Other Asias' Podcast

The radio session was structured around a series of improvisations and creative art writing excercises based around the Other Asias KEYWORDS lexicon (see TOYBOX). The altered nursery rhyme repeating through the pieces is "Ode to the Everlasting NGO" by Fuad Ali.

"Slap, slap, slap your back

gently down the stream

merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily...

anti-politics machine..."

The radio session was first broadcast on RESONANCE FM on 1st March 2010 as part of the show "Digestives" commissioned by Gemma Sharpe for antepress.

Contributions by Duration: 15 minutes. Composed by Hamja Ahsan. Featuring the words of Fuad Ali (blogger Fugstar), Gemma Sharpe, Sydney Hart, Atteqa Malik (MAUJ collective) and her Year 8 class in Karachi, Guardsmark Security company, Reid Peppard, Kinsi Abdullah, singing voices of Zahra Hussain & Fatima Hussain.

http://www.antepress.co.uk

Iqbal Day Conversations!

Courtesy Batool Ali and Hassan Ali.

[Radio show literally translated in English]

{Hassan and Batool singing ‘lab pe aati hai dua’ in the background}
Hassan: He was born on 9th Nov 1877.
[pause]
Once he had a dream in his ‘mind’. He wanted the muslims to stand up for his rights. Iqbal wrote poetry so that they know “what’s happening.. why it’s happening and how it should happen”.
[pause]

Hassan recites “Chand aur taray” (translated below):

Fearing the onset of sunrise,
The stars approached the moon in sky.
We are tired of endless glimmering,
The same remain the scenes and sight,
We are made to move for ever
To move and move, with respite.
All are restless on the earth,
Rare is peace, phoenix-like.
Travel is the fate of all,
Men and stone, trees and tides.
When will the journeys end arrive?
When will the goal spring to sight?
The moon in reply, thus did say:
O ye gleaners of the night, O my travel mates
Mobility is the soul of life,
To each and all this law applies.
Goaded by the questing zeal,
The steed of life acquires speed,
You cannot pause or stop midway,
Death lies in the static state.
Those who walk attain the goal,
Those who stop are heard no more.
The questing urge comes as duty,
Spurred by love, it ends in beauty.

[pause]

Batool: (in English)

[pause]

Fatima: What happens on Iqbal day?
Batool: hmm.. We’re getting a day off from school.

Hassan: His 2 famous books are ‘ Bang-e-Dara’ and ‘Baal-e-Jibrail’ … and Quliyaat-e-Iqbal.

[pause]

Batool: His famous poetry is ‘ Makra aur Makri’ (he-spider and she-spider)
Hassan. ‘MAKRA AUR MAKHIIIIII’ (he-spider and fly).

[pause]

Batool: (in english)

{lab pe aati in the background}

Radio show aired as part of "declarations operations" (Redo Pakistan London Launch 2010) on Resonance FM.

Radio Show as part of the series of events by Redo Pakistan Launch 2010

“What if instead of the super powers renovating the third world nations, were to leave one country in the hands of the social envisioners? How do you fantasize remodelling the land, geographically, politically, intellectually?”

for more information: http://otherasias.webnode.com/current-22/

Artists:
Nida Bangash, Hassan Mujtaba, Tanveer Shah, Ayesha Kamal Khan, Abdullah Aslam, Thomas Mader and Zahra Hussain.
Produced by Fatima Hussain