Showing posts sorted by relevance for query neda. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query neda. Sort by date Show all posts

Thursday, July 30, 2009

"Neda is not dead. This government is dead!": A Day of Mourning in Iran & Around the World


Behesht-e Zahra / Tehran today - July 30, 2009 / Zahra Rhanvard (Mousavi's Wife) #iranelection #neda #sohrab

The Call - ندا -Neda
The Call - ندا -Neda

40 days after Neda Agha Soltan's murder, thousands of Iranians have gathered at the graves of those killed by Ahmadinejad's government. Today, at least 3,000 mourners pushed past riot squads to lay flowers on Neda's grave. A chant heard at Behesht-e Zahra cemetery today declared, "Neda is not dead. This government is dead." The Los Angeles Times reports that the security forces, after an initial flurry of arrests in and around Behest Zahra, retreated from the growing crowd. Noted Iranian filmmakers Jafar Panahi, Mahnaz Mohammadi, and Rokhsare Ghaem Maghami were briefly arrested then released.

Enduring America reports:

Etemade Melli has an account of Mehdi Karroubi’s appearance at the memorial, including the resistance of mourners when security forces accosted him, and of his speech. The English translation, courtesy of Mani:

Karroubi walked towards Neda Agha Soltan’s resting place, surrounded by a large group of people. The special forces attacked him and tried to disperse and separate the people from “the reform sheikh” [Karroubi] by beating them with clubs and pepper spray. The police encountered stiff resistance from the people, and Karroubi held his ground and stated strongly that he is staying in this place.

Karroubi sat beside Neda Agha Soltan’s grave and accompanied the people by reading the Fateheh [the prayer for the dead] for Neda. The Prayer was read with protest intonations. Afterwards Hojjatoleslam Hadi Ghaffari joined Karroubi and spoke to the people for a few minutes. During Karroubi’s speech, the security forces had a conflict with the people and arrested some individuals. These forces were confronted with slogans like “let him go, let him go” and flowers by the people [police presumably released those arrested].

Mehdi Karroubi, after spending an hour with the people, moved to the exit and his vehicle, accompanied by a large number of people chanting




From the Los Angeles Times: "Thousands of protesters continue to mourn Neda Agha-Soltan and other protester deaths in Iran. Amateur video taken near Behesht Zahra cemetery shows an endless sea of mourners chanting Mir-Hossein Mousavi's name, waving green pieces of fabric, and holding up victory signs."








Today in Tehran - July 30, 2009 - On the Metro to Behesht-e Zahra Cemetery
From the Los Angeles Times: "Protesters have been making use of the metro system, which runs next to Behesht Zahra. Here, protesters riding the metro chant "Death to Russia" and "Death to China" to the tune used to support the Esteghlal soccer club in Tehran."

What's next in Iran? Khamenei will officially endores Ahmadinejad as President on August 3rd, the inauguration at Majlis will be held on August 5th. Huge protests are expected

Much more at:
IRAN: Crowd of thousands overwhelms security forces
the latest from iran 30 julymemorial-day

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Neda Agha Soltan's Family Forced From Their Home By Ahmadinejad's Government

Update: Video Interview With Dr. Arash Hejazi Who Aided Neda As She Died


The home of Neda Agha Soltan in Tehran, Iran

Below is an article from The Guardian giving details on how Ahmadinejad's Government has forced Neda Agha Soltan's family from their home in Tehran. I am posting the article in full because of the heavy censorship in place in Iran. The world must bear witness to the injustice taking place now:

Neda Soltan's family forced out of home' by Iranian authorities
Parents of young woman shot dead near protests are banned from mourning and funeral is cancelled, neighbours say

A correspondent in Tehran
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 24 June 2009 18.00 BST

The Iranian authorities have ordered the family of Neda Agha Soltan out of their Tehran home after shocking images of her death were circulated around the world.

Neighbours said that her family no longer lives in the four-floor apartment building on Meshkini Street, in eastern Tehran, having been forced to move since she was killed. The police did not hand the body back to her family, her funeral was cancelled, she was buried without letting her family know and the government banned mourning ceremonies at mosques, the neighbours said.

"We just know that they [the family] were forced to leave their flat," a neighbour said. The Guardian was unable to contact the family directly to confirm if they had been forced to leave.

The government is also accusing protesters of killing Soltan, describing her as a martyr of the Basij militia. Javan, a pro-government newspaper, has gone so far as to blame the recently expelled BBC correspondent, Jon Leyne, of hiring "thugs" to shoot her so he could make a documentary film.

