Faiz Centennial celebration in Philadelphia

The Twelve Gates Art Gallery organises celebration titled Faiz in Song and Translation.

PHILADELPHIA: The Twelve Gates Art Gallery in Philadelphia, US, organised a celebration titled Faiz in Song and Translation: Faiz Centennial 1911-2011 on February 12.

The gallery specialises in exhibiting the works of contemporary South Asian artists and aims to educate the community about the region’s art and culture. The event was the first of several programmes planned in the US and Canada to commemorate Faiz Ahmed Faiz. The inspiration for these events is largely driven by the Pakistanis in North America.

Around 100 people of various nationalities gathered to hear the poetry of Faiz; sung in Urdu, recited in English, translations performed on sitar with tabla and guitar.

Director of the gallery, Aisha Khan, made a special reference to Faiz’s vision and poetry embodying the hopes and struggles of suffering people and his impassioned calls for social justice, humanism and compassion.

The evening also brought a performance by Allyn Miner on sitar, which included Raag Darbari and Bhairavi.

The programme went on to feature the readings of Faiz’s poetic verses in English by Leon Schelhase, followed by renditions in Urdu by Romeena Kureishy, accompanied by  Sami Kureishy on guitar and Radha Gopinath on tabla.

Schelhase began with the reading of excerpts from Faiz’s The Unicorn and the Dancing Girl, with sitar and tabla in the background.

Kureishy then delighted the audience with three of Faiz’s best-loved poems: Ye Kaun Sakhi Hain, Ye Haath Salaamat Hain and Aur Kuch Der Main.

The evening closed with a duet of Romeena Kureishy singing in Urdu and Leon Schelhase reading in English, followed by a final performance of Dasht-e-Tanhai by entire ensumble.

The audiences were elated not only by the performances but also by the fact that the event featured Faiz’s fans who barely knew Urdu.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 15^th, 2011.