Month: November 2012

Bulanga

Bulanga Translated Lyrics: Give me a throne and I will be a king Give a sword and I will be a soldier Give me wings and I will be a bird Put me under earth and I will be strong next to you The dead are not dead Maybe invisible, untouchable Come here spirits of…

Rumi on Karbala

كل يوم عاشوراء وكل ارض كربلاء Translation: Where are you, o martyrs of God? You calamity seekers of the desert of Karbala Where are you, o you the light-winged lovers Lighter than the birds of heaven, o celestial soveirgns Who have opened the gates of the heavenly spheres You who have released yourself from time and…

Shaykh Bahaii Amuli

    A translation of the lyrics (by M. Dilmaghani): — So long, in plead of unison with thee my eyelids are drowned in the deluge of tear. So long, in plead of unison with thee, Thou, the sole beloved! The arrow of thy sorrow pierced all lovers’ heart… For how long, how long shall…

Flamenco is Love and Pain

“Flamenco is love and pain,” he said. “Heartbreak. In art there has to be pain, that is clear – it is like life, whether you want it or not, it is there.” -Vicente Amigo in an interview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCoyXkD_n3I  Hafez says… مرا می*بینی و هر دم زیادت می*کنی دردم Marâ mibini o hardam, ziyâdat mikoni dardam…

Like water…

“Consider the creatures as pure and limpid water, within which shine the Attributes of the Almighty.  Their knowledge, their justice, their kindness all are stars of heaven reflected in flowing water.  Kings are a locus of manifestation for God’s Kingliness, the learned a locus for His Knowledge.  Generations have passed, and this is a new…

Hafez and Flamenco

Translation: Everyone who became an intimate of the heart, remained in my love’s sanctuary and the one who didn’t understand this remained in denail   Don’t fault my heart if it shed its veil. Thank God it didn’t stay veiled in its imagination   The Sufis redeemed all the clothes they pawned for wine Only…

More Aziz Mian…

There’s no one quite like ‘Aziz Some lines: Main sharaabi, yaaron mujhe muaaaf karo Main nashe mein hoon, yaaron mujhe muaaaf karo Sheeshe mein mai, mai mein nasha, main nashe mein hoon Ye apni masti hai, jisne machayi hai halchal Nasha sharaab mein hota to nachti botal   I’m a drunkard; forgive me, my friends….

Hafez and Estrella Morente

Hafez Ghazal 271 Don’t ask me how many complaints I have about her black hair For I became so undone because of her that its beyond telling   Let no one abandon heart and faith in hope of fidelity I did this.  Don’t ask me how sorry I am.   With one innocent drink that…

Camaron-I’m a captive of your eyes

If Ibn al-Farid wrote Flamenco lyrics, they’d sound like this    Translation: Whether the sun comes out or not It doesn’t matter to me If light illuminates me It’s when I see you   Torment and contempt is all the world can offer me I bear it glady ever since I met you   I’m…

Hafez-Show me your face and make me forget my existence

 Perhaps my favorite of Hafez’s ghazals at the moment… Hafez Ghazal 250 Show me your face and make me forget my existence    Tell the wind to take the harvest of the burned Since we gave up our heart and eyes to the storm of affliction    Say, “Come flood of sorrow, tear this house…