The Pakistan Chronicles II

The FTC Performance, Karachi

The art of story-telling

By Shanaz Ramzi

Karachi has gradually witnessed a revival of sorts in the field of theatre with sporadic performances in English and Urdu taking place at the initiation of different theatre groups.

However, while the English plays have been mostly confined to the enactment of comedies or murder mysteries, it is in the Urdu genre that some refreshing activity has been taking place. One example is Dastan Goi, a performance held by Friends of The Citizen's Foundation to raise funds for the establishment of quality schools in low income localities.

Dastan goi is a tradition dating back to medieval Iran, where narrators or dastan-gohs, inspired by the Shahnama — a story of kings composed in verse by the famous poet, Firdausi — recited tales around camp fires, in coffee houses and palaces. The stories revolved around fearless princes who fought evil kings with the help of tricksters called ayyars — Amar Ayyar being the greatest ayyar of the age. Invariably, the latter encountered demons, magicians and jinns and thanks to their mastery at disguise and their zambil—a little potli that houses all kinds of elements ranging from demons and jinns, to varied booty — emerged victorious.

The most famous version of Dastan goi is the Dastan of Hamza, based on Amir Hamza, uncle of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH). Printed in 46 huge volumes, the stories make for a fascinating read about the world of fantasy. They make for an even more riveting listening when told by expert narrators, as the audience discovered much to their pleasure the evening they witnessed the performance of excerpts from Tilism-i-Hoshruba, the most famous chapter from the book.

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'Dastan goi' is a tradition dating back to medieval Iran, where narrators or 'dastan-gohs', inspired by the 'Shahnama' — a story of kings composed in verse by the famous poet, Firdausi — recited tales around camp fires, in coffee houses and palaces. The stories revolved around fearless princes who fought evil kings with the help of tricksters called 'ayyars'

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Recited wonderfully by Murtza Daanish Husain and Mahmud Farooqui, both Delhi-based actors, the performance was divided into three episodes. The first episode revolved around Afrasiyab's (the emperor of sorcerers) forces trying to capture the deceptive Amar by using birds that could see through his guises and recognise him. Amar proves too clever for his opponents though, and manages to hoodwink them not once, not twice but thrice. The hilarious descriptions of his guile must have undoubtedly made the imagination of everyone in the audience work overtime.

The second episode was not as graphic or gripping as the first and revolved around Amar Ayyar not being able to eat or drink thanks to becoming a victim of magic by the evil doers. A long theosophical discussion ensued between them, with Ayyar emerging — one guess — victorious. However, while the recital of the second piece was taking place a row of ladies sitting smack in the centre of the auditorium got up and left. As if offended by this rude behaviour, the two performers completed their second episode and then abruptly announced that the programme had ended, throwing the organisers as much off-guard as anyone else. The management quickly called for bouquets to be distributed to the artists — including one for the visiting executive producer, Anusha Rizvi.

But, just as people began to prepare to leave, Khalid Ahmed got up and spoke to the duo, and at his request they sat down again, this time to present the best episode of the evening. Although the first two performances had not been staged on the opening show the previous evening, the third was a repetition. But I am sure that those who had witnessed it earlier as well must have enjoyed it just as thoroughly the second time round. This time the story revolved around Afrasiyab who has stolen the Lauh-i-Tilismi (which contains all the secrets of the Tilism) and the trickery of Amar Ayyaar who disguises himself as the wife of his adversary to ferret information about the location of the coveted treasure of sorts.

The performance helped drive home the point that props and costumes are not necessary to ensure an entertaining programme. Nor is a lot of movement and dramatic action required to grip the audience's attention. Using a simple takht to seat the two performers, and decorative accessories such as a candle-stand, lantern, silver jug and bowl, the duo was able to keep the audience captive, merely by the inflections in their voice and facial expressions. More such ventures will go a long way in keeping the wonderful tradition of daston goi alive.