Soltan was shot dead on Saturday evening near the scene of clashes between pro-government militias and demonstrators, turning her into a symbol of the Iranian protest movement. Barack Obama spoke of the "searing image" of Soltan's dying moments at his press conference yesterday.

Amid scenes of grief in the Soltan household with her father and mother screaming, neighbours not only from their building but from others in the area streamed out to protest at her death. But the police moved in quickly to quell any public displays of grief. They arrived as soon as they found out that a friend of Soltan had come to the family flat.

In accordance with Persian tradition, the family had put up a mourning announcement and attached a black banner to the building.

But the police took them down, refusing to allow the family to show any signs of mourning. The next day they were ordered to move out. Since then, neighbours have received suspicious calls warning them not to discuss her death with anyone and not to make any protest.

A tearful middle-aged woman who was an immediate neighbour said her family had not slept for days because of the oppressive presence of the Basij militia, out in force in the area harassing people since Soltan's death.

The area in front of Soltan's house was empty today. There was no sign of black cloths, banners or mourning. Secret police patrolled the street.

"We are trembling," one neighbour said. "We are still afraid. We haven't had a peaceful time in the last days, let alone her family. Nobody was allowed to console her family, they were alone, they were under arrest and their daughter was just killed. I can't imagine how painful it was for them. Her friends came to console her family but the police didn't let them in and forced them to disperse and arrested some of them. Neda's family were not even given a quite moment to grieve."

Another man said many would have turned up to show their sympathy had it not been for the police.

"In Iran, when someone dies, neighbours visit the family and will not let them stay alone for weeks but Neda's family was forced to be alone, otherwise the whole of Iran would gather here," he said. "The government is terrible, they are even accusing pro-Mousavi people of killing Neda and have just written in their websites that Neda is a Basiji (government militia) martyr. That's ridiculous – if that's true why don't they let her family hold any funeral or ceremonies? Since the election, you are not able to trust one word from the government." A shopkeeper said he had often met Soltan, who used to come to his store.

"She was a kind, innocent girl. She treated me well and I appreciated her behaviour. I was surprised when I found out that she was killed by the riot police. I knew she was a student as she mentioned that she was going to university. She always had a nice peaceful smile and now she has been sacrificed for the government's vote-rigging in the presidential election."


The Call - ندا -Neda

Much more at:

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Iranian Singer Maral's Haunting Song for Neda


Neda
Sung by Iranian Singer Maral

As the protests simmer and rage in Tehran, the arts in Iran are exploding and seeking solidarity with the outside world. The response to my paintings concerning the recent events in Iran has been strong and dialogues have begun to emerge. The website Bar-Ex picked up my interview on my paintings for Iran and I was privileged to hear a broad array of new important music from Behind the Iran curtain.

I am reminded of the band "The Plastic People" and the works of playwright Václav Havel in Czechoslovakia and their artistic efforts to break down their Iron Curtain. In Iran today we have the singer Maral who has created a haunting and powerful song for the memory of Neda, who was murdered last month by the Basij on the streets of Tehran. Fittingly, Maral also lends vocals to the band,"The Plastic Wave."

In Maral's lyric "Neda screams through her eyes of her pain" as Maral "cries of her own pain through Neda's name."
The word Neda means "the call" in farsi or at times evokes the idea of "the voice."

I wrote Maral not long ago and expressed to her my dream that one day soon she may sing her song for Neda beneath my painting The Call - ندا -Neda in a newly free Iran.

The Call - ندا -Neda
The Call - ندا -Neda
Gregg Chadwick
36"x48" oil on linen 2009
Courtesy- Look Gallery, Los Angeles

Much more at:
Bar=Ex - New Iranian Music

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Video Interview With Dr. Arash Hejazi Who Aided Neda Agha Soltan As She Died



Below I have posted the full text from the BBC, again to help circumvent the massive censorship and lies coming from the government in Iran:


Thursday, 25 June 2009 19:13 UK

Iran doctor tells of Neda's death

"We heard a gunshot. Neda was standing a metre away from me... I saw blood gushing out of her chest"

The doctor who tried to save an Iranian protester as she bled to death on a street in Tehran has told the BBC of her final moments.
Dr Arash Hejazi, who is studying at a university in the south of England, said he ran to Neda Agha-Soltan's aid after seeing she had been shot in the chest.
Despite his attempts to stop the bleeding she died in less than a minute, he said.
Dr Hejazi says he posted the video of Ms Soltan's death on the internet and images of her have become a rallying point for Iranian opposition supporters around the world.
He also told how passers-by then seized an armed Basij militia volunteer who appeared to admit shooting Ms Soltan.
Dr Hejazi said he had not slept for three nights following the incident, but he wanted to speak out so that her death was not in vain.
He doubted that he would be able to return to Iran after talking openly about Ms Soltan's killing.

