heart…

(...)

Notwithstanding the paltry number of Bauls, it has left a profound impact upon Bengali culture. In recognition, Baul was accorded a berth among ‘Masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity’ by UNESCO in 2005.

Nabani Das Baul’s son Purna Das Baul made world tours apprising the sagacity of Bauls to the world. He wrote and composed numerous songs and recorded many albums in India, USA, Europe and Japan. Purna Das Baul was conferred ‘The Emperor of Bauls’ by then the President Dr Rajendra Prasad in 1967. So much so, a film has also been made on his life.

Every year during January there is a congregation on the riparian banks of River Ajoy at Kenduli in the district Birbhum of West Bengal. During the four-day long-fest they commemorate their Jaydeb lineage.

Again Lalon Shah’s akhda at Cheuria village in Kushtia holds a three-day festival annually during the full moon in the month of Falgun. Even sadhus flock the auspicious event. These days, one might encounter these mendicants singing in trains or aimlessly straying around.

A mutant form of Baul has also splurged in the west in America and Europe under the spiritual tutelage of Lee Lozowick. But western Baul integrates rock, blues and gospel though maintaining the same principles.

The Mirror of the sky, reflects my soul.
O Baul of the road, O Baul, my heart,
What keeps you tied, to the corner of the room?

[Picture: Baul on a train in West Bengal. Photo from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baul].

This Garden Is Always Fresh

By Eric Ormsby, "Wisdom Like a Flower Bed: Sa'di's 'Gulistan'" - The Sun - New York, NY, USA

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Common sense is probably the last thing we want or expect from poets. Give us confessions, prophecies, manifestos, but spare us the advice — especially advice in verse.

The poet should be a firebrand, not some mumbling old uncle. And yet, it wasn't always thus. In older cultures, not only in Greece and Rome but in India, Persia, and China, the poet was often seen less as a visionary than as a dispenser of wisdom.

This wasn't usually lofty wisdom; it was homespun, practical, and shrewd. It taught its readers how to live. And because it was cast in verse, its rhythms reinforced its hold; it stuck in the mind like a tune. It was common sense made musical.

Unlike his great contemporary Rumi, the medieval Persian poet Sa'di isn't much known in the West.

The first English translation of his masterpiece, the "Gulistan," or "Rose Garden," appeared in 1775; another version, by Francis Gladwin, was published in 1806 and went through no fewer than five editions. But these were trots, useful for civil servants and employees, such as Gladwin, of the British East India Company: Persian was the language of the Mughal court, and along with Urdu or Hindi, it was important for representatives of the Raj to try to learn.

And Sa'di was by common consent the most elegant stylist in Persian. His "Rose Garden," a unique compendium of terse proverbs and worldly-wise fables, of exquisite lyrics and earthy anecdotes, became their textbook.

In "The Gulistan (Rose Garden) of Sa'di: Bilingual English and Persian Edition with Vocabulary" (Ibex, 448 pages, $60), Wheeler Thackston, a professor of Persian at Harvard, has assembled all the materials needed for a fresh appreciation of this curious masterpiece.

These include a straightforward translation (with the Persian text on facing pages), a glossary of Sa'di's Persian, a useful bibliography, and a short but detailed introduction. For all its obvious erudition — and usefulness to students of Persian — this isn't just a work for the specialist. Mr. Thackston clearly loves his poet and wants to bring him, two centuries after Gladwin's attempt, to new readers.

Sa'di is no Rumi. He prefers contentment to ecstasy. He's a bit like the chameleon whose eyes can look in two separate directions at once. If one eye is cocked at the afterlife, the other is firmly focused on this life. That second eye is the stronger of the two. Sa'di's "Rose Garden" is populated with surly saints and intimidating kings, with farting merchants and love-struck magistrates. In one tale, a tyrant asks a hermit which act of religious devotion would be best for him to perform, and the hermit replies, "For you, it would be to sleep at noon so that during that one moment you won't vex the people." In another, a king swindles his poorer subjects out of firewood, which he then gives to the rich in a show of generosity. When his own house burns down, the king sits in the ashes and asks where the fire came from. A passerby replies, "It came from the hearts of the poor." This is a rose garden with as many thorns as blossoms.

The book is divided into eight chapters which range over such subjects as the conduct of kings, the character of dervishes, the "benefits of silence," and the effects of education; a chapter on love is followed by one on the feebleness of old age, and the book concludes with a discourse on the art of conversation. What unites these scattered chapters is a single unspoken concern: survival in a world that's not only hostile but deceptive. In the "Rose Garden," nothing is what it appears to be. Here a king ends up in heaven while a dervish roasts in hell. Why? Sa'di explains, "The king is in paradise because of his devotion to dervishes, and the hermit is in hell because of his attachment to kings."

