Happy Nowruz

It's the last hours of the old year. It's past midnight and I am tired of a day of house cleaning and cooking and running errands to prepare for the tomorrow's celebration.
This will be my 7th Nowruz away from Iran. But still, my heart beats faster when I repeat the word Nowruz in my head.
Nowruz.
A New Day
Renovation.
Rebirth
And the amazing rebirth of the nature, with the ushering of the colorful rejuvenating Spring.
The flowers, the baby leafs on the trees, the smell of the rain soaked soil, they all fill me with joy, and with the will to recharge my strenghth and face the new year and its challanges and its hardwork ahead of me.
My heart is happy and calm, and this time filled with love. Tomorrow is a new day. I salute the Spring, and wish all of you, a happy Nowruz.

The photo shows my fragrant Hyacinthe, along with the New Year sweets I have prepared myself for the haft-seen spread.

How to grow Sabzeh

It's time!:)

Nowruz is comming.

How to grow Sabzeh

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

Stary Stary Night: A tribute to Vincent Van Gogh

Ay Yarum Biya

Music: KIOSK "YAROM BIA"
Video clip: MOSTAFA HERAVI 2009", The Colour of Pomegranates (1968, Sergei Parajanov).
"In this videoclip Mostafa Heravi used and adjusted images of the beautiful film The Color of Pomegranates by Sergei Parajanov (Soviet Union, 1968). Mostafa was inspired by this film and the fact that the song " ey Yarom Bia " ( Ayy Yorum Biyo ) originally comes from the Tajikistan (Badakhshan) singer Muboraksho . Heravi's intention was to create an artistic videoclip that merges the content of the song and film."

More on the video:
Apparently the film, Color of Pomegranates, is a classic. It is a conceptual visual biography of the Armenian ashug and poet Sayat Nova. Read more about it here.

Remembering Esmaeil Fasih

Esmael Fasih has passed away yesterday in Iran. He was a part of my adolescent years. I read most of his books and saw America, Abadan, the old Tehran, the revolution, the war, ... through his eyes and through the characters in his stories. The characters that in many occasions were caught up in the brutality and unfairness of the world we live in today, but kept their faith in the serenity of the humanity, in kindness and courtesy. He was a kindred spirit. May his soul rest in peace.

-Find an interview with him here.

Statement by a group of Iranian bloggers about the Presidential elections and the subsequent events

1) We, a group of Iranian bloggers, strongly condemn the violent and repressive confrontation of Iranian government against Iranian people's legitimate and peaceful demonstrations and ask government officials to comply with Article 27 of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Constitution which emphasizes "Public gatherings and marches may be freely held, provided arms are not carried and that they are not detrimental to the fundamental principles of Islam."

2) We consider the violations in the presidential elections, and their sad consequences a big blow to the democratic principles of the Islamic Republic regime, and observing the mounting evidence of fraud presented by the candidates and others, we believe that election fraud is obvious and we ask for a new election.

3) Actions such as deporting foreign reporters, arresting local journalists, censorship of the news and misrepresenting the facts, cutting off the SMS network and filtering of the internet cannot silence the voices of Iranian people as no darkness and suffocation can go on forever. We invite the Iranian government to honest and friendly interaction with its people and we hope to witness the narrowing of the huge gap between people and the government.

A part of the large community of Iranian bloggers
June 26, 2009

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Dear reader,
If you are a blogger, please post this in your blog too. We might have differences in our views towards this crisis, but we can stay united on condemning the violence and valuing the lives of our people. Let's have our voices heard. (The complete bilingual version)
Thank you.