Neda Agha-Soltan was shot in the chest
"I was there with some friends because we had heard that there were some protests and we decided to go and take a look," he said.
"Anti-riot police were coming by motorcycles towards the crowd."
Dr Hejazi said he saw Ms Soltan, who he did not know, with an older man who he thought was her father but later on learned was her music teacher.
"Suddenly everything turned crazy. The police threw teargas and the motorcycles started rushing towards the crowd. We ran to an intersection and people were just standing. They didn't know what to do.
"We heard a gunshot. Neda was standing one metre away from me. I turned back and I saw blood gushing out of Neda's chest.
"She was in a shocked situation, just looking at her chest. The she lost her control.
"We ran to her and lay her on the ground. I saw the bullet wound just below the neck with blood gushing out.
"I have never seen such a thing because the bullet, it seemed to have blasted inside her chest, and later on, blood exiting from her mouth and nose.

Ms Soltan has become a rallying point for protesters around the world
"I had the impression that it had hit the lung as well. Her blood was draining out of her body and I was just putting pressure on the wound to try to stop the bleeding, which wasn't successful unfortunately, and she died in less than one minute."
Dr Hejazi said he first thought the gunshot had come from a rooftop.
But later he saw protesters grab an armed man on a motorcycle.
"People shouted 'we got him, we got him'. They disarmed him and took out his identity card which showed he was a Basij member. People were furious and he was shouting, 'I didn't want to kill her'.
"People didn't know what do to do with him so they let him go. But they took his identity card. There are people there who know who he is. Some people were also taking photos of him."

Dr Hejazi said he knew he was putting himself in jeopardy by talking about what happened.
"It was a tough decision to make to come out and talk about it but she died for a cause. She was fighting for basic rights... I don't want her blood to have been shed in vain."
He added: "She died on the streets to say something."
Dr Hejazi said he did not believe he could now return to Iran.
"They are going to denounce what I am saying. They are going to put so many things on me. I have never been in politics. I am jeopardising my situation because of the innocent look in her (Neda's) eyes.


The Call - ندا -Neda

Much more at:
Andrew Sullivan at theAtlantic

Monday, June 22, 2009

Paulo Coelho and Neda

Update: The Full Story of Neda's Doctor and Paulo Coelho
Update: Video Interview With Dr. Arash Hejazi Who Aided Neda As She Died


The Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho, well known for his fable "The Alchemist", writes on his blog about the doctor who cared for Neda as she died in Tehran on Saturday:

"My best friend in Iran, a doctor who showed me its beautiful culture when I visited Teheran in 2000, who fought a war in the name of the Islamic Republic (against Iraq), who took care of wounded soldiers in the frontline, who always stood by real human values, is seen here trying to resuscitate Neda - hit in her heart."
-Paulo Coelho



Neda Agha Soltan

Coelho often writes of angels. Neda is being called "an angel of freedom." Below is a passage on angels from Paulo Coelho's site:

When angels talk
Nobody is courageous all the time. The unknown is a constant challenge, and being afraid is part of the journey.

What to do? Talk to yourself. Talk alone. Talk to yourself even if others think you have gone crazy. As we talk, an inner force gives us the security to overcome the obstacles that need to be surmounted. We learn lessons from the defeats that we are bound to suffer. And we prepare ourselves for the many victories that will be part of our life.

And just between you and me, those who have this habit (and I’m one of them) know that they never talk alone: the guardian angel is there, listening and helping us to reflect. What follows are some stories about angels.


And a story from Coelho:

Conversation in heaven

Abd Mubarak was on his way to Mecca when one night he dreamed that he was in heaven and heard two angels having a conversation.

"How many pilgrims came to the holy city this year?" one of them asked.

"Six hundred thousand", answered the other.

"And how many of them had their pilgrimage accepted?"

"None of them. However, in Baghdad there is a shoemaker called Ali Mufiq who did not make the pilgrimage, but did have his pilgrimage accepted, and his graces benefited the 600,000 pilgrims".

When he woke up, Abd Mubarak went to Mufiq’s shoe shop and told him his dream.

"At great cost and much sacrifice, I finally managed to get 350 coins together", the shoemaker said in tears. "But then, when I was ready to go to Mecca I discovered that my neighbors were hungry, so I distributed the money among them and gave up my pilgrimage".