Sa'di's verse passages are in rhyming couplets, a form that Mr. Thackston finds "hopelessly old-fashioned" in English, and he makes no attempt to render them. That is probably just as well. Another Persian scholar, the late A.J. Arberry, did try this once and saddled Sa'di with lines such as "The sheep is neat and clean; the elephant a mass obscene." By contrast, Mr. Thackston's translations of the poetry capture its hard-bitten wisdom accurately enough but give little sense of its beauty.

Sa'di had good reason to prize common sense. The "Rose Garden" appeared in 1258, when he was turning 50. That was the same year in which the Mongols under the dread Hulagu Khan overran the Islamic world, sacking Baghdad, murdering the last caliph, and bringing the 500-year-old Abbasid dynasty to an end.

Though Sa'di himself — and his native city of Shiraz — remained unscathed, he had no illusions about the permanence of anything. He chose the rose garden just because of its fragility. As he said, once turned into words, "this garden is always fresh."

[Picture: Shelf Life; The back cover of Herman Melville's copy of 'The Gulistan, or, Rose-garden.' Photo from: Beinecke Rare Book And Manuscript Library, Yale University / The Sun].

8,000 Museum-Goers Daily!

Konya Staff report, "Mevlana Museum may require appointments" - Today's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey

Thursday, August 14, 2008

The Mevlana Museum in Konya, which also houses the tomb of the 13th-century Sufi saint and poet Mevlana Muhammad Jelaluddin Rumi, is considering accepting visitors through an appointment system in the coming months.

A commission that recently completed a study on the five-century-old structure urged museum officials to limit the number of visitors to the museum, where they said some of the walls were damaged.

The museum draws approximately 8,000 museum-goers daily, a high number for the 16th-century structure to tolerate, noted the members of the commission. In a report released this week they further said the building was in need of restoration.

Mevlana Museum Deputy Director Naci Bakırcı said a limit to the number of visitors to the museum might be implemented after a scheduled meeting of the Provincial Committee for the Conservation of Cultural and Natural Assets.

He said that "an appointment system, which is already being implemented in European museums, might be put into practice."

If the committee decides that the building should undergo restoration, the work could take up to two years to complete.

Young Gnawa with Hâl

[From the French language press]:

Les jeunes talents gnaouas font leur show à Essaouira: le festival souffle sa cinquième bougie et met un accent particulier sur l'esprit du soufisme des confréries.

Par Khadija Smiri,"Les jeunes talents gnaouas font leur show à Essaouira" - Le Matin - Casablanca, Maroc - mercredi 13 août 2008

Young talents make their show in Essaouira: the festival is blowing its fifth candle and places particular emphasis on the spirit of Sufi brotherhoods.

As usual, the Essaouira Festival of Gnawa Young Talents -running from August 20th to August 23rd- promises a rich and varied programming. And among this year's several cultural innovations, it opens to the visual arts through the organization of a double exhibition entitled "Hâl, the whirlwind of genius".

The first exhibition -to be held in Dar Souiri- is conceived as a window on the specific universe of the Brotherhoods while the second, which will mount at the Bastion Bab Marrakech, will bring together works of twenty Moroccan artists (painters, sculptors, photographers, videographers) transcribing the experience of "hâl" or at least the unique and creative vision that each can have.

At the root of the Festival is the Association Essaouira-Mogador and its general director, Mr. Abderrahim Bertai.

Essaouira is a UNESCO World Heritage Site http://www.unesco.org

[See a video of last year's Festival des Jeunes Talents Gnaoua Essaouira 2007 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TsnFIIXw00].

Some Famous Sufi Leaders

By Michael van der Galien, "Religion in Azerbaijan" - Poli Gazette - The Netherlands
Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Azerbaijanis are tolerant and untraditional Muslims. Secularism has changed society profoundly.

When one talks about Azerbaijan with a Westerner, the latter will almost always say that he knows that Azerbaijanis are Muslim.

A slightly more informed Westerner may be concerned about extremism here. The reality is the opposite; most Azerbaijanis consider themselves to be Muslim by culture and tradition, but their views are not orthodox much less extreme.

(...)

After insisting to talk a bit more about the subject of religion and especially about Azerbaijan’s version of Islam - a topic about which the official was more than willing to talk - the topic changed to the Sufi mystics and their influence.

Azerbaijan was the home of quite some famous Sufi leaders. One of them the guide recalled, Seyyid Ali Imadaddin Nesimi, was killed in the 15th century.

He had, according to religious authorities, committed blasphemy by saying “I am God.”

More than anything else his execution resulted in more Azerbaijanis revering him.

He and other prominent Sufis have, like in Turkey, influenced Azerbaijani Islam considerably. Part of why Muslims in this country are so tolerant, the official explained, is because of this religious tradition.

(...)

