[Reader-list] An Evening of Crafty Dastans : Dastangoi at Dastkar Nature Bazaar

[rohitrellan at aol.in]

Dastangoi is a lost art of storytelling in Urdu. At its peak it regaled 
listeners at palaces, cafes, street corners and public arena with tales 
of war, magic, trickery and adventure that could last weeks, months and 
sometimes years.


Dastangos were mimics, narrators, actors and ventriloquists but were 
also often the creator of their stories, weaving episodes 
extemporaneously.


Tilism, magically enchanted realms, and Aiyyari, professional 
tricksters, were the peculiar preserve of Indian and Urdu Dastangos and 
they so expatiated on this in the oral realm that it became the longest 
fictional narrative ever produced in India.


When finally put to print at the end of the nineteenth century the 
Dastan-e Amir Hamza ran into 46 mammoth volumes of over a thousand 
pages each, generated entirely by oral storytelling over generations.


The present revival of Dastangoi was put into effect by Mahmood 
Farooqui under the guidance of the leading scholar of the Dastanic 
tradition, S. R. Faruqi.

Over the last five years he and his team which has also included the 
actor Naseeruddin Shah, have given over hundred performances in most 
major cities of India and abroad. These have included tours to Pakistan 
and to the United States.

The performances have been enthusiastically received almost everywhere 
since, in spite of the high Urdu medium, the Dastans still seem capable 
of entertaining the elite and the commoners alike.

Date: Sunday, November 8, 2009
Time: 6:30pm - 8:30pm
Location: Amphitheatre, Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA)
Street: Dr. Rajendra Prasad Marg (Near India Gate/ Rajpath)
City/Town: New Delhi, India