Paulo Coelho's blog at:
Paulo Coelho's Site

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

The Full Story on Neda's Doctor and Paulo Coelho

Update: Video Interview With Dr. Arash Hejazi Who Aided Neda As She Died

Below is the story of the writer Paulo Coelho's dear friend who tends to Neda Agha Soltan's last moments. I post this in full from Paulo's site to help refute the lies coming from the hardliners in Iran. Please read for yourself this narrative told through emails between Paulo and the doctor:

The Doctor
Published by Paulo Coelho
on June 24, 2009


Iran 2000, Brazilian Writer Paulo Coelho with Iranian Doctor and Translator Arash Hejazi

(Late Sunday I watch Neda’s video. I suspect that I recognize Arash Hejazi, but I prefer not to believe in what I am seeing. I send him and email)

Sunday 21 23:011

Dear Arash
I need to know where you stand, if things that I am seeing/reading are true. Then I can myself take a position - depending on your advice, of course.
love
Paulo

Date: Mon, 22 Jun 2009 02:05:05 -04:00
Subject: your country

Dearest Paulo,
I am now in Tehran. The video of Neda’s murder was taken by my friend, and you can recognize me in the video. I was the doctor who tried to save her and failed. She died in my arms. I am writing with tears in my eyes. Please don’t mention my name. I’ll contact you with more details soon.
Love
Arash


The doctor with Neda

(At this point, I decide to put the video in my blog)
(For the rest of the day, I try to contact him. At one point, someone answers his phone as a “CNN journalist”. I start to become worried)

Monday 22 17:46
Dear Arash
so far, no news from you. After I published the video in my blog, it seems that it spread worldwide, including posts in NY Times, Guardian, National Review, etc.
Therefore, my main concern now is about you. You NEED to answer this email, saying that you are all right
and
the name of the person where we spend the New Year’s Eve in 2001 together, just to be sure that it is you really who is answering this email. I don’t buy this CNN person answering your mobile.
If you don’t do that, I may leak your name to the press, in order to protect you - visibility is the only protection at this point. I know this because I am a former prisoner of conscience.
If you do that, unless instructed otherwise by you, I will stop the pressure for the moment. My main concern now is you and your family.
love
Paulo
P.S. - there are several trusted friends in blind copy here.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009 1:35 AM

Dearest Paulo
I am alright for now. I am not staying at home. I don’t know about CNN. The friend’s name was Frederick.
Love
Arash

Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 1:37 AM

Dearest Paulo,
Trying to leave the country tomorrow morning. If I don’t arrive in London at 2 pm., something has happened to me. Till then, wait.
My wife and my son are in (edited). Their phone (edited) Her email (edited)
Please wait till tomorrow. If something happens to me, please take care of (name of wife) and (name of son), they are there, alone, and have no one else in the world.
Much love, it was an honor having you as a friend.
Arash

(At this point, a Brazilian journalist, Luis Antonio Ryff, who traveled to Iran to cover my visit, recognizes Arash in the video, and writes me to double-check. I confirm, but I ask him to keep his name secret until today. Ryff agrees – even knowing that this would be a major scoop for him. I would like to thank him here, for his dignity)

Wednesday 24
1:55 PM

Arash landed in London


The Call - ندا -Neda
Much more at:
Paulo Coelho's Blog

Shirin Ebadi, Prominent Iranian Human Rights Lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize Winner, is prepared to represent Neda's Family

Update: Video Interview With Dr. Arash Hejazi Who Aided Neda As She Died


Ebadi said that Iran's constitution allows people to protest peacefully without permission [EPA]

Iran's Neda killing 'was illegal'
from Al Jazeera
(Again I have copied the entire article due to the incredible constraints and censorship put on the people of Iran by Ahmadinejad's government)

Shirin Ebadi, a prominent Iranian human rights lawyer and Nobel peace prize winner, has told Al Jazeera that she is prepared to represent the family of a young woman shot dead during a protest in Tehran.

The woman, named as Neda Agha Soltan on social-networking websites, has become a symbol for people protesting against the disputed re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president.

Ebadi told Al Jazeera on Wednesday: "I am personally prepared to legally represent her family against the people who ordered the shooting and those who fired at her.

"This act was against the law.

"Neda had not participated in the rally but, even if she had, hey did not have the right to shoot her."

At least 19 people have been killed after protests over the June 12 presidential election spilled over into violence, according to Iranian state media.

'Rights violations'

Ebadi, who has represented political prisoners and victims of human rights violations for more than 20 years, said that the actions of the police and pro-government militias violated the human rights convention.

"People were peacefully rallying in the streets to show their opposition to the outcome of the election but, as we saw, they were shot at and many were killed. Many others were arrested," she said.

"The prisoners who were arrested after the election must be immediately freed.