[Picture: Statue of Imadeddin Nesimi in Baku, Azerbaijan. Photo from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasimi].

Lion of the Heart

Culture Desk, "UGA hosts arts festival" - The Daily Citizen - Dalton, GA, USA
Friday, August 15, 2008

Athens, GA: Music, drama, art and poetry will enliven the University of Georgia campus during the first UGA Arts Festival, a four-day celebration to be held Sept. 4-7 at the Performing and Visual Arts Complex to coincide with the dedication of the new Lamar Dodd School of Art building.

The festival will feature numerous performances and exhibitions, all open free to the public.

Featured events include a performance of French playwright Yasmina Reza’s award-winning comedy Art and readings by internationally known poet and translator Coleman Barks.

Also on hand will be the Amadeus Trio as part of the Franklin College Chamber Music Series.

(...)

On Friday, Sept. 5, events will include an outdoor stage sponsored by UGA’s Music Business Program; performances by the CORE Concert Dance Company and the Amadeus Trio; and a reading, “Lion of the Heart,” performed by Coleman Barks, who will be accompanied by Art Rosenbaum, who is equally well known for his work as an artist and as a music folklorist.

Barks is known worldwide as a poet and translator of the 13th-century Persian poet Rumi.

Rosenbaum is a painter, muralist and illustrator, as well as a collector and performer of traditional American folk music. Both Barks and Rosenbaum are retired UGA faculty members.

For additional information visit http://www.uga.edu/artsfestival/

[Picture from http://www.sufism.org/books/lion.html].

Pottery from Poetry

MN report, "Gail Kendall's 'Purpose of Labor' opens Aug. 26 at Sheldon Museum of Art" - Media Newswire - Lincoln, NE, USA
Monday, August 11, 2008

Gail Kendall, Hixson-Lied professor of art at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, will present new ceramic artworks in "The Purpose of Labor," opening Aug. 26 at UNL's Sheldon Museum of Art.

Works in the exhibition respond to Robert Bly's translation of "The Kabir Book," ecstatic poems by the Islamic Sufi poet Kabir.

"I have been drawn to the imagery in many of these poems since I learned about them in the mid-1980s and felt this exhibition would provide me with a wonderful opportunity to create a group of works around a theme," Kendall said.

"This theme is allowing me to expand on recent work as well as consider a series of new vessels."
(...)

Additional information is also available on the Sheldon Web site, http://www.sheldon.unl.edu/

A Commemoration Ceremony

TE/HGH, "Iran honors miniaturist Ali Moti" - Press TV - Tehran, IranTuesday, August 12, 2008

Iran has held a commemoration ceremony in honor of the late master miniaturist and illuminator, Ali Moti in the capital of Tehran.

Prominent artists including Aidin Aqdashlou and Hannibal Alkhas attended the event and paid tribute to the late Moti.

Ali Moti died on July 31, 2008 at the age of 92 after a long period of illness in Riverside, California.

His paintings, mostly inspired by the Iranian poet Hafez, have been displayed at 37 international and domestic exhibitions.

Moti, who received his first gold medal in Brussels in 1953, is known for his unique illumination of the holy Qur'an.

A Friend of Roadside Flowers

By Ryszard Antolak, "Iran's Sohrab Sepehri at 80" - Persian Journal - Iran
Monday, August 11, 2008

There is a city somewhere beyond the seas
Where windows open on illumination...
Where the earth listens
To the music of your heart
And the wind carries sounds
Of the fluttering of mythical birds

October 7th 2008 marks the 80th anniversary of the birth of one of Iran's most celebrated modern poets, Sohrab Sepehri.

On that day, hundreds of people will make their way to the lonely, remote mosque of Mashhad Ardehal, (on the desert road between Kashan and Dilijan), to pay their respects, recite poetry and lay flowers on the grave of this much-loved poet.

Awaiting them will be no grand memorial tomb such as that of Hafez or Sa'adi: no pavilion with fragrant gardens, no trees to adorn and give shade. All they will see is a marble flagstone in the courtyard of the mosque (outside the women's entrance), sometimes trodden below the feet of visitors on their way to prayer.
The inscription on the stone reads:

"If you come to visit me
Tread softly,
Lest you break the fragile shell
Of my loneliness."

It is a modest, humble grave, one eminently in keeping with the character of the poet.

His was a truly singular voice in 20th century Iranian Literature: fresh and natural, almost childlike sometimes in its directness. At a time when other poets were wrestling with complex social and political concerns in their works, Sohrab Sepehri was an advocate of all that was small and personal, intimate and homely.

He was a friend of roadside flowers, of people walking home from work, of goldfinches and swaying poplars. For him, the most familiar objects - a willow, a red rose - could open suddenly to reveal an aspect of the Divine hitherto concealed.