The Pakistan Chronicles I

Mohatta Palace, Karachi in all its glory: The venue for the
first Dastangoi performance in Pakistan.

Revival of a different kind

By Huma Khawar

An evening of dastaangoi – to recite or perform a dastaan – proved to be a significant effort for the revival of a form that had disappeared from the scene of performing arts for almost a century. Dastaangos, Mahmood Farooqui and Danish Husain, who get the credit of reviving the art form, have been going all over India performing their own versions of the old tales.

Last week they were invited by The Citizen Foundation to perform in Pakistan to a gathering of a fairly sophisticated audience, a mix of bureaucrats, professionals and all of them friends and supporters. The duo, reciting excerpts from Tilism-e-Hoshruba, 'the enchantment that steals away the senses' took the captive audience into the magical world full of fairies and jinns, and magicians and sorcerers. The audience probably suffered the handicap of not possessing the necessary competence in Urdu, but was completely awe-struck by the prodigious memory and wide range of acting by the 21st Century daastango.

The funds are being raised by The Citizen's Foundation to make education affordable and accessible to every child, especially to the less fortunate youth of Pakistan. Already running more than 300 schools with about 40,000 children enrolled, TCF makes great efforts in organizing events that are different from the run-of-the mill kind and puts in a lot of efforts to make them a success. The fact that the audience were very punctual in arriving at the venue speaks for the trust and credibility TCF enjoys with its supporters. The event took place at the National Library, although the organization usually hires services of a posh five-star hotel for their functions, followed by high tea.

Whether it was the old art form of dastaangoi or the venue, but for some reason many socialites, who are a permanent feature of the TCF functions in the capital and elsewhere, were missing from this one. A very basic stage, with a mattress covered with white sheet in the centre, incense wafting on both sides, the two dastaangoh in pure white, angarkha style kurta pyjama and white topi in their hands, sat in the centre.

The performers modestly advised the audience, "not to be anxious to understand each and every sentence". The sense would flow equally from the ambience and the mood.

And added, "But if you want to praise us, taali na peet dejey ga, Angarez ki tarha. Wah wah kahey ga." (Do not clap, like the English, but praise us with echoes of wah wah) A glossary of names and recurring words had been circulated amongst the audience before the performance. Seated most of the time, they gave the audience a taste of the Urdu language when this essentially long oral narrative was cultivated. They took the audience into the world of the Dastaan, which is rich, vivid and staunchly secular where beautiful women seduce with wine.

The Dastaan-e-Amir Hamza and its extended version Talism-e-Hosh Ruba, a fictionized account of adventures of Amir Hamza and his friends Umroo, is one of the masterpieces from the treasure of Urdu stories. Amir Hamza, an uncle of the Holy Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) was earmarked by angles, fairies and prophets as the arch defender of the faith, the slayer of evil and the destroyer of false Gods. Amir Hamza and Umroo Ayyar collections were first published centuries ago – around AD1100 – a collection of stories written to entertain the Muslim emperors who ruled at the time. A grand epic from the Islamic cultures of the Middle East and beyond, prevalent for centuries as an oral form, the Dastaan with its unique literary flavour offers a complete and continuous oral narrative. It is still widely read in expurgated versions throughout the Indo-Pak subcontinent. These books were the staple diet of kids growing up in the 70s and 80s. The stories are gripping, full of suspense, horror, black magic, fantasy and action. And as they say, these stories were here before Tolkien wrote his Lord of the Rings or JK Rowling's Harry Potter series.

But surprisingly, besides the numerous volumes, it is actually the dastango who fills in all the masala, the details and the dialogue in the otherwise simple story to make it colourful. He takes us to distant lands and different people who speak in different dialects. It is this act that has promoted this tradition into an art form of dastaangoi.

In the world of today, when one wishes there were more than 24 hours in a day and more than seven days in a week, and when the patience is wearing out, to revive dastaangoi is clearly an act of courage for which the performers Mahmood Farooqui and Danish Husain deserve to be praised.

