All posts by tabsir

Viewing the Shanamah in Manhattan

Calligraphy, Conferences and Talks, Iran, Languages, Literature, Miniatures, Poetry, Qur'an, Scholars, Sufism


Portrait of the infant Rustam shown to Sam (folio 30b)

On Thursday night I had the privilege of attending a reading of portions of the Shanamah by Iraj Anvar.
The reading was held as part of the superb series called “Illuminated Verses: Poetries of the Islamic World,” which is a series of readings and events that began in March with a lecture by Bruce Lawrence on the Quran and continues through May 7. This is an extraordinary opportunity to hear and learn more about the variety of poetic production in Islamic cultures worldwide.

While the reading of the Shanamah is over, you can still see the exhibit of the mid 15th century Muhammad Juki’s manuscript of the Shanamah at the Asia Society through May 1.

The Legacy of Donny George Youkhanna

Archaeology and Antiquities, Conferences and Talks, Iraq, Scholars


A memorial conference entitled “Cultural Heritage Now – The Legacy of Donny George Youkhanna” will be held Wednesday, April 27, 2011 from 4:30 – 6:30 at the Rutgers Student Center in New Brunswick , New Jersey. Details below.

Cultural Heritage Now:

Iraq and Beyond
The Legacy of Donny George Youkhanna

Wednesday, April 27, 2011
4:30-6:30

Rutgers Student Center
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
126 College Ave
New Brunswick, NJ 08901

The event is open to the public, but pre-registration is required. Those wishing to contribute remarks must indicate this at the time of registration.

Presentations by:

John Russell
“Preserving Iraq’s Past”
John Malcolm Russell teaches the art and archaeology of the ancient Middle East and Egypt at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston, Massachusetts. He is the author of numerous articles and four books on ancient Assyria, one of which, The Final Sack of Nineveh (Yale), investigates the destruction of Sennacherib’s palace in Iraq by looters in the 1990’ s. Professor Russell has conducted archaeological excavations at Nineveh, Iraq, and Tell Ahmar, Syria. In 2003-2004 he served with the Coalition Provisional Authority as an advisor to the Iraqi Ministry of Culture in Baghdad, Iraq, where he focused on renovating the Iraq Museum and protecting archaeological sites. Continue reading The Legacy of Donny George Youkhanna →

Yemen beyond the protests

Architecture, Photography, Tihama, Yemen


The recent protests that have shaken the Middle East from North Africa to Yemen so dominate the news these past couple of months that it is almost as though we see nothing else. Whether pictures are worth a thousand and one words, or even more, here are some superb photographs of Yemen by Raiman al-Hamdani, taken with his permission from his Flickr account.


One of the important mosques in the coastal town of Zabid

Bloggerheads on Yemen

"Arab Spring", Ali Abdullah Salih, Yemen, YouTube Watch


Yemen’s embattled President Ali Abdullah Salih

There is an interesting discussion between political scientists Charles Schmitz of Towson University (and President of the American Institute for Yemeni Studies) and Gregory Johnsen, moderator of the blog Waq al-Waq, on the context of the current protests in Yemen, especially on the role of President Ali Abdullah Salih. It is well worth looking at the video which can be viewed here: http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/35377.

Tabsir Redux: If Lincoln had seen Aladdin

Literature, Orientalism


Grover’s Theater, Washington D.C.


[Tabsir Redux is a reposting of earlier posts on the blog, since memories are fickle and some things deserve a second viewing.]

April 14, 1865. For Americans, at least above the Mason Dixon line, this is one of those dates that lives in infamy. John Wilkes Booth, a rather bad actor on the stage, shot President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre. According to an account by Mrs. Helen Palmes Moss in The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine for 1909, Lincoln had the option of going to a rival theatre, the National or Grover’s, that night where a private box had been prepared for him by Mr. C. D. Hess, the co-manager. Apparently Booth had planned to attempt the assassination at whichever theater Lincoln attended. He much preferred Ford’s, since he had no inside help at the National and would have to shoot Lincoln as he stepped out of the carriage. What does this fateful event have to do with the Middle East? If Lincoln had attended the National Theatre and J. Wilkes Booth had missed, the President would have seen a dramatization of the Arabian Nights tale “Aladdin.” Would that Lincoln had been more of an Orientalist… Continue reading Tabsir Redux: If Lincoln had seen Aladdin →

Malika Zarra sings in New York, April 12

Morocco, Music and Dance


La chanteuse marocaine Malika Zarra en concert à l’Appolo Theater de Harlem à New York

from aufait, April 2, 2011

La chanteuse marocaine, Malika Zarra, se produira ce week-end sur la scène du mythique Apollo Theater de Harlem (New York) en hommage posthume à la chanteuse sud-africaine Miriam Makeba, surnommée “Mama Africa” en raison de son combat contre l’apartheid, a-t-on appris vendredi auprès des organisateurs.

Baptisée le “Morocco’s Jazz Jewel” (Joyau Marocain du Jazz) par la chaîne américaine CNN, Malika Zarra donnera, vendredi et samedi soir, deux concerts en hommage à cette grande dame ayant inspiré la scène musicale africaine mais également internationale depuis les années cinquante.

L’auteur-compositeur-interprète marocaine, célèbre pour ses mélodies irrésistibles portées par une voix mezzo-soprano incomparable, sera accompagnée par la chanteuse Lorraine Klaasen, une légende incontestable de la musique sud-africaine, qui, à l’instar de Zarra, voue un grand respect pour “Mama Africa”. Continue reading Malika Zarra sings in New York, April 12 →