He explained in his poem, "Water's Footfall", that the poet need not go beyond his own immediate environment to discover the wondrous and the divine.

Transcendence was perception, seeing through the everyday details of life to the empowered presence beyond.

"I am a Muslim.
And my direction of prayer is the red rose,
My prayer rug is... the fountain,
My prayer stone is... light,
The meadows are my prayer hall.
I kneel down when the muezzin wind
Calls out the time of prayer
From the cypress tree."

The words sound almost like a paraphrase of Ibn Arabi's famous profession of faith.

Born in Kashan in 1928, Sepehri's imagination was dominated by the Dasht-e Kavir, the desert that stretches before the city like a grey nothingness for a thousand kilometres.
Something of that emptiness, that loneliness, filtered into his bones and sank deeply into his heart.

"Come to me and I will tell you
How colossal my loneliness is"

It was as if the desert called out to him in an almost religious voice, (as it called many prophets and mystics in the past) and Sepehri responded both physically and metaphorically:

"Tonight I must go
I must take my suitcase
Large enough to hold the garments of my loneliness
And go to the place where trees sing out in epic song
And where the vast wordless expanse
Calls out to me: "Sohrab!"
Listen! There it is again!
I must find my shoes quickly".

He became a restless spirit, unable to settle, travelling the world in search of something he could never quite define, which lay just beyond the horizon, just out of sight.

During his wanderings, he encountered a variety of different literary styles, some of which found their way later into his poetry enriching the language in ways which bore the indelible seal of his genius.

Through his writing and his painting, he created a new home for himself (another Kashan) "on the far side of the night", one that could not be taken away from him by force or by distance.

"It does not matter were I am
Because the sky is always mine
And windows, ideas, fresh air, love"

In the end, his body "descended from a piece of pottery on Sialk Hills", longed for the soil of its birth.

He discovered at the age of fifty that he was suffering from leukaemia and that the illness was incurable.

In 1980, the poet made his final journey home to his beloved Kashan to be buried (according to his own wishes) in the grounds of Mashhad Ardehal.

(...)

The Godless Lover

By Joanna Lobo, "Panel charts our religious journey" - Daily News and Analysis - Mumbai, India
Tuesday, August 12, 2008

On the launch of its 22nd issue, the editor of the magazine Gallerie hosted a debate on the relevance of religion in today’s world

On a rainy Sunday evening, while most Mumbaikars chose to sit out the rains at home, a debate was raging at the Crossword bookstore in Kemps Corner: How relevant is religion today?

The event marked the launch of the 22nd issue of Gallerie - the International Journal of Arts and Ideas. And the theme was ‘The Sacred and the Profane’.

So, headed by Gallerie’s founder-publisher-cum-editor, Bina Sarkar Ellias, an eclectic group of the city’s intellectuals and literati discussed their beliefs; the existence of God; and whether, as Karl Marx said, religion is indeed the opium of the masses.

Artist and poet, Gieve Patel, academician Dr Zeenat Shaukat Ali, actor Tom Alter, and poet Javed Akhtar were some of the panelists.

Ellias spoke about a change in the way religion has been perceived over the ages. “In earlier centuries, religion prescribed a moral code of conduct, which was very faithfully followed. Over the past few years, it has gone out of control.”

According to her, religion has relevance today, considering that 86 per cent of people in the world believe in the existence of God.

Dr Ali punctuated her speech with couplets from poet Mirza Ghalib and quotes from Albert Einstein and the Sufi saint, Rabia.

“Spirituality is inspiring oneself and others on the path of illumination. What is sad is that today, religion has taken the form of racial and ethnic discrimination, xenophobia, terrorism, and so on.”

She spoke of how Islam is misrepresented by everyone, including Muslims themselves. “Islam is a passive religion,” she stated firmly.

On the other hand, Patel drew parallels between the Soviet communists and Christians. “In both cases, the ideology is humane and non-violent. Yet the way it is practised is destructive and aggressive,” he said.

According to him, there are two basic factors to be taken into account. “There is an inborn perception in people that they are good and the rest are evil, and they have to destroy the evil before it overpowers them.

There is also the element of greed - by destroying the other person you get what he has, thus making you more powerful.” He argued that religion aside; people will always be aggressive.

Tom Alter began by citing his personal example of being surrounded by missionaries and other religious people all his life. Citing the example of Khuda Kay Liye, he challenged any Indian director to make a movie on an Indian religion without having cinemas burned down and screenings stopped.

“It is the misuse of religion that is the problem. When anyone starts using their religion against me, I have nothing more to do with that person.” He appealed to people to “make your religion better by being a better practitioner of it”.

A firm atheist, Javed Akhtar’s speech was eloquent. “Religion is based on faith - you aren’t allowed to question or discuss it, and there is no logic or reason behind it. What is the difference between faith and stupidity?”