"According to the constitution of the Islamic Republic, peaceful rallying and demonstrations are allowed and do not need permission from any authorities."


Hundreds of people were reported to have been arrested after police used tear gas, water cannon and batons to disperse thousands of protesters gathering in central Tehran.

It was after this that reports about Neda began to emerge through the internet.

A video recorded on a mobile phone showed what appeared to be people attempting to save her life after she was apparently hit by sniper's bullet.

Ebadi said that the results of the election, which the two reformist candidates have complained was rigged, should be annulled.

"The people of Iran do not accept the outcome of the election, therefore ... a new election under the supervision of international institutions, including the United Nations [is needed]," she said.


The Guardian Council, Iran's highest legislative body, has said that there were some irregularities during the vote, but has ruled out a re-run of the election as demanded by the opposition candidates.


The Call - ندا -Neda

Friday, June 26, 2009

An Open Note to Arash Hejazi



Arash Hejazi's website has been dumped by the authorities in Iran, but I caught a screenshot of it as I wrote a comment to Dr. Hejazi. My words do not capture the true heroism of Dr. Hejazi and the citizens of Iran, but in the spirit of witness I post them here after I reprint Arash Hejazi's moving words:

Neda's Death. Eyewitness
As you might have read on Paulo Coelho's blog, I was the doctor who tried to save Neda. I am the one who sent the video of her cruel death for the world to see. I am the person in the video who tries to control her bleeding ... in vain. I was the one who looked into her eyes, right before they lost their light forever. A famous Iranian writer called Sadeq Hedayet wrote, "There are sores which slowly erode the mind in solitude like a kind of canker."

I have to live with this sore. But I am going to tell the story soon.


I wrote a comment:

Dear Dr. Hejazi,
I am but a painter and can not attempt to feel your pain or anger. But I do want you to know that the world is with you. My best friend, Phil Cousineau, is a writer like you and Paulo Coelho. And what makes the world smaller is that Phil's wife Jo Beaton did the publicity for Paulo's marvelous "The Alchemist" when it was first published in the USA. And my dear friend, Yareli Arizmendi did the first audio book version in the US as well. She was in the brilliant Mexican film "Like Water for Chocolate" where she met her husband Sergio Arau.
We are all "warriors of light" to use Paulo's term and we all defy the boundaries of clan or nationality. We feel the pain of you and your country and we are with you.
Gregg Chadwick

More at: The Full Story of Neda's Doctor and Paulo Coelho
Update: Video Interview With Dr. Arash Hejazi Who Aided Neda As She Died

The Call - ندا -Neda
Much more at:
Paulo Coelho's Blog

Sunday, August 02, 2009

Neda's Mother Mourning at Her Grave


July 31, 2009
Behest Zahra, Tehran 7pm
Iran - Neda's mother mourning on her beloved daughter's grave مادر ندا در سوگ دختر بی گناهش

The Call - ندا -Neda
The Call - ندا -Neda

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Airborne Toxic Event's Song for Neda


Airborne Toxic Event's Song for Neda


The Call - ندا -Neda, originally uploaded by greggchadwick.


Gregg Chadwick
The Call - ندا -Neda
36"x48" oil on linen 2009

Wednesday, June 02, 2010

HBO Documentary "For Neda" Streaming Online (Farsi)




The Call - ندا -Neda, originally uploaded by greggchadwick.


Gregg Chadwick
The Call - ندا -Neda
36"x48" oil on linen 2009

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Poems for the People of Iran by Simin Behbahani, Iran's National Poet


Simin Behbahani, Iran's national poet


A Poem For Neda Soltan
by Simin Behbahani, Iran's national poet


from NPR Simin Behbahani, Iran's national poet, spoke with NPR's Davar Iran Ardalan from Tehran on Friday June 26th. She recites two poems inspired by the protests -- one dedicated to the people of Iran and the other dedicated to Neda Agha-Soltan, the young woman mourned around the world because her death during last Saturday's protests was viewed by millions on the Web and TV.


A Poem for the People of Iran





The Call - ندا -Neda

Much more at:
Andrew Sullivan at theAtlantic

Wednesday, June 02, 2010

HBO Documentary "For Neda" Streaming Online (English)




The Call - ندا -Neda, originally uploaded by greggchadwick.


Gregg Chadwick
The Call - ندا -Neda
36"x48" oil on linen 2009

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

The Call - ندا -Neda


The Call - ندا -Neda, originally uploaded by greggchadwick.


