Eduardo Paniagua and the Music of al-Andalus

One of the projects that occupied me this last winter and spring was writing a profile of the musician and producer, Eduardo Paniagua of Madrid. It just came out in the July-August Saudi Aramco World Magazine. This story was quite an adventure, and it opened my eyes to many things, and brought me to Spain for the first time. Eduardo Paniagua is possibly coming to New York to perform this September at the World Music Institute. I'll follow up with details if he's coming.

Here's the link to the story:  Listening for Al-Andalus

Helicopter wife or writing buddy?

Thwop thwop thwop.....the sounds of a helicopter hovering. Is that me... am I being a helicopter wife?

My husband is under the gun with an important writing deadline.  Ideas are floating around in his head, and he's at last sitting down to do his draft. It's slow going, but I know how his mind works, and am confident that the result will be logical, thorough and clear. But that doesn't mean it's not hard to watch him go through the process.

Usually I'm the one who is wrestling with writing deadlines. I've had a busy spring, with two magazine articles that involved many interviews and hours of transcriptions, followed by days of drafting, polishing and editing. With my stories submitted, I'm taking a breather and am about to turn to a novel project. I'm hanging back though, until he's met his deadline.

So what am I doing to help? Not much. I try not to ask him how it's going too often, though I worry that perhaps talking things out might help. I help him research things when asked. Mostly, though, I cook for him, top up his coffee mug, and try to keep things quiet so he can concentrate.

I just can't imagine what it must be like for the parents of a teenager....wondering if the college application essay is complete, how the term paper's going, whether all the deadlines are being met. Not having had children, I've little experience with all of this.

So am I a helicopter wife? Is there such a thing? I google it and find there is a term for a 'helicopter spouse' but I don't think it fits me, because I know his results will be stellar. In fact when we were in college, we both were going for an honors degree and had to write a senior thesis. His was elegant and focused - on how medieval Arab grammarians argued over the adverb. In Arabic, it's called a Haal. So we joked that he should title it, "What, the Haal?" Anyway, mine was a more amorphous and larger topic - on the lives and literary patronage of two aristocratic Arabian women in early Islam. I cried tears over retyping mine. He only had to change the spelling of 'genitive'. (This was before personal computers you see).

So we often laugh at the kind of writing we do. He, always the succinct, clear, and logical. Me, the big, amorphous, messy, emotional and dramatic. I try to make my stories more focused and imitate his clarity. He helps edit my short stories, helping crisp them up most elegantly.

So instead of a helicopter wife, I'm trying to be a good writing buddy. My biggest fear is that I'll jinx him by telling how excited I am to see how his work is going to blossom on the page. I know it's going to be good, I'm just impatient for my first look at his draft.

This is My Father's World

Happy Easter, and Happy Spring, and to everyone in Egypt, happy  "Shem al-Neseem"  ('Smell the Breeze' Day).  The hymn "This is My Father's World" always gets to me. And perhaps not surprisingly, since it was inspired by a walk in the woods.The message is really powerful, especially for me these days as a group of us are fighting industrial wind projects in Maine. I find inspiration and strength in this hymn, and perhaps you will too, with whatever battle you are fighting.

The lyrics are below, and below that, an amazing video of the hymn being performed by the Indiana Wesleyan University Chorale. The arrangement rushes in the high points, but then this treatment is rather interesting in that it makes it overall, less 'shmaltzy'.

Strength to you, and gladness, whatever you face in your life.

This is my Father's world, 
 and to my listening ears 
 all nature sings, and round me rings 
 the music of the spheres.  
 This is my Father's world:  
 I rest me in the thought 
 of rocks and trees, of skies and seas; 
 his hand the wonders wrought.

This is my Father's world, 
 the birds their carols raise, 
 the morning light, the lily white, 
 declare their maker's praise.  
 This is my Father's world:  
 he shines in all that's fair; 
 in the rustling grass I hear him pass; 
 he speaks to me everywhere.

This is my Father's world.  
 O let me ne'er forget 
 that though the wrong seems oft so strong, 
 God is the ruler yet.  
 This is my Father's world:  
 why should my heart be sad?  
 The Lord is King; let the heavens ring!  
 God reigns; let the earth be glad!

Now...take it away Indiana Wesleyan Chorale! 

Desert Angel

Last year I came across a video taken in the Jordanian desert (link to it here), that featured bedouin musicians playing music round a campfire at night. I was quite intrigued by this video and others like it posted by 'TillyTuck' on YouTube and decided to find out about her.

Tilly's real name is Liz, but she also goes by her Arabic name, Malak, which means 'Angel'. Liz works at the BBC in London as a Director's Assistant. She also studied Arabic in Jordan and Sana'a, Yemen. A native Californian, born to British and American parents, Liz has been living in the UK since 2002, with many trips to the Middle East of course.

Q - What drew you to the desert?
A - I have had a passion and fascination for the Middle East since I was a kid (thanks to Indiana Jones, 1001Arabian Nights stories such as Ali Baba and to my dad's huge Arabic bedouin tapestry that he had on the wall of our living room). My love and fascination deepened in 1994, that was when I first traveled to the Middle East. From that point on, I knew that I wanted more than just a one off holiday, I had to go back one day to live, learn the language fully immerse myself in this ancient society."

Q - How did you get to the desert and make those amazing videos?

