Posts Tagged song

On Rumi’s birthday

1 October 2009
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I am addicted to the translations of Rumi that appear on the Sunlight group’s website. My evening became quite delightful when I found out the new post on Rumi’s birthday. I am therefore posting all these translations here, thanks to Sunlight.
Mawlana Jalal-ad-Din Muhammad Rumi was born on September 30, 1207
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In memory of the birth of Maulaana Jalalludin Balkhi, known as Rumi, Sunlight has published the first verses from his Mathnawi, the story of The Song of the Reed, in an interpretive version by Jonathan Star, in translation by Dr. Franklin Lewis, and in translation by Dr.
Ibrahim Gamard, accompanied by a Persian transliteration.
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The Song of the Reed
Listen to the song of the reed,
How it wails with the pain of separation:
“Ever since I was taken from my reed bed
My woeful song has caused men and women to weep. (more…)

Shamshad Begum

24 September 2009
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Dr. Visho Sharma

In keeping with the promise made by me while writing the mail on Shri Dushyant Kumar, I am here again with a piece of information on the legendary singer Shrimati Shamshad Begum. It was decades ago that the gifted crooner decided to call it a day and lead a private life away from the glitter of the film world. She has seldom been heard of as a person ever since, though her songs continue to be an important part of the Hindi film music lexicon even today. It was, however, a big (and a very pleasant one, too) surprise to find a very well documented article on the media shy artiste in the September issue of the Hindi magazine Ahaa! Zindagi.

The writer of the rare article Shri Rajeev Shrivastav met the affable singer in her Mumbai home and recorded for the posterity many hitherto unknown facets of the life of one of our most admired, and yet least covered, female playback singers. It is a matter of great satisfaction that she was conferred Padma Bhusahn. This gesture, though too late (more…)

The Song of the Reed – on Rumi’s birth anniversary

29 September 2007
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Listen to the song of the reed,
How it wails with the pain of separation:

“Ever since I was taken from my reed bed
My woeful song has caused men and women to weep.
I seek out those whose hearts are torn by separation
For only they understand the pain of this longing.
Whoever is taken away from his homeland
Yearns for the day he will return.
In every gathering, among those who are happy or sad,
I cry with the same lament.
Everyone hears according to his own understanding,
None has searched for the secrets within me.
My secret is found in my lament
But an eye or ear without light cannot know it..”

The sound of the reed comes from fire, not wind
What use is one’s life without this fire?
It is the fire of love that brings music to the reed.
It is the ferment of love that gives taste to the wine.
The song of the reed soothes the pain of lost love.
Its melody sweeps the veils from the heart.
Can there be a poison so bitter or a sugar so sweet
As the song of the reed?
To hear the song of the reed
everything you have ever known must be left behind.

– Version by Jonathan Star
“Rumi – In the Arms of the Beloved”
Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, New York 1997

Courtesy Sunlight where more versions can be found.