He claimed that the power of religion lies in its numbers. “We are living in an era of schizophrenia. But there are too many people who believe and we cannot call all of them schizophrenic.”

He ended by saying that considering all the violence in the world today, “for God’s sake I hope there is no God”.

The discussion was followed by a Q and A session with the audience. A majority of the questions were directed at Javed Akhtar and Zeenat Ali. Thus ensued a heated debate between them.

Both laid out their points well and lost no time in putting them across. Some memorable snippets included Zeenat’s “having armchair discussions does not constitute religion. You need to go out on the field and see”, and Javed’s “all the religions in the world claim they can tell you everything, but can they tell you how to make a bicycle?”

Whether you are a believer or a non-believer, witnessing people talk about religion, was enriching. As one ponders the relevance of religion today, try finding some answers in Mirza Ghalib’s The Godless Lover:

When there was nothing, there was God
If nothing had been, God would have been
My very being has been my downfall
If I hadn’t been, what would it have mattered?

[Picture from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghalib].

The Land of Art-lovers

By TP Correspondent, "Punjab to have 3 more museums" - The Post -
Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Pasrar: Punjab Minister for Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs Dr Tanvir-ul-Islam has said that three museums are being constructed in Gujrat, Multan and Katas Raj in the province and the building of Kalar Kahar Museum is under-construction which will soon be completed.

He said this while talking to the journalists at Chawinda-Pasrur Monday.

The provincial minister further said the concrete measures would be taken for the promotion of Punjabi language and extending patronage to artists in order to enhance the cultural activities in the province.

He said that a large number of projects were being carried out in the province for the promotion of fine art by Lahore Arts Council and Punjab Arts Council.

Academy of Performing Art is already operating where diploma courses were being offered in calligraphy, photography, drama, dance, music, violin, 'satar', drawing, painting and tabla, he added.

Dr Tanvir said: "The Punjab is the land of 'art-lovers' and has a rich culture and it is our responsibility to transfer it to the next generation."
He said the government would utilise all resources for the promotion of art and culture.

To preserve the cultural heritage of Punjab as well as promoting Punjabi language and culture, Punjab Institute of Language Art and Culture has been set up which was translating the poetry of 'Sufi' poets in regional languages for creating brotherhood and harmony among the provinces, he added.

The provincial minister said the Heer Waris Shah had been translated into Urdu language whereas the poetry of Baba Fareed had been translated into Sindhi language so that people from other provinces could also learn about the cultural heritage of the other provinces.

Huzur-u Pir

By Pat Yale Nevsehir, "Hacıbektaş the heartland of Alevis" - Today's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey
Sunday, August 10, 2008

Next weekend sees the generally sleepy central Anatolian town of Hacıbektaş spring to life for its 54th annual festival, a three-day jamboree that usually kicks off with some politicking before segueing into the fun part -- the singing and dancing.

For a small town, Hacıbektaş is surprisingly important, its importance lying in the fact that it is home to the shrine of Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli, a 13th-century Sufi thinker, originally from Khorasan in Iran, who arrived in what was then the village of Sulucakarahöyük some time between 1270 and 1280.

Here he developed a philosophy that emphasized the importance of science and reason and which allowed women an equal part in daily life; images of Hacı Bektaş usually show him embracing a deer and a lion, an allegorical rendering of his teachings about peace and tolerance (other images show him with a pigeon, the guise in which he is said to have flown to Anatolia).

When he died in 1337 he was buried in the village and as the influence of his writings spread, so the complex around his shrine grew. Today it is one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Turkey.

Among the Alevis, the followers of Ali, a Muslim splinter group with perhaps 10 million adherents in Turkey, Hacı Bektaş is especially revered and the festival forms one of the highpoints of their calendar.

Unfortunately, at the moment the shrine and associated museum are being restored, making it hard to make much sense of what you see. Hacıbektaş is also one of those places, like Gallipoli, that you really need to visit twice: Once during the festival to soak up the atmosphere and again at another time when you will be able to look around in peace and quiet.

All things being equal, though, you approach the shrine via a gateway into a courtyard graced by a fountain with three waterspouts and a carving of a six-sided star.

From this first courtyard a small gate leads to the main part of the complex, a cloistered space containing a large (and currently empty) pool. Immediately to the right is a second lovely fountain, presided over by a carving of an amiable-looking marble lion which arrived from Egypt in 1853.

Two important buildings stand to the right of the courtyard. The first is the Aş Evi, or Cookhouse, which contains a number of oversized cooking pots, the most gigantic of them the Kara Kazan (Black Cauldron), which became very important to the Ottoman Janissary Corps, who would signal displeasure with a sultan by overturning a similar cauldron.

