The Western Man's Music of Our Hearts

Kees van den Doel plays Laleva, a Mazandarani tune on the Ney with an Iranian ensemble (I think their name may be Sheevash, but I'm not sure). Isn't that fabulous? I searched high and low for Mr. van den Doel on the internet, but couldn't find out much about him. Hopefully he will find us, as it has happened in the past! I want to know where he learned to play the Persian Ney like that!

Enjoy this fun and beautiful piece of music everybody, and have a great Friday! Oh, yes, I forgot to mention...I'm exhausted! I had to do some things for my friends and had to work on a bunch of writing for work today, so I'm all "typed" and "written" out! I promise to write something meaningful tomorrow, but I also promise not to bombard you with posts like I did last night! I had to peal myself away from the keyboard and take myself to bed last night, or I would have written five more posts, so you guys were spared! That occasionally happens to me, where I have too much emotion and too many thoughts to share, but luckily for you, it always passes! Whatever that burst of energy was, it has been put to good use and it's almost completely exhausted by this hour. Tomorrow will be a great day, I just know it!

The Business of Life

Woman farmer plants rice seedlings in a rice paddy field in Ghaemshahr, Mazandaran, April 27, 2008.

Isn't she just beautiful? Isn't that smile worth a million dollars? Doesn't it just bring hope to you when you see someone who works hard and is also enjoying herself? She was my reminder of hope and joy of life today. Sometimes all we have to do is to look. I looked for joy and hope today and I found this woman across the oceans and continents and through the internet lines, whispering, telling, and shouting that hope to me. Does she know she touched my heart today? Does she know her smile moved me and shook me and embraced me today, willing me to work harder and to enjoy my life more and with more hope? She doesn't know, but she does know what she's doing, I believe, enjoying it to the fullest. This woman is in the business of life, and I want to be just like her when I grow up.

Keeping Warm

Shams Ensemble performance celebrating the Year of Rumi in Saadabad, Autumn 2007.

It's Friday. We had a major rainstorm in our area today. It was really interesting driving to work with almost zero visibility in rain and fog and awful winds. The storm is passed now and we are left with intermittent rain. No storm ever lasts. It comes and if you are strong enough to stay grounded and not get blown away, it leaves and hopefully you have learned a few things in the process. It feels silly now to remember how nervous I was this morning in my little car, seeing very little and feeling that strong wind working hard to lift me and my car away!

I leave you with a short video clip of one of my favorite music groups, the Shams Ensemble, directed by Kaykhosrow Pourazeri. You can also see an interesting multimedia presentation about them and this concert here.

I wish you all a very happy weekend, full of rest and relaxation near those who matter the most to you. I hope people in Northern Iran receive warmth and relief, too. I saw a picture of a family under a korsi* in Sari (Mazandran Province), which was really sweet. I have vague memories of korsi when I was a young child. It isn't so much what functional purpose a korsi serves, but the fact that in order to use it, a whole family sits in the same room and in close vicinity to each other, feet under the korsi, covered in a huge blanket, therefore talking and eating together. That is the image I carry of a korsi and the warmth I feel when remembering it from my childhood. A family can still come together, sit together for several hours, eat together, and chat (asemoon-o-rismoon). That's what I hope for all of you on this weekend. If you don't have your family around you, get you friends together in an impromptu gathering. Celebrate the warmth of loving hearts next to one another. Celebrate the calm after the storm. Celebrate life. Share a blanket with your kids. Don't forget to smile a lot and exercise those facial muscles. Don't forget that you matter a lot to many. Be good y'all.

*Before heaters and central heating became prevalent in Iran, people used to use a korsi as the main heating device in Iranian homes. It is a low square wooden table with short legs, under which a pit of embers or an electric heater is placed, and over which a large hand-made blanket is spread, around which members of a family sit to keep warm in cold winter nights.

Inspired on A Wednesday (Part II)

While on the subject of inspired and inspiring paintings, I would like to make sure you have all heard the story of a Mazandarani woman by the name of Mokarrameh. Have you heard it? It is an incredible story, which my friend Alef Shin shared with me not too long ago.

A very young village girl was married to a much older man about 60 years ago. The young girl was deeply sad and unhappy, looking for an outlet to release the pain and abuse she had suffered in her world in Darikandeh Village of Babol. Later in her life she became attached to her pet cow. When she was too old to take her cow grazing, her children secretly sold the cow. Mokarrameh went through a depression after which she started painting. At first she was painting with raspberry juice. She then started finding paper and paint, painting more elaborate and sophisticated designs. She painted day and night, giving her paintings away. When she ran out of paper, she would paint on her walls and furniture and appliances. When asked why she painted, she responded that she had so much to say, but she was illiterate and couldn’t read or write, so she started to paint to express herself, her hopes, her fears, and her demons.

Mokarrameh started a revolution in her village, where slowly other village people started painting, too. She started having visitors from Tehran , mostly artists and fellow painters. She received national and international attention until in 2001 she was named Woman of The Year in Sweden. Mokarrameh died in 2005, leaving a legacy of love for painting and hope in her village and in every Iranian's heart. Each year artists from all over Iran gather in her village to remember her. On that day everybody paints in her memory. Take a look at this slideshow on BBC Persian about this year's event. You can read more about her here. Doesn't this story just inspire you?

Friday Thoughts

I bring another week to an end, a week full of mixed feelings, longings, good news and bad. As of this week, we will have a new "driver in training" in our household. My younger son passed his written test this week and a new round of anxiety-filled driving lessons will start with him! To his credit, he seems to be a lot more cautious than his older brother who in three months, has had a major accident and several fender benders! We shall see. Looks like I might be able to take a trip to go see my friends at the end of this month. A Decemer wedding is being planned in my family and I'm getting excited about that. This month I also hope to be able to see a blogger friend who might be coming to our parts. Work has been exciting, too, with a huge new project on the horizon, which will keep me engaged for about two years. I'm really enthusiastic about that.

This week I went to listen to a retired British diplomat in Berkeley's Graduate School of Public Policy. Berkeley's GSPP is very reputable and students attending this school will be delivered to jobs in politics and public service. Her name is Honorable Shirley Williams and a Liberal Democrat, she has served as Member of Parliament, a cabinet member, a member of the House of Lords, and most recently as an advisor to Gordon Brown on NPT. She shared her experiences in British politics as a woman, and her reflections on what is happening in the world these days. All of her talk was very interesting, but the most profound thing she said was that the world is at a turning point and the next eight years will be pivotal years in determining the shape and state of our world for this century.

I leave you wih a short clip of a sweet Mazandarani folk song. I hope you have a good weekend, full of relaxation, love, and hope. Go for walks in the nature, look at the leaves and for each beautifully shaped and colored leaf, think of a reason to thank God, if you believe. If you don't, just remember the universal order into which we are born, and marvel at its complexity. Be super good to those who matter most to you, hug them, celebrate them, and confess your love for them. Be good ya'll.