Darya it is :D

Till 6 this evening I still hadn’t come to any final decision on what to call this new baby. For me to choose something I have to ‘feel’ that it’s right; I need to get a sign—nooooo I haven’t read one Paulo Coelho book too many :D

So I’d added some new songs to my ipod—some old albums that I hadn’t listened to for a long time—when Moein’s song Pialeh came on. Oh god this song!!!It must have been at least 10 years since I last heard this song. I love the message of the song. So merry old me tried to sing along, trying to remember the lyrics when the following words were sang out loud:

Bi Neyaz o

Tanha baash;

Teshneh bash o

Darya bash

Translation:

Be detached (from worldly possessions)

Be solitary

Be thirsty

Be the sea

Can a sign get any clearer than this??!! It says be the sea—be darya.

And so Darya (the sea) I become

The ebb and flow of my sea will be marked here: www.mymagicaldroplets.wordpress.com

I had created that blog when I wanted to export the posts on Magical Droplets before deleting it. I just exported all the posts on Mirror Polisher to it as well.

PS. I forgot to credit the two images in this post (edited) and the one preceding it--opps-- they are both from this site

What do Da Vinci and I have in common? Polyphasic sleep

Ever heard of Polyphasic sleep? Basically it’s sleeping in ‘multiple short phases’, i.e., you sleep for 2 hours, stay awake for 4, then sleep again for 2, stay awake for 4 and so on. Apparently this is the sleeping habits of some quite a number of world geniuses, namely Da Vinci, Lord Byron, Einstein (though not all the time)…and …well the mother of all inventors--Kramer (remember that episode from Seinfeld)…oh and apparently Batman.

Ok, not that I was trying to be Mrs Batman, but it seems I have joined the Exclusive Polyphasic Sleep Club of Geniuses (hereafter EPSCF). My membership started 3 nights ago when I stopped going to work. I slept in late, then got up, ran a few errands, had nothing else to do so went back to sleep, then got up again, slept again, got up again and then I couldn’t sleep all night!!! Before I knew it, I had developed the pattern of polyphasic sleep.

Oh and on the first night I couldn't sleep, I was surfing the net looking for a good Happy Norooz video, but couldn’t find any. So being a member of the EPSCF I go, Hey gurl, see if u can make your own video using windows video maker.

And voila, here’s my masterpiece:

Mehrbano's Musical Ensemble in Kuwait

Pic from 'The Daily Star'

So in the 9 years I lived in Tehran how many times did I go a traditional Iranian concert—> Zilch

How many traditional music Cd did I buy?->Zilch

How many traditional singles did I listen to?-> Zilch

How many times did I switch channels and radio stations when a traditional music came on?-> Billions

How excited did I become when I found out that Dar AlـAthar AlـIslamiyah would be hosting a traditional Iranian concert?-> Jumped up so high doing the dance of joy that my head damaged the ceiling.

And what a night it was. A rejuvenating night for my soul for it was my soul not body that danced to the melody of the music. Now I know why people close their eyes, smile and wave their head side to side when listening to music…I was doing that!!!!!

The best part of the evening was the encore. Once their performance was over, the crowd drew them back on stage with their cheers. They played the Iranians version of a Kurdish song they had previously played earlier. Then when the clapping of the crowd died down, the vocalist sang: Ey Iran, ey marzeh por ghohar.

This was when my mom’s soul was revived. She started to sing along with them and the Iranians in the audience (which incidentally weren’t too many) clapped all through the song. I must confess that their version of “Ey Iran” was the best I have ever seen or heard.

Unfortunately, my phone camera didn’t have enough space to record, the quality is not that good anyway, and I was too busy enjoying the show to shoot anything anyway, but here’s a couple of videos:

VIDEO 1

VIDEO 2

VIDEO 3 (Kurdish Song)

More info from the Daily Star

Attan: updated

About the video:

"Attan is a traditional Afghan dance. It is said to be one of oldest Afghan Pagan dance, some identify Attan as an a religious ceremony of early Zoroastrians placing it 2000 BCE, and some have placed even older going back to King Yama's celebration of Nowroz and warriors dancing and circling around the fire. King Yama was the first Afghan king dating back to 3500 BCE. This was later modified into an Islamic dance to allow the dancers to get 'closer to God' this virtual Attan practised by many Afghan poets and mystics had even reached to corners of Turkey, Europe known as the Rumi Dance. It is performed usually with a Dhol, which is a double-headed barrel drum. The dance can be anywhere from 5 minute to 30 minutes long. There are many different kinds of Attan most famous are Kabuli, Mazari, Kandahari, Sistani, Herati, Pashayi, and Nuristani."

UPDATE:
Intlxpatr asked:

1. Is this dance related to the dance of the whirling dirvishes of Konya?

I just came to know about it, and based on what I have read so far the dance dates back to early Zoroastrians so I wouldn't say it stems from Sufism. However, with the coming of Islam, it was modified by Islamic mysticism. The dance involves "rapid circular motion, dancers perform until no one is left dancing in a fashion similar to sufi whirling dervishes." SOURCE

2. Women are allowed to dance this dance? Are they permitted to dance it publicly?


Based on this site, I would say yes they are. Of course, whether they still perform publicly in present day Afghanistan is another story.

"The Distance"

I wrote this post on my old blog but just realized I never published it. It was in the drafts. Well, Mirror Polisher is publishing it:

I dunno why these days every time I listen to an Iranian song I automatically start translating it in my head. It forces me to go beyond the melody, relate to the words, live the story behind the lyrics so to speak.Anyway, this particular song kinda reminds me of a past conversation between my two souls:

“The Distance” by Siavash Ghomeshi

I say, “They destroyed me; they put out the lanterns of my eyes;

You say, “God is here; he would place the moon in your hands.

I say, “But that was my heart that was thrown into the mud.”

You say, “Least you have your health; the mirrors are clear and pure.”

And so this is why one can’t fill the distance with tears.

One of us is a lively spring; the other an autumn in agony.

I say, “The distance between your hand and mine is death.”

You say, “This distance is the love between us.”

“I say, “Now should I suffer or endure the pain?”

You say, It makes no difference; nothing would be lost.”

I say, “This is what you lose—a life gone can’t be re-lived.

You say, “That’s the whole story; you are but a leaf in the wind.