Cinemagic to be screening Baraka

Cinemagic has started their weekly screening again and their first film will be Baraka.

I saw Baraka over a year ago at the Grand Mosque of Kuwait…and I LOVED it. Here’s what I said then: [LINK TO POST ABOUT BARAKA]

Here’s more info on the screening from Cinemagic’s Facebook group:

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Date:	Thursday, January 29, 2009
Time:	7:00pm – 9:00pm
Location:	Cinemagic Rooftop Venue
Street:	Salem Al-Mubarak street
City/Town:	Salmiya, Kuwait

Phone:	……55109767
Email:	……mikodio@yahoo.com, nadia@cinemagics.com

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Cinemagic is delighted to invite you to our weekly screening program. Screenings take place at our new location in Old Salmiya, above LG Electronics.

This Week, we will be screening “BARAKA”.

An ancient Sufi word translated as a blessing or as the essence of life from which the evolutionary process unfolds.

The film is a work of art, which rates amongst the greatest achievements in the field. With the theme of man’s diversity and his impact upon the environment, the film is photographed on six continents in 24 countries including Tanzania, China, Brazil, Japan, Nepal, the U.S, Europe, and Saudi Arabia… It has no story and no dialogue, yet transcends geography and language to provide a sensual and spiritual experience that enables the viewer to look at the world in a totally different way purely through cinema along an ambient soundtrack by Michael Sterns who weaves the images together on a separate plain, producing a hypnotic pathway for the images to flow. Once you allow yourself to be pulled along by this current of sound, the images will link themselves together and the true revelations hidden within BARAKA will make themselves apparent. And what you may take from this film will solely be determined by the life experience you bring to it… may it be full of BARAKA.

For its part, Cinemagic Kuwait, is organizing these events as part of its efforts to contribute to the development of an internationally competitive Kuwaiti audio-visual production industry, partly by bringing the filmmakers and audiences together and by Increasing the public’s interest in – and appreciation for – the art of filmmaking.

As always, attendance is free of charge (but seating is limited). Snacks and refreshments will be served.

Dar Athar Al-Islamiyya Events

The remaining events at Dar Athar:

Next	28/04/2008	Risa Tokunaga: Desert Rock Inscriptions in Arabia & Egypt: Traces of Ancient Arab Travellers & Bedouin
	05/05/2008	Music- Sulaiman al-Dikan
	12/05/2008	Carl Ernst: “Sufism & the Aesthetics of Penmanship in Ya’qub ibn Hasan al-Shirazi’s Tukfat al-Muhibbin (1454
	13/05/2008	Judith Ernst: “Envisioning the Unseen: The Relationship between Vision and Sight in Art and Illustration”
	19/05/2008	Gocha Japaridze
	26/05/2008	Sitare Turan Bakir: “Traditional Tiles & Ceramics of … today”
	28/05/2008	Music ,Rashed Juma: Violin / Piano recital…

Day in Review

Already accomplished:

Case 1: Finally called friends and let them know I’m back in Kuwait.

Case 2: Finally started yoga…OUCH my back!!!

Case 3: Finally mom had her talk with me on WHEN THE HELL I plan to go back to work.

Case 4: Finally fixed my yahoo messenger

Case 5: Finally changed my template…again

Case 7: Booked 2 tickets for the new KLT show: www.theklt.com

Case 8: Read a great translation of Googoosh’s song: Mordab HERE on Abadany dar Holland’s Blog

Still need to do

Case: 1: Install that “Intro to Guitar” CD; and that “Guide to Persian Literature” CD

Case 2: Check out all those bookmarked sites that were blocked in Iran

Case 3: Finish reading “The Memory Keeper’s Daughter”

Case 4: Reply to 2 personal emails

Car Boot Sale this Saturday April 26

How come usually whenever I sigh, ‘hmmm I wish so and so would happen’ my wish is granted except when it comes to winning the lottery!!!! 😀 😀

So today I tell a friend, I haven’t been to a car boot sale/yard sale/street bazaar in a long time and just now I got an email from Operation Hope that there’s a yard sale this Saturday:

Huge selection of new and used items including furniture, clothing, books, toys, appliances, brick-a-brack, decorative items, linens, DVDs, and much more. Proceeds benefit Operation Hope. Be sure to get there early for best selection!

PS. I LOOOOOOVE CAR BOOT SALE
PPS. But I think I would love winning the lottery more 😀

Shoo, shoo be gone you pesky conscience!!

