Dastangoi

"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.