The Slaying of Mahtaab Jaadoo

A photo review of the Dastan performance at the FTC Auditorium, Karachi, Pakistan on April 04, 2007. Photographs courtesy Ms. Tasnim Jaffer, Supporters of The Citizens Foundation.

Dastan in Pakistan

presents

Dastangoi: The Lost Art of Storytelling

STCF (Supporters of The Citizens Foundation), a group of volunteers for The Citizens Foundation, has always strived to make all of its fundraisers exciting ventures, exploring new ideas and themes. This year, STCF has arranged five beautiful evenings, filled with the magic of Dastangoi, across Pakistan.

By your participation, you will be assisting STCF in raising funds for 344 TCF school units educating over 40,000 students in 42 locations, all over Pakistan.

The Performance details are as follows:

Karachi:
April 03, 2007 at 8pm at Mohatta Palace.
April 04, 2007 at 7:30 pm at FTC Auditorium.

For ticket details contact

Fatima Zehra

Assistant Manager, Marketing

The Citizens Foundation

7th Floor, NIC Building

Abbasi Shaheed Road

Karachi -75530

Pakistan

UAN: 111-823-823

Fax: 5653173

Islamabad:
April 05, 2007

We'll post the details once we have it.

Lahore:
April 07, 2007 at 8pm at Bagh-e-Jinnah, Open Air Theatre, Lawrence Road, Lahore.
April 08, 2007 at 8pm at Bagh-e-Jinnah, Open Air Theatre, Lawrence Road, Lahore.

For ticket details contact 042-6669457 042-6686925 0300-8411033.

We Steal Your Senses: The Initiation

With words we construct
a sarai ten feet by eight,
a river of magic,
fire, blood with
a bridge of smoke,
a building of three tiers
stacked over it
with fairies in it
throwing pearls
at the piranha
floating
in the river of magic –
With words we create
all this and more
on the proscenium
of an auditorium.

But beware!
These are not tales
of horses and mare,
of fairies and angels,
of Lord-smudged gospels.
Here desires heathen
would deepen with
every twist of the tale
that you choose to veil
your senses with –
Your senses Ha!
Like some former lover
are no more
a part of your tale.
Like a bedouin’s loot
in this bazaar of lies and truth
they’re up for sale.

So we wait at the gates
of the kingdom of Afrasiyaab,
the sorcerer supreme,
the king of devils and djinns
before whom sixty-thousand
warlords
each with an army
of a hundred thousand
or more
genuflect, kiss his girth,
wash it with their blood.
He, The Arrogant One
whose kingdom
runs from The Upper West Quarter
to The Lower East Trough
even he,
even he bows
to Zammurad Shah Bakhtari,
also Laqa, the ultimate in sorcery
but only a wily old bastard
with fungus in his teeth
and beads in his beard
who sits on a throne
smelling of his own faeces.

Together they fight
Amir Hamzah –
The Lord of Conjunction,
Sahib-qiran,
before whom the moon
and the sun both bow,
whose valour instills fear
in many who’d kill, tear
with their swords and their spears
and not once show remorse
even they, when they’d hear
his name their pride would run
like a disease from a medicine.

But the point where
we choose to enter –
our senses surrendered –
the point where we
let ourselves be
in this magical world,
this magical world
where the difference
between the real
and the imagined
is perhaps a trick
between the awake you
and your sleeping self,
the point where we enter
is the one where Amar Ayyar,
confidant, friend, chief trickster
Amir’s lieutenant, masquerader
has murdered Mahtaab Jadoo
and has in a jungle taken refuge…

© Dan Husain
March 27, 2007



PS: Mahmood and I came together for the first time as a team on March 27, 2006 at the India Habitat Centre to perform Dastangoi. This is the first of the series of poems on Dastan-e-Amir Hamza that I intend to write to commemorate this partnership. :-)