I need a new conscience; I’m fed up with the one I currently have; it’s way too loud, obnoxious and never ever shuts up…oh and the stupid thing never takes my side!!! Seriously, anyone knows where I can get a new ‘inner voice’ or better yet interested in exchanging yours with mine 😀

[Background to my plea]

So around 7:00 pm I logged onto Facebook and I see that there’s a lecture by DADI JANKI on “Secrets For True Wealth” at Salwa Al Sabah Hall at 8:00.

Me: Mom get dressed; we’re going go to a lecture on spirituality

Mom: Ahhhhh what’s the point? They don’t say anything I don’t already know. If you are in the mood to be lectured I can go on the mambar for ya. Here we go: Be good, be nice, be honest, let go of the past, be forgiving, be satisfied, be…

Me: Hahahaha very funny…come on… it starts in an hour.

[Blank look from my mom]

Me: Well, Dadi kinda looks like Lata Mangeshkar

So 30 minutes later we walk into the Hall, and who do I see sitting right on a couch as I enter—the only person I have ever treated not so nicely in my whole life and never apologized to. The same dude I was talking about in this post.

Me: Why, oh why God? Why do I have to see him here..and tonight of all nights.? Is this a sign?

Inner Voice: Yep, come on, this is your chance to be good again.

Me: I ain’t walking over to him…no way!!…and you have been seeing “The Kite Runner” way too many times!! WTH is with “you can be good again”?!!

Inner Voice: Fine, have it your way.

[A few minutes later]

Dadi: Honesty…I myself have never lied…why should I? What’s the point of lying? What are you afraid of?

Inner Voice: See? What are you afraid of?

Me: Shh…I’m trying to listen…hey hold on. I NEVER lied to him.

Inner Voice: Nope you didn’t lie; but you weren’t completely honest with him either.

Me: Huh? Look what I did wasn’t all that bad. Besides I don’t owe him any explanation for my action.

Dadi: Parents have to spend time with their kids to teach them morals

Inner Voice: See, your parents taught you better than this.

Me: Would you please Shhhhhhh. Seriously get off my back. Look this story goes back to my ‘dark’ days, and anything I did during those months cannot be held against me now.

Inner Voice: Do you think you ran into him here by accident? Why of all the nights, do you think you saw him tonight?

Me: Seriously, bug off….I’m trying to listen…ok fine…I’ll talk to him later.

Inner Voice: No you are not. At least be honest with your own inner voice. You never do the things you say you will do later.

Dadi: We have 3 enemies: carelessness, procrastination, and…

Me: ok, that’s it. I am out of here.

Inner Voice: Hehehehe…see I told ya so.

Here a video clip of Dadi…not the lecture she gave in Kuwait though

UPDATE: Thank you Grey for pointing out that I misspelled “conscience” 😀 😀 …opps

Mehrbano’s Musical Ensemble in Kuwait

Pic from ‘The Daily Star’

So in the 9 years I lived in Tehran how many times did I go a traditional Iranian concert—> Zilch

How many traditional music Cd did I buy?->Zilch

How many traditional singles did I listen to?-> Zilch

How many times did I switch channels and radio stations when a traditional music came on?-> Billions

How excited did I become when I found out that Dar AlـAthar AlـIslamiyah would be hosting a traditional Iranian concert?-> Jumped up so high doing the dance of joy that my head damaged the ceiling.

And what a night it was. A rejuvenating night for my soul for it was my soul not body that danced to the melody of the music. Now I know why people close their eyes, smile and wave their head side to side when listening to music…I was doing that!!!!!

The best part of the evening was the encore. Once their performance was over, the crowd drew them back on stage with their cheers. They played the Iranians version of a Kurdish song they had previously played earlier. Then when the clapping of the crowd died down, the vocalist sang: Ey Iran, ey marzeh por ghohar.

This was when my mom’s soul was revived. She started to sing along with them and the Iranians in the audience (which incidentally weren’t too many) clapped all through the song. I must confess that their version of “Ey Iran” was the best I have ever seen or heard.

Unfortunately, my phone camera didn’t have enough space to record, the quality is not that good anyway, and I was too busy enjoying the show to shoot anything anyway, but here’s a couple of videos:

VIDEO 1

VIDEO 2

VIDEO 3 (Kurdish Song)

More info from the Daily Star

Baraka: A Spritual Film

What a magical night it was last night! The soothing breeze didn’t let go of its embrace all night. With my mind clear, my heart light, my soul at ease it was the perfect night to watch “Baraka”.

Baraka is the first film of a “3 Evening Events” that ‘The Culture Sector Office’ of The Grand Mosque of Kuwait is hosting to promote inter cultural understanding.

