| Invitation |
| Author of NINE LIVES |
| Press Release |
| Reviews |
| REVIEWS |
| theajnabee.com ‘Nine Lives’ - Each One More Fascinating Than the Next! June 14th, 2010 by E. Nina Rothe |
| theajnabee.com William Dalrymple Brings His Magical ‘Nine Lives’ to NYC June 14th, 2010 by E. Nina Rothe |
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Reviews and articles about the tour: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/0acfc01e-a3e1-11de-9fed-00144feabdc0.html Youtube clips: Frost/Dalrymple Susheela and Paban at the Jaipur Literature festival: Susheela solo at the Lincoln Centre: Nine Lives at the Barbican: Susheela Tamil voodoo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDXxad1MAy4 Here are some links to reports of our concerts: Barbican, London: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/9155287c-ac4c-11de-950b-00144feabdc0.html Bombay, Times of India: Lahore: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010%5C02%5C08%5Cstory_8-2-2010_pg7_40 REVIEWS OF THE BOOK: Front cover quote: ‘Dalrymple’s triumphant return to travel writing not only illuminates India's relationship with religion but casts the genre itself in a new light … A wise and rewarding book fizzing with Dalrymple’s signature erudition and lightness of touch. The Travel Book of the Year’ Rory Maclean, Guardian A Buddhist monk takes up arms to resist the Chinese invasion of Tibet – then spends the rest of his life trying to atone for the violence by hand printing the best prayer flags in India. A Jain nun tests her powers of detachment as she watches her best friend ritually starve herself to death. Nine people, nine lives; each one taking a different religious path, each one an unforgettable story. William Dalrymple delves deep into the heart of a nation torn between the relentless onslaught of modernity and the ancient traditions that endure to this day. ‘William Dalrymple’s study of the people and beliefs of India ranks with the very finest travel writing … A series of biographies which unpick the rich religious heritage of the subcontinent, it makes its political points more powerfully than any newspaper article and displays deep knowledge of the culture’ Observer ‘Profound stories of love, loss and redemption, told with great compassion and sensitivity’ Sunday Telegraph “Gripping, and often very moving” Pankaj Mishra, The National “Dalrymple is a genius.” Indian Express ‘Dalrymple vividly evokes the lives of these men and women, with the sharp eye and good writing that we have come to expect of his extraordinary travel books about India … A glorious mix of journalism, anthropology, history and history of religions, packaged in writing worthy of a good novel. Not since Kipling has anyone evoked village India so movingly’ Wendy Doniger, Times Literary Supplement Inner front cover: ‘The outstanding read of the year … Entirely absorbing and beautifully lucid, Dalrymple is cleverly unobtrusive yet enquiring, always engaged and yet detached. The sub-continent rises, bedazzling, a sensory tapestry crafted brilliantly by a writer who touches its texture as only Mark Tully has managed before him.’ Tom Adair, Scotsman Books of the Year ‘Riveting … It is the singular achievement of Dalrymple, in his strikingly chaste and selfless book, to give us the lives and voices of some regular Indian and Pakistani worshippers without judgment, speculation or high-flown abstraction. As an erudite scholar, Dalrymple gives us a precedent and a context. As a fluent and vivid travel writer, he evokes the landscapes of the land he loves … The result is a deeply respectful and sympathetic portrait’ Pico Iyer, Time ‘Dalrymple writes about India with more knowledge and elegance than does any Indian I know. It is unputdownable … Full of information and written in beautifully lyrical prose. I strongly recommend it’ Khuswant Singh, Telegraph (India) ‘[Dalrymple’s] most ambitious yet, taking the reader into lurid, scarcely imaginable worlds of mysticism, it is also a neat study of the panoply of arcane religious devotion across South Asia. Dalrymple encounters animal sacrifice, epic poetry, trance and a fearsome realm of spirits. He has an inimitable way of conjuring the Indian landscape, and one of his greatest charms is his observation of India’s combination of the sacred and mundane. Behind the devotion and the sense of the epic is