Gregg Chadwick
The Call - ندا -Neda
36"x48" oil on linen 2009

Sunday, April 01, 2012

Image and Music


by Gregg Chadwick


In response to Spring for Music's Round Two query in the 2012 Great Blogger

Challenge:

We live in an aggressively visual age; images dominate the popular culture. 
But which art form has the most to say about contemporary culture, and why?




Tokyo Streets
photo by Gregg Chadwick 




The dense visual language of the Tokyo cityscape immediately came to mind when I considered Spring for Music's second query in the 2012 Great Blogger Challenge.
The visual cacophony of signs and images that line the streets of the city's shopping districts provide a visual metaphor for the images that threaten to overload us each day as we turn on our computers and televisions. But do images themselves say more than other art forms about contemporary culture? The uncertainty and ambiguity often found in our 21st century lives calls for a rich cultural exploration that images may only hint at.   

When presented with an image, most people begin a process, which is often involuntary, of decoding. The mystery of the moment is often disregarded as we search for meaning as we engage in a kind of mental translation. Who or what is depicted? Should the viewer smile or cry? Would I like to possess this thing, person, moment? 

Perhaps if we look through a few photographs we can get a sense of  the problem at hand. The photo below is often confusing to individual viewers. What is happening here? Is it a sort of photoshopped collage? Without text or a caption it is difficult to pull meaning from the image.  




Context helps in the understanding of the image. I took the photo at the Ghibli Museum outside Tokyo, where the life and work of the amazing Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki is celebrated. 

It is true that we are bombarded daily by imagery. What is often missed is that this phenomenon is nothing new. For example, Lucas Cranach's copy of Hieronymous Bosch's Altarpiece with the Last Judgement provides a cornucopia of beatific and horrific imagery all at once.



Lucas Cranach
Altarpiece with the Last Judgement 
(copy of Hieronymus Bosch's triptych)

  c.1524
Gemäldegalerie, Berlin 
photo by Gregg Chadwick


A closer look at a detail of Cranach's painting presents symbolic messages that simultaneously dazzle the eye and imply a sonic landscape for the ear.





Lucas Cranach
Altarpiece with the Last Judgement (detail) 
(copy of Hieronymus Bosch's triptych)

  c.1524
Gemäldegalerie, Berlin 
photo by Gregg Chadwick



While images tend to be viewed individually or with a small group, the experience of music may be more communal. Composing is often a solitary process, but performance usually involves a give and take between musician and audience.  






Image and Music in Venice, Italy
photo by Gregg Chadwick



In this communal aspect, music has a lot to say about contemporary culture. 

Music has the ability to move us to a communal expression of hope in the face of trouble and, for at least a moment, a rush of joy. This musical rush is akin to the shared glory that spectators feel as their team triumphs on the sporting field. The philosophers Hubert Dreyfus, from UC Berkeley, and Sean Kelly, from Harvard, speak of this Homeric feeling of wonder and gratitude in their marvelous book, All Things Shining:
'There are moments in sport - either in the playing of them or in the witnessing of them - during which something so overpowering happens that it wells up before you as a palpable presence and carries you along as on a powerful wave. At that moment there is no question of ironic distance from the event. That is the moment when the sacred shines."
Like the fans at a Giants football game, the crowd at a concert also gets swept up in a joyous, sacred expression of shared hopes and dreams that hard times cannot defeat.
U2 has used their music to reflect upon contemporary global events. Drawing on the troubles in Northern Ireland, they addressed the contemporary issues in Iran. Audiences responded.


U2 performing Sunday Bloody Sunday during their 360 degrees world tour at the Rose Bowl on October 25th, 2009.

As the song Sunday Bloody Sunday opens, U2 scrolls the lyrics from the Rumi poem Azadi. The word Azadi itself simply means Freedom. U2 supported Artists 4 Freedom by using the Rumi poem which provides the lyrics to Dj Spooky and Sussan Deyhim's track, Azadi (The New Complexity). U2's multimedia screens mash together the lyrics to Azadi along with photos of the protestors in Iran and artworks by Shirin Neshat. I too was inspired and painted Neda the day after her murder in Iran.


The Call - ندا -Neda

Gregg Chadwick
The Call - ندا -Neda
36"x48" oil on linen 2009

Bruce Springsteen's most recent album Wrecking Ball is a scathing indictment of the current state of American society. This album weaves together history, politics, and contemporary societal issues to create a powerful musical expression that challenges and then ultimately unites and ignites his audience. The powerful songs on this album have inspired me in relation to image and meaning.