The second is a small mosque with a stubby minaret which was built in 1834 after Sultan Mahmut II had gotten rid of the Janissaries and closed down the Alevi/Bektaşı lodges.

On the left-hand side of the courtyard stand a guesthouse, bathhouse and laundry. However, the most important room is the Meydan Evi, an Alevi “cem” house where initiation and other ceremonies were carried out.

The focal point of this room is a stove with a 15th-century painting of Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli on the wall above it and a huge wooden throne beside it. Best of all is the fine wooden ceiling whose nine separate layers represent the nine levels of the heavens.

A small corridor leads to the third courtyard where a bust of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk commemorates the visit of the first president of the Turkish Republic to the town in 1919, on the eve of the War of Independence.

The third courtyard acts as a ceremonial approach to the heart of the complex, the shrine of Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli. Here, steps lead down to a corridor whose floor is said to cover the remains of the architect Yanko Medyan, who became an adherent of Bektaşism after falling from the roof and calling out to Hacı Bektaş for help.

To the immediate right of the steps is the oldest part of the complex, a small cell called a çilehane, or place of suffering, where the saint is thought to have spent long periods in seclusion.

An elaborately carved Selçuk-style portal leads through into the Kırklar Meydanı (Area of 40 Saints), a huge domed space which serves as a small museum, showcasing items associated with Bektaşi dervishes, including fierce-looking ear-rings worn by unmarried men, begging bowls and a traveling picnic set.

On the wall hang some fine examples of the sort of calligraphy that turns writing into pictures; in one particularly fine example a human face has been created out of the words for “Ya Allah, Muhammad, Ali.” The finest item on display is a 40-branched candlestick which was used in Bektaşi ceremonies.

A strikingly beautiful marble portal on the right-hand side of the door opens onto the room containing the shrine of Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli, otherwise known as Huzur-u Pir (the Presence of the Master), a particularly holy place where pilgrims will usually be praying.

To the left of the main entrance and up some stairs is the tomb of Güvenç Abdal, described in the Velayetname, the biography of Hacı Bektaş, as the most beautiful girl in the world.

Also in the third courtyard, tucked away behind an ancient mulberry tree, is the tomb of Balım Sultan (1462-1516), who became the second most important leader of the Bektaşi order. It is well worth popping your head in here if only to see a second, even finer 40-branched candlestick, its base supported on brass lions, its body decorated with brass pigeons and dragons.

Once you’ve finished inspecting the complex, it is easy to conclude that you have “done” Hacıbektaş, which is not a particularly prepossessing town.

In particular, the cultural center that was inflicted on it a few years ago is an eyesore of a white elephant, the echoing void of its lobby containing nothing more inspirational than two cases of costume dolls. Still, there are a couple of other sites worth seeking out, and these include the early 17th-century shrine of Bektaş Efendi immediately behind it.

Otherwise, walk down towards the Belediye building, passing a long line of stalls that sell Alevi/Bektaşı paraphernalia in a sort of Turkish take on Lourdes in France.

Just across the road from the Belediye, a house where Atatürk stayed in 1919 has been lovingly restored and boasts an especially gorgeous sitting room, with bench seats invitingly set up on either side of a table in a light-filled cumba (bay window).

If you continue down the road behind the Belediye you will also come across the town’s last remaining adobe houses, some of them centered on courtyards with porticos on each side, others with giant pots serving as literal chimneypots.

The restored Kadıncık Ana Evi (House of the Poor Woman) behind the graceful Akpınar Çeşmesi (fountain), where Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli is believed to have stayed, should be open to the public but probably won’t be.

The Kadıncık Ana Evi overlooks the Karahöyük (Black Tumulus) where the original settlement of Sulucakarahöyük stood from the Bronze Age until about the time of the birth of Jesus Christ. Finds from excavations on the hill are on display in the town’s small museum.

Where to stay
There is very little accommodation in Hacıbektaş itself. Most people stay in Göreme, Avanos, Üçhisar or Ürgüp and visit on day trips.
Evrim Hotel. Tel.: (384) 441 2900
Hünkar Otel. Tel.: (384) 441 3344

How to get there
There are daily dolmuş services to Hacıbektaş from Kırşehir and from Nevşehir via Gülşehir. It's a one-hour ride.

The Beginning of Everything

By Arsalan Mohammad, "Rhythm of Language" - The National - Abu Dhabi, UAE
Sunday, August 10, 2008

It all starts with a dot.

“The dot is very important,” says Khaled al Saai, as he reaches for a fresh sheet of paper, dips a wooden blade into a pot of ink and swiftly marks a small neat square in the centre of the white page.

“This is the beginning of everything, the dot. It measures the letters geometrically. It gives identity to each letter.”

More dots appear on the sheet as Saai begins working with fluency. “It refers to Kaaba, when you look from above, the dot is rectangular. When it is rounded, it is the movement around the Kaaba, the dot itself between the two stages – no movement and the ultimate movement – between the calmness and movement. Classically, each style has its own dot.”

