"The word Dastangoi refers to the
art of storytelling, it is a compound of two Persian words Dastan and goi which
means to tell a Dastan. Dastans were epics, often oral in nature, which were
recited or read aloud and in essence were like medieval romances everywhere.
Telling tales of adventure, magic and warfare, Dastans mapped new worlds and
horizons, encountered the unseen and protected the hero through many travails
and lovers as he moved on his quest. The hero’s adventures could sometimes
parallel the mystic quest, at other times the story narrated a purely profane
tale. In the process of telling the story the narrators freely borrowed tropes
and themes from other stories, thus it was that Rumi’s Masnavi and Arabian
Nights both came to contain many stories from the Panchtantra tradition."
– Mehmood Farooqi
Magical worlds filled with evil magicians, and shrewd
lovable impersonators out to thwart the evil magician's plans containing
"Tilism" or illusory worlds whose sole purpose are to capture these impersonators existed here. These tales
and others are what Mehmood Farooqi and his motley group of Dastangos are
breathing life back into. Farooqi along
with Danish Hussain, will celebrate his tenth year of performing Dastans for
the audiences, in his own unique revival of the lost art of Dastangoi.
As a part of this, some of us are trying to put together a
tour for them at a few American universities and are looking for leads in terms
contacts at interested Departments or for any support people might be willing
to lend towards this cause.
We are looking at sponsorships for the tour as well as
sponsorships for workshops we would like to conduct alongside.
For more on Dastangoi visit http://dastangoi.blogspot.in/
You can contact me at a.ramaprasad@gmail.com to discuss
further opportunites.