Gregg Chadwick
Call and Echo
24"x18" oil on linen 2011 


Living Colour's version of Springsteen's American Skin (41 Shots) is a heartbreaking song that honors the senseless death of Amadou Diallo at the hands of the NYPD as he reached for his wallet in an attempt to placate a group of undercover cop's demands. More than once, because of this event, I have told my son, "If an officer stops you - Promise me, you always be polite. And that you'll never. never run away. Promise that you'll always keep your hands in sight."


The death of Trayvon Martin has obviously weighed on Bruce Springsteen and his audiences this past week in Tampa, Boston, and Philadelphia. During three consecutive shows, the band played American Skin (41 Shots) and Springsteen released the professionally shot video on his website along with the lyrics to the song. On Wednesday night in Philadelphia, Springsteen dedicated the song with the words, "This is for Trayvon."

Clearly, music creates a dynamic interaction with a live audience that speaks to and of contemporary culture in powerful and life affirming ways.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Ghoba Mosque: Protest Today In Iran - June 28, 2009


تجمع مردم معترض به نتایج انتخابات-هفتم تیر ماه 88 رو به روی مسجد قبا
واقع در محدوده خیابان شریعتی

Video report seems to confirm reports that thousands of protesters gathered today in & around Ghoba mosque. #iranelection #gr88 #neda


The Call - ندا -Neda

Monday, July 06, 2009

U2 Scrolls Rumi Poem During Barcelona Concert



Update:
U2 Now Scrolls Rumi Poem Azadi in Solidarity With Artists 4 Freedom


The Irish rock band U2, during a concert for their new album No Line on the Horizon, bathed the concert hall in Barcelona in a rich green and scrolled what appeared to be Rumi's The Song of the Reed Flute or alternately titled in a translation by Philip Dunn, Manuela Dunn Mascetti and R.A. Nicholson - On Separation and Words. Video of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" with Rumi's poem can be seen at: U2 and Rumi

Krista Tippett writes that "In the Song of the Reed, Rumi reflects on the human spirit through the metaphor of the ancient reed flute or ney that is popular in Middle Eastern music. This poem opened the Masnavi, Rumi's compendium of rhyming couplets that explored issues of Sufi theology and the spiritual journey."

I post the poem in full in solidarity with the struggle in Iran:
( Please buy the book and Coleman Bark's heartfelt translations of Rumi also belong on your bookshelf.)

On Separation and Words
- Jalalu'ddin Rumi - 13th century Sufi

Listen to the reeds as they sway apart,
hear them speak of lost friends.
At birth, you were cut from your bed,
crying and grasping in separation.
Everyone listens, knowing your song.
You yearn for others who know your name,
and the words to your lament.
We are all the same, all the same longing to find our way back;
Back to the one, back to the only one.

Everywhere I told my story,
to the sad and the happy.
Everyone came close, but only
with their own secrets, never knowing mine.
My secret is hidden also from me,
for the light shines only outward.
The body and soul are intimate friends
but the soul remains secret from us all.

The sounds of the reed are like fire not wind,
and without the fire we are nothing.
The fire of the reed is the fire of Love,
the passion and heat of Love is in the wine.
This reed bends to spent lovers and friends,
its song and its word break the veil,
Both danger and delight, satyr and repletion,
the reed engorges and depletes, both.
The sensible are deaf, though the mindless listen,
the tongue wags only for the ear.

Our sadness spreads the days short, for time
walks hand-in-hand with painful thoughts and fears.
But let these loathsome days go by, who cares?
Stay in the moment, that holy moment,
your only moment, until the next-holier still.
We are thirsty fish in His blissful water,
like the starving buried in the feast of His sustenance.
So young our understanding, so mature
our surrounding-say less, learn more, depart.

And sons break free!
When will you let go your ambitions?
How much of the ocean fills your jar?
More than a day?
But the eye-never full-
yearns more than the heart-replete,
The oyster-shell forms the pearl only
when already filled.
Only the garment of love banishes desire and defect,
the panacea of ills,
As the garden-flowers fade, the bird's song dies.
The Beloved contains, the lover invades,
for the Beloved ignites the lover's pyre.
If love recalls, the lover swoops to the ground.
How blind my eyes when Her light is extinguished?
How will you see in the mirror
if the dust is so thick?
Love commands the word
for this is the marrow of your eyes.

A Persian Vigil (for Marjane Satrapi)

From the Book of the Mathnawi by Rumi translated by Philip Dunn, Manuela Dunn Mascetti and R.A. Nicholson in their volume The Illustrated Rumi, published by Harper, San Francisco. The wonderful edition includes a forward by the brilliant religious scholar, Huston Smith.