And Baraka did exactly that. With no narration, no dialogue, no words, mere images choreographed with an enchanting music, it took your mind on a sensual journey in and out of people’s beliefs, rituals, and vices. Unlike other films where one passively takes in the storyline as it is dictated to them, with Baraka one has to connect to their personal soul, cultural knowledge, and openness to interpret the mélange of the audiovisual messages.

I’m still lost in my interpretation; still mesmerized by the beauty and the “Baraka” of our world, still at awe at our lost souls dwelling in coffin-like “homes”; still perplexed by the skull-museum of genocide victims, still at awe by the connectedness of world rituals-of our collective conscious; still trying to figure out the messages in the eyes of the snow monkey in the hot springs of Japan, in the eyes of the aborigine in Australia, , in eyes of the 3 kids of Yanomami Tribe, in the eyes of the girl from Iran, in the eyes of the monk…and in my eyes.

Still have 1 question in mind: Are we losing God’s Baraka?

More Info about the film:

Baraka was shot in the following countries: Alaska, Arizona, Australia, Brazil, California, Cambodia, Colorado, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Hawaii, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Kina, Kuwait, Mexico, Nepal, New Mexico, Peru, Poland, Thailand, Turkey & USA.

PLOT SYNOPSIS (taken from ALLMovie)

Named after a Sufi word that translates roughly as “breath of life” or “blessing,” Baraka is Ron Fricke‘s impressive follow-up to Godfrey Reggio‘s non-verbal documentary film Koyaanisqatsi. Fricke was cinematographer and collaborator on Reggio’s film, and for Baraka he struck out on his own to polish and expand the photographic techniques used on Koyaanisqatsi. The result is a tour-de-force in 70mm: a cinematic “guided meditation” (Fricke’s own description) shot in 24 countries on six continents over a 14-month period that unites religious ritual, the phenomena of nature, and man’s own destructive powers into a web of moving images. Fricke’s camera ranges, in meditative slow motion or bewildering time-lapse, over the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, the Ryoan-Ji temple in Kyoto, Lake Natron in Tanzania, burning oil fields in Kuwait, the smoldering precipice of an active volcano, a busy subway terminal, tribal celebrations of the Masai in Kenya, chanting monks in the Dip Tse Chok Ling monastery…and on and on, through locales across the globe. To execute the film’s time-lapse sequences, Fricke had a special camera built that combined time-lapse photography with perfectly controlled movements of the camera. In one evening sequence a desert sky turns black, and the stars roll by, as the camera moves slowly forward under the trees. The feeling is like that of viewing the universe through a powerful telescope: that we are indeed on a tiny orb hurtling through a star-filled void. The film is complemented by the hybrid world-music of Michael Stearns.

Images from the film (taken from Spirit of Baraka)

Video Clips from the film (From YouTube)

1. The Kecak Dance of Bali Indonesia

2. A snow monkey (at peace)

3. Modern life (maybe why we aren’t at peace)

"The Little Prince" comes to Kuwait

Whenever it rains, a sincere smile always finds its way on my face. Today it rained…and so I smiled. Off I went highway cruising to appreciate the magical atmosphere. Uncertain clouds, sudden strikes of lighting, fresh smell of sea breeze, Googoosh soothing lyrics, ….then Ahmed Shamloo’s voice peeped into my head. Damn he had a sexy voice!! I am talking about the narration he did of the translation of “The Little Prince”. I gotta go home and see if I can download the book on tape.

Home I come to start googling, I pick up the Arab Times first when I see this:

WTF!!! *Rubs, rubs, and rubs eyes to make sure have seen the headline correctly*

“The Little Prince” comes to Kuwait

The world premier-performance of the new musical “The Little Prince” will be presented in Kuwait on Thursday April 19, Friday April 20, and Saturday April 21 in The Shakespeare Theater at The British School of Kuwait.

The famous children’s book “The Little Prince” by Antoine de St Exupery has been specially adapted for the stage by Alison Shan Price, who is also the director of the show. The music has been composed by the internationally renowned composer and pianist Harriet Petherick Bushman, who has also written the lyrics.

The cast includes adults from KAST, members of British School of Dance. Performances, in support of Bayt Abdullah Children’s Hospice, are on Thursday 19 at 3 pm, Friday 20 at 3 pm and 6 pm and Saturday 21 at 6 pm.

For further information please contact Gregan Davis on 564-3409 or email dgregan@hotmail.com

So it’s true, God does grant you things you wish for on rainy days 😉

The translation of “The Little Prince” in other languages: LINK