always a strong sense of human frailty. Descriptions of exotic transcendental ritual are intertwined with painful personal narratives. Dalrymple, as always, impresses with his scholarliness and erudition’ Financial Times ‘The event of the year in traveller’s tales... Captures facets of the extraordinarily rich and complex spiritual life of the sub-continent, using a blend of classic journalistic interviews, exquisitely written contextual passages and slices of oral history in pure Studs Terkel style’ The Times Books of the Year Inner back cover: ‘Heart wrenching… Wanderlust has made Dalrymple among the most perceptive and humane of travel writers... a deeply touching, sensitive book’ Indian Express ‘Dalrymple the historian knows the forces that make religions and ethnicities fight; Dalrymple the journalist has described that violence; but Dalrymple the travel writer lets these nine people speak. The journey of intermingled faiths and lives remains surprising and delightful’ Salil Tripathi Independent “The celebrated historian and traveller at his exuberant and erudite best… It is impossible not to be profoundly moved by the stories in Nine Lives. It’s a book that never fails to astonish and beguile.” Canberra Times ‘Nine stories so exquisitely twisted between secular suffering and spiritual commitment, they are capable of changing the way you think about devotion’ Time Out “Compelling… Dalrymple is a modern-day Geoffrey Chaucer, writing an Indianized version of The Canterbury Tales.” Mint ‘A blend of travelogue, ethnography, oral history and reportage, Nine Lives is compelling and poignant …’ Guardian William Dalrymple is a writer. He wrote his first book, In Xanadu: A Quest (1989), at 22 years of Paban Das Baul & the Bauls of Bengal (7pax) The music of the Bauls, refers to a particular type of folk song of sung by Bauls. It carries influences of Hindu bhakti movements as well as the suphi, a form of Sufi song mediated by many thousand miles of cultural intermixing, exemplified by the songs of Kabir, for instance. Their music represents a long heritage of preaching mysticism through songs in Bengal, like Shahebdhoni or Bolahadi sects. Bauls use a number of musical instruments to embellish their compositions. The "ektara" is a one-stringed drone instrument, and by far the most common instrument used by a Baul singer. It is the carved from the epicarp of a gourd, and made of bamboo and goatskin. Other commonly used musical instruments include the dotara, a multi-stringed instrument made of the wood; the dugi, a small hand-held earthen drum; percussion instruments like dhol and khol; small cymbals called "kartal" and "mandira" and the bamboo flute.
Shah Jo Raag Fakirs (6 pax) He is a direct descendant of Shah Jamal who was very close to Shah Lateef and their family has been the keeper of tradition. Every Thursday the session of singing beginning after the esha (night) prayers lasts the entire night. In the occasion of the Urs the singing goes on nonstop for the three days of the annual event. The Wai is usually sung in by a group of four, sitting in a circle facing each other holding the dhamboor. They Wai zingers dress themselves in black and then chant strumping the dhamboor, the instrument that was created by the Shah himself and sing “Wai” the kalaam of the Shah by turns. This consists of seven alaap and six baits. These are known as Tamrani Fakirs and Garar Fakirs and he has been singing on the shrine for about thirty years. His group has won awards in Paris, the Lateef Award and Rafi Peer Award in Pakistan. Susheela Raman and Sam Mills (4 Pax) Accompanying Susheela & Sam will be Rajasthani musicians - Nathoo Lal Solanki & Chugge Khan Nathoo Lal Solanki, a classical Nagara Player comes from a reputed family of musicians... He plays a range of folk instruments but excels in playing Nagaras. He has performed with different bands and musicians across the globe including Paban Das Baul, Greatful Dead & Rajasthan Roots. Chugge Khan started his profession as a musician at the young age of 14. He plays various instruments including Khamaicha, Khartal, Morchang, Vatang, Dhol and sings folk songs as well. He has performed with lots of reputed names like Hariharan, Amjad Ali Khan, A.R.Rahman & Gypsy King. A versatile performer he has performed to popular acclaim across the globe. Chandu Panicker Theyyam Dance Group (7 Pax) |