The Call - ندا -Neda

Below is the transcript of a conversation between Rumi scholar Fatemeh Keshavarz and Krista Tippett, host of Speaking of Faith from American Public Media:

We’ve selected more of Rumi’s poems for you to hear and read on our Web site, speakingoffaith.org, along with images and explanations of the whirling dervishes. I’m Krista Tippett, and this is Speaking of Faith from American Public Media. Today, we’re dipping into the ideas and spiritual background of Rumi, a 13th-century Muslim mystic whose poetry is celebrated by an array of modern readers.


Ms. Keshavarz: (reciting) Listen to the story told by the reed of being separated. Since I was cut from the reed bed, I have made this crying sound. Anyone apart from someone he loves understands what I say. Anyone pulled from a source longs to go back. At any gathering, I'm there, lingering and laughing and grieving, a friend to each, but few will hear the secrets hidden within the notes. No ears for that. Body flowing out of spirit, spirit out from body, no concealing that mixing. But it's not given us to see, so the reed flute is fire, not wind. Leave that empty.

Ms. Tippett: There's a theme that is part of that, that runs all the way through, about separation and longing as part of — well, not just the spiritual life, but being human, and also a kind of sense that the separation and the longing themselves are a kind of arrival.

Ms. Keshavarz: On one level, you have to get on the road. You have to get started, you know, just like the earth that, you know, have to plow the earth, you have to get moving. On another level, time and again he reminds us that the destination is the journey itself. So there isn't a point where you say, 'OK, I'm here, I've reached, I'm done, I'm perfect. I don't need to do anything anymore.' In the incompleteness of that, the need to move forward is inherent in that incompleteness, in the process of going forward that you make yourself better and better and you, in a way, never reach. So the separation is the powerful force that keeps you going. If you ever felt that I have arrived I've reached, this is it, then you wouldn't go any further.

Ms. Tippett: You know, and I think it is counterintuitive in our culture — not that we necessarily think this through very often, but we think of desires and longings as something that we need to find something to meet, right?

Ms. Keshavarz: Yes, yes. And we want to meet it really fast.

Ms. Tippett: Yes.

Ms. Keshavarz: Exactly.

Ms. Tippett: Because somehow the feeling of longing and separation from whatever it is, especially if we don't know what it is we want, that that is unsatisfying and there's something wrong with that. And yet what Rumi is saying is that, you know, the longing itself is redemptive and is progress, kind of.

Ms. Keshavarz: Yes. And the longing itself — and also not to understand exactly what that longing is, in itself, is very productive. I think one idea or major concept that the Sufi tradition and Rumi in particular have to contribute to our current culture is value in perplexity, the fact that not knowing is a source of learning, something that propels us forward into finding out. Longing, perplexity, these are all very valuable things. We want to unravel things and get answers and be done, but as far as he's concerned, it's a continual process. We can't be done. And that's good.

Ms. Tippett: I also have a feeling that Rumi is saying we also, though, at the same time need to be intentional about what we choose to be perplexed by. Does that make sense? I mean there's this poem: "Stay bewildered in God and only that. Those of you who are scattered, simplify your worrying lives. There is one righteousness. Water the fruit trees and don't water the thorns. Be generous to what nurtures the spirit and God's luminous reason-light. Don't honor what causes dysentery and knotted-up tumors. Don't feed both sides of yourself equally. The spirit and the body carry different loads and require different attentions."

Ms. Keshavarz: Yes. Yes. I think the energy can't go in all directions completely in control and you have to choose because you have one life. You have to spend it wisely. So absolutely, he would say choose, be selective, recognize your own value. At another point he says, 'You are an astrolabe to God, you know, don't use yourself for things that are not worthwhile.'

But I want to linger a little bit on that idea of being scattered because that's a key concept in Sufi thought. And actually it's something that the Buddhists also talk about a lot. And that is our mind just jumps from one thing to the other and, you know, the Sufis call it the onrush of ideas into our minds. And in some ways, if we allow it, it takes us over, you know. You know, what am I going to do about that credit card? You know, how am I going to — what do I do about this student paper, you know, whatever else is that you're concerned with, my family, my kids, my future. So it all invades your life and so in a way you're pulled in all directions. You're scattered. So one of the purposes of his poetry and one of the concepts the Sufis talk about is to collect that scatteredness.

More on Rumi at:
The Ecstatic Faith of Rumi

Buy the books at:
The Illustrated Rumi
A Year with Rumi: Daily Readings
by Coleman Barks

In digital form: Rumi: Bridge To the Soul
by Coleman Barks


"Rumi's poetry feels like it belongs to all. When Rumi died in 1273, members of all religions came to the funeral. Wherever you stand, his words deepen your connection to the mystery of being alive."

Much more at:
The Song of the Reed (part one)