The 38-year-old, Syrian-born calligrapher is well-versed in classic calligraphy styles – as his reputation attests, he is one of the few young Arab artists who have transcended regional boundaries to achieve real international fame.

He has exhibited in both solo and group shows around the world, from Sharjah to Mexico and Boston to Bonn. He has been feted by major calligraphy events in Istanbul, Sharjah and Iran, as well as smaller arts festivals in Europe, often picking up first prize in biennial competitions, and beating down the cream of the region’s calligraphers.

Major wins over the past decade include four first prizes for Diwani Jali calligraphy at his alma mater, the prestigious in Istanbul Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA), as well as a glut of prizes from Sharjah Calligraphy Biennials.

It’s his highly distinct style that immediately arrests the attention. It’s a perfect synthesis of old and new, spiritual and earthy. In his varied canvases – some pocket-sized, others stretching across gallery walls – he diffuses traditional techniques through a contemporary prism, deconstructs strictly-executed calligraphic styles within vast landscapes.

The results can reference Quranic verses, secular poetry or more simply, clusters of random letters into pictorial forms that thunder across the surfaces of his canvases.

(...)

Blending the cleaner, sharper lines of Thuluth with the opulence of Diwani Jali brings us closer to the trademark Saai style. But again, Saai’s love of experimentation emerges through his choice of media.

The usual ink and tempera and range of graduated wooden blades of any calligrapher is present and correct, yet there are inks made from substances like tobacco and crushed walnuts, which add extra texture and depth to his work.

“I have no direct influences,” he remarks. “I know all the Iranian artists, but I don’t have any Parsi style in my work. Usually, I work with a theme, I have everything I am doing translated to Arabic and try to convey the rhythm of the language in the visual art and that is a challenge.”

Citing favourites such as the late Lebanese painter Paul Guragossian and Syrian contemporary art legend Fateh Moudarres, Saai says he prefers to draw inspiration from his surroundings.

Porter [*] makes tentative comparisons to the Iraqi painter Hassan Massoudy, also featured in Word Into Art, but points out that Massoudy’s technique uses words with a much more straightforward approach.

Saai’s best pieces reflect his love of music. He recently staged a performance piece with a Jordanian musician, Khaled Jaramani, in which he responded visually to the lutist’s performance by echoing the music in his strokes as he painted words from a Sufi poem by Taher Riadh.

“I try to convey the rhythm of language in visual art and that is a challenge, there is a very deep dialogue between these two arts. Music complements the calligraphy.”

(...)

Khaled al Saai’s work can currently be seen at the XVA Gallery in Dubai (04 04 353 5383), the Majlis Gallery in Dubai (04 3536233) and the Green Art Gallery in Dubai (04 344 9888).

*[Venetia Porter, the assistant keeper of Islamic and contemporary Middle Eastern art at the British Museum in London, who included Saai in her recent Word Into Art exhibition in London and Dubai].

3:64 / one of His

Yale Center for Faith and Culture Reconciliation Program - Yale Divinity School - New Haven, CT, USA
Friday, August 8, 2008

Loving God and Neighbor in Word and Deed: Implications for Christians and Muslims

All videos of the 2008 Conference (July 29 - 31) are now posted on the Yale Divinity School Webcast Page. To see the videos, click on the title of this article.

Related Links:

Yale Center for Faith and CultureReconciliation Program

http://www.yale.edu/divinity/commonword/

[Picture: H.E. Prof. Seyyed Hossein Nasr; Keynote Address video, Thursday, July 31].

In a Peaceful Manner

Staff Report, "Sufi Saint Abdullah’s birthday celebrated in Kattankudy amidst tight security provided by armed forces" - Asian Tribune - Colombo, Sri Lanka
Friday August 8, 2008

All Ceylon Thareekathul Mufliheen, a Sufi Order, celebrated the 84th birth of Sufi Saint Sheihul Mufleen M.S.M Abdullah (RA) recently at Kattankudy, in the Batticaloa district, with the deployment of a large contingent of Police, Army and STF personnel in Kattankudy.

Sheihul Mufliheen M.S.M Abdullah (Ra) passed away on 6th December, 2006, at a private hospital in Colombo. In keeping with his wish the body of the spiritual leader was taken to the Head Office by his followers and intermitted according to Islamic rights.

But a group of religious extremists opposed to this organization, on hearing funeral ceremony M.S.M Abdullah (Ra) held in Kattankudy, instigated the people of Kattankudy to protest against this burial and inflicted enormous damage to public and private property and in particular over a hundred abodes of the followers were damaged and set ablaze.

This violent situation lasted throughout a week. The body of the spiritual leader was exhumed and taken away from the burial site in the pretext of demolishing an unauthorized building, the fate of which is yet unknown.