A - In 2007 I studied Arabic at the University of  Jordan's Language Center. During this time, I traveled to the desert quite a lot and became close friends with several bedouin families in Wadi Rum, Petra  (Wadi Mousa) and Al-Al-Humayma.  Poetry and songs are a huge part of bedouin culture. I fell in love with the depth and fire that are in these people's hearts and souls. My friends felt my genuine love for their people and culture. They are very observant and notice when somebody genuinely is interested in them. They knew that I loved gatherings of poetry and song around the fire in the desert, so every time I visited the area, they welcomed me to their homes, made me feel part of the family, and made sure to bring their musical instruments where they could pour out their hearts and express themselves.  It was a huge privilege that most westerners never get the chance to experience."

 Q - What's your favorite desert memory?
A-  "Sitting under the stars with the bedu in the middle of nowhere, next to the fire, listening to the oud, drinking maramiya, (sage tea), then falling asleep watching the shooting stars, just to wake up with the burning sun on my face."

Q - What would be your ultimate desert adventure?
A - I would like to explore the Rub al-Khali (Empty Quarter) in the Arabian Peninsula and visit the places mentioned in Wilfred Thesiger's book Arabian Sands.

Thank you, Liz, for sharing you story, your videos, and your passion for the desert and the bedouin. May you have many wonderful desert adventures!

Remembering the Music, Forgetting the Words

The blurb and cover for Kate Whouley's forthcoming memoir, Remembering the Music, Forgetting the Words, are out! Beacon Press will publish the book this fall. Visit Kate's website to keep up with the latest news. Congratulations, Kate!

When her mother began to exhibit the symptoms of dementia, Kate Whouley did what her English-teacher mom would want her to do: read up on the subject. She found lots of tips for preventing mental decline-too late for that-and a fair amount of practical advice for caregivers-moderately helpful, uniformly grim. Kate craved a compassionate companion with an appreciation for irony-and that's what she gives us in Remembering the Music, Forgetting the Words. With honesty and good humor, Kate shares the tough, the tender, the heart wrenching and the laugh-or-you'll-cry experiences of an Alzheimer's caregiver. 

As her mother falls into forgetting, Kate remembers for us. In her mother, we meet a strong-minded, accidental feminist with a weakness for unreliable men. We meet a daughter who learned early to fend for herself. We encounter their shared passions: books, words, and music. When the books are forgotten, and the words begin to fade, it is the music that matters most to Kate's mother. Holding hands after a concert, a flute-case slung over Kate's shoulder, and a shared joke between them, their relationship is healed-even in the face of a dreaded, and deadly diagnosis.

Remembering the Music is the story of two women, mother and daughter, who journey to a place where they are free from their not-uncomplicated past. Here, they meet each other in the present, sharing the only moment the mother knows, and one of many moments the daughter-and her readers-will remember.

Letter to Professor Anwar Chejne

Alhambra at sunset, Feb 24, 2011

Dear Professor Chejne,

Today, I finally made it to the Alhambra in Granada, Spain. All those years ago, when I was in your course on Muslim Spain at the University of Minnesota, you told us how beautiful it was. You showed us achingly gorgeous slides of the palace and its grounds, for we were in your class long before the internet was invented. You explained the beauty of the place, its romance, all the arts and sciences that flowered here in Granada.  I still remember the day you wore a t-shirt in Arabic that said 'Long Live Ibn Hazm' and how we students laughed and laughed. How I wish I had a t-shirt like that today, for I would like to shout, "Long Live Ibn Hazm, Ibn al-Khatib, Ibn Zamrak, and all the poets of Al-Andalus!"

On my visit today, a sunny day in late February, the sky was blue, and it set off the buildings in the way it's supposed to. A quarter moon hung over the trees when I arrived. The palaces were stunning, even though the Court of Lions is still under repair. It is too early in the season for many flowers, just a few early bougainvelia, and primroses. But the migrating birds - finches and warblers, sang away happily. Another songbird woke me this morning in my tiny hotel room, just down the hill from the Alhambra. It sounded like an oriole of some kind. As I walked the grounds, the birds sang all around me. And the rushing water, in little courses on each side of some walkways, put the water sound into stereo mode that seemed to follow me throughout my visit. One steep stairway at the Generalife had watercourses on either side at hand level, so you could walk with your hands in a cool stream. That would be heavenly on a hot summer day. The sounds of water and the birdsong made a beautiful serenade, one I won't forget for a long time.

Thank you for being so smitten with al-Andalus, and waking us all to its splendors, Professor. I only wish I'd come here sooner.

Nothing is Written - Lawrence of Arabia - Film re-enactment in U.K. by Secret Cinema

I'm a long-time fan of the film, Lawrence of Arabia. In fact, that film awakened my love of all things Middle Eastern. Over the years, I've wondered what it was about the film that affected me so strongly. Certainly it's the film score by Maurice Jarre, full of micro-tones, Arab percussion lines, and sweeping melodies in the maqam of hijaz. It's also the scenery, and the spare, yet poetic dialogue. Underneath all that though, the film glows with an incandescent power, fired by Lawrence's affection for the Arabs with whom he fought, and his belief in the Arab army's cause of independence both from the Ottoman Empire and European powers. Even though Lawrence remains an enigmatic and controversial figure in history, the film, and his own life, influenced me a great deal.

I'm less embarrassed about my love of this film ever since I learned that Steven Spielberg decided to become a film director after seeing it. Diane Sawyer has a pillow embroidered with the words 'nothing is written' on her living room sofa. So it's not just me!

This video clip is amazing. It's of a re-enactment and screening of the film in the UK put on by Secret Cinemas. Only in the U.K. could you gather so many Lawrence fans for costumed mini-re-enactments of the film! Enjoy it...with the film score playing throughout.