Category Archives: Promos

Promos for our shows.

Six Pillars – Persian Maps

History and geography are the basis of all the humanities.

After falling in love with a map of Persia in Harrods, Dr Ala’i spent years researching the cartography of Iran and Persia before publishing two large volumes by Brill, on different maps of Persia from the 1400s to 1925.

Dr Ala’i was invited by Iran Heritage to give a talk in January 2011 on his extensively researched specialty, and Six Pillars interviewed him to find out more about this passion of his.

This is the whole interview, the first part of which was broadcast in January 2011 on Six Pillars to Persia, from the Resonance104.4Fm studios, London.

David Toop – TEDx-Aldebrugh

“Ideas worth spreading”. Prior to taking part in TED, David Toop discusses matters around opera, silence and his dog with Fari Bradley.

Saturday 6 November 2010
Autumn – Winter
TEDx Aldeburgh: Ideas worth spreading – A Conference

TEDx allows organizations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences, hence TEDx Aldeburgh.

Hosted by Thomas Dolby, Musical Director of the TED Conference, the event featured live talks by Louis Lortie, Martyn Ware, Tim Exile, Imogen Heap,
United Visual Artists, David Toop and others.

Six Pillars – Persian Cartography

Prior to a talk arranged by Iran Heritage, the estimable Dr Alai discusses how phonetics, fashion, social hierarchies and myth enter the world Persian cartography. With perhaps the largest personal collection of Persian maps Dr Alai has published two immense volumes on the topic both of which have been included in Brills Handbook list for the Middle East.

His talk tonight: “Special Maps of Iran” in London, is free to attend at SOAS, University of London.

Six Pillars – Sufi’s Night

January 22nd 2011 Festival of Arts presents a night of improvised music and experimental Iranian dance: Sufi’s Night

Fusing the influences of disciplined dances such as tango and flamenco, Iranian dance takes on an almost Indian Kathak like energy, and the dramatic motions of the two performers Shahrokh Meshkin Ghalam and Karine Gonzales convey all the regal dignity of the epic stories and emotions they relate.

Here we interview daf impresario Hossein Zahavi, who is playing percussion on the night, and table maestro Yusuf Mamud who will be performing on vocals and tabla.

Six Pillars – The First UK Iranian Film Festival

November saw the launch of the London’s first Iranian Film Festival: UKIFF.

In late October we met with one of the volunteers, Costas Sarkas, at one of UKIFF’s networking events, to find out what it was all about.

Six Pillars – Britain Retold

Photographer Sara Shamsawari exhibits a selection from her series in City Hall entrance until January 4th.

The exhibition is a series of engaging portraits around the symbolism of the union jack with all its connotations. The photos are accompanied by statements and both promote a questioning of our ideas  of what it means to be British now.

Six Pillars – Drinking Arak Off An Ayatollah’s Beard

Venturing around Iran and Afghanistan with a copy of the Shahnameh tucked under his arm, Nicholas Jubber relates what this pivotal introduction taught him about modern people who still love this medieval text.

Jubber explains how The Shahnameh, or Persian Book of Kings, is still very much alive today for many people, even 1000 years after it’s completion.

His book certainly has it’s own style and he visited the Resonance104.4FM studios to explain certain points: from beards to butchers to free motorbikes.

This show was originally broadcast on 2nd August, 2010

Six Pillars to Persia – A Mystic’s War on Terror….

At the Omar Khayyam Society’s event A Mystic’s War on Terror, Autumn 2010, we caught up with the main Sufi speaker Ammat Un Nur.

Read her speech from the night on the above link, a speech that contained the quote by Jimi Hendrix who said, “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.”.

Her Sufi website.

Here is some of the event write-up:

Ammat un Nur belongs to a lineage named Chishti-Inayati. (We are supposed to know automatically what that lineage is, I guessed it had something to do with renowned Sufi school rather than an individual). She has also been influenced by the Mevlevi tradition originating from Mevlana Rumi (you’re supposed to know that is the same Rumi, the Sufi poet). Her work involves researching, writing on the Inayatian legacy of the Sufi Orders. (I had no idea what that was).

The debate took the form of a panel, mostly of women, who put forward a speech or an intro and then took questions. One aspect of the write-up that really caught my eye was the promise of a look at the neglect of the feminine in Islam. there is a feminist branch or movement in Islam. I wanted to know what a woman’s role was considered to be in Sufism, as in Iran, in the mountains, some all female Sufi orders do exist….

If the title of the podcast has aroused your curiosity and you are interested in this kind of study, here a SOAS course that could be for you.

You will have to pay a lot mind, to study. If you go to stay with Ammat, your studies will be free. There’s food for thought.

This  podcast was made for the ResonanceFM series Six Pillars to Persia by Fari Bradley – the show is a weekly look at the Iranian diaspora, the culture of Iran, Persian heritage and related topics.

Six Pillars – Anatomy of a Street and Light Dreams

Both previous guests on the show in ’06/7 two artists discuss their latest works and exhibits.

Neda Dana-Haeri’s duo show with Virginia Waterhouse is called “Light Dreams” at A&D Gallery, Chiltern Street. Watercolours and abstraction refer to sufism and poetry in Dana-Haeri’s work. We speak on location at the Church Street project detailed below.

Bahbak Hashemi-Nezad discusses aubergines and the architecture of a community in his Serpentine supported work Anatomy of a Street. Anatomy of A Street is a research project organised by the Hungarian Cultural Centre in conjunction with the London Festival of Architecture 2010 and will run at Church Street, NW8 from Friday 25th June to Sunday 4th July (when the Church Street Festival takes place).

The project will bring new visitors to Church Street and encourage them to find out about the area and the various changes over the last 20/30 years and Audio Tour compare these changes with those that have taken place at a similar high street in Pecs, Hungary (European Capital of Culture 2010).

This show was originally broadcast on June 28th 2010 from the ResonanceFM studios, London.

Pédilüv ep.6 – Comme un dimanche !

Une après-midi à Saint Ouen, c’est bien, c’est audonien, c’est kok-drouhin.

Sanne, Julia et un peu Arjan vous raconte des histoires pas racontables.
Idéal pour une écoute au chocolat chaud devant le feu de cheminée.

Le plus court chemin entre les pieds et les oreilles, c’est Pedilüv