M.C.A. Hameed, President of the All Ceylon Thareekathul Mufliheen told Asian Tribune that to seek justice for this inhuman act, a Fundamental Rights Case No. SC/FR 200/2007 was filed with the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka.

The verdict was given on the 2nd July, 2008 by the Supreme Court presided by Justice Sarath N Silva, Justice J. Balapatabendi & Justice J. Dissanayake to those displaced to return back to Kattankudy and conduct their activities as in the past.

Accordingly hundreds Sufi Muslims went to Kattankudy and held the annual feast and the 84th birth anniversary on the 24th July, 2008.

A large gathering of Muslim and Tamil populace participated at the feast.
With the deployment of a large contingent of Police, Army and STF personnel in Kattankudy the feast ended in a peaceful manner.

Mr. Hamid said, All Ceylon Thareekathul Mufliheen is a Sufi Order, founded 35 years ago by the spiritual leader Sheihul Mufliheen M.S.M. Abdullah (Ra).
The Head Office is located in Kattankudy with branches in other parts of the country.

He stressed that members of this organization strictly follow a non-violent spiritual path to achieve eternal peace and tranquility, self-realization or union with God through contemplation, meditation and purification of mind.

[Picture: Celebrations held in Kattankudy. Photo: Asian Tribune].

Hafez Commemoration Day

MNA Culture Desk, "Iranian institutions to honor Hafez expert Salim Neysari" - Mehr News - Tehran, Iran
Friday, August 8, 2008

Scholar Salim Neysari, who has corrected the Divan of Hafez, will be honored during ceremonies on October 10 and 11 commemorating Hafez at the Hafezieh (the tomb of Hafez) in Shiraz.

Cosponsored by Iran’s Center for Hafez Studies and Fars Studies Foundation, the annual event commemorating Hafez Day is to be held on October 11 in Shiraz.

Having the theme of “The Impact of Hafez on Later Literati and Writers,” the event consists of two sections: the academic meeting and the commemoration ceremony. The Iranian Center for the Study of Hafez will compile and publish the delivered lectures during the ceremony at a later date.

Hafez scholars Masud Farzad, Qodsi Shirazi and Rashid Eivazi were honored during the last year’s ceremonies on Hafez Commemoration Day.

Seyyed Ahmad Hosseini Kazeruni on “The Impact of Hafez on Bushehr’s Contemporary Poets,” Abbasali Vafaii on “The Impact of Hafez Ideology and Poetry in Uzbekistan,” Mahindokht Mashhur on “The Impact of Hafez on Tagore,” and Hassan Anvari and Mahmud Fotuhi will give papers during the event.

Hafez Commemoration Day is an occasion that gives admirers of his poetic works a unique opportunity to gather and hold discussions on the poetry, thoughts, and life of Hafez.

Mohammed Shams al-Din (1315 or 1317-1389) was born in Shiraz. He gained the respectful title Hafez, meaning “one who has memorized the Quran” as a teacher of the Quran.

Hafez’s work, collected under the title of the Divan of Hafez, contains more than 500 poems, most of them in the form of a Ghazal, a short traditional Persian form that he perfected.

[Picture: Aramgah-e Hafez (Hafez Mausoleum), Exterior view, courtyard with pools and pavilion, 1773/1953, Shiraz. Photo by Robert Byron. Source: Fine Arts Library, Harvard College Library/Archnet IMG08655 http://www.archnet.org/library/sites/one-site.jsp?site_id=2379].

From Doubt to Light

Culture Desk, "East meets West" - Barking & Dagenham Post - London, UK

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Anurekha Ghosh & Company presents a double Bill - Convince Me and Noor Light at the Civic Theatre, Chelmsford.

Conceived by award-winning dancer Anurekha and performed by international dancers and musicians, Noor Light is the meeting point of acrobatic martial arts and contemporary Kathak dance.

It traces the journey of a seeker, moving from doubt to light, and incorporating the songs and lyrical rythmns and mystical poetry inspired by Hinduism, Christianity, and Sufism [Islam].

In Convince Me, Anurekha seamlessly blends classic kathak with diverse musical genres from Persia to the Sufi music. In this collaboration, dancers and musicans bridge the gap between East and West.

This multi-layered exuberance of Indian classical kathak, a dose of flamenco, and a touch of ballet are theaded together.

Anurekha won the Asian Woman Achievement Award for Arts and Culture 2007.

Anurekha Gosh and her company appear at Chelmsford Civic for one night on Sunday, September 14 at 7.45pm. Tickets price £14 are available from the box office, phone 01245 606505

[Picture from http://www.gobetween.us/en/biographiegosh.php Photo: Laurence Gonnard http://www.laurencegonnard.fr].