Friday, November 13, 2009

High in notes and words

This high.
And it's been a while that I am blog-shy. But my senses are so awakened tonight that i can't put my head to rest before i have expressed them. I went to Jalal Zolfonoon's concert of traditional Iranian music. To my non-educated ears the music of the old classical Iranian instruments sound are like conversation, like people speaking, like the burst of anger, like the rush of joy, the heavy sigh of sorrow, and yet the dim light of hope. This music speaks to my heart. And then add to this the beauty of the Persian poetry, and singing. The beautiful old words, the rhymes, the combination, the harmony of meanings and metaphors, the rhythm. The perfect dance of words with notes. This combination awakens all that feels inside me. I feel my flesh shivers with the vibration of the stings in Tar, my heart beats with the beats of Daf, my brain vessels widen and I can literally feel the rush of blood through my brain's vessels. I feel light and dizzy, floating in the air. "I was dead, and now i'm living; I was tears and now I'm laughter; Love touched me, and now I am infinite." My translation doesn't do justice to the beautifully harmonized and powerful words in these verses, but you can get an idea what I'm talking about. I doubt any narcotic can give a person this degree of out-of-the-earth pleasure; this vaz-tarab-akandeh-shodan; this high.

از نگاه یاران به یاران ندا می‌رسد
مرده بدم زنده شدم گریه بدم خنده شدم
ای دل شکایت‌ها مکن تا نشنود دلدار من
تا کی به تمنــــای وصـــــال تو یگـــــانه
بگرديد، بگرديد در اين خانه بگرديد
ای ساربان… ای کاروان…. لیلای من کجا می بری