Camila Batmanghelidjh

Camila Batmanghelidjh is a psychotherapist and founder/director of Kids Company, a London charity devoted to ‘lone’ children (young people who experience significant psychosocial difficulties because their parent is unable to function as a caring adult). The lack of a functioning adult has a negative impact on their ability to access education, health, housing and meaningful employment.

Born in Tehran to prosperous Iranian and Belgian parents, Batmanghelidjh went to public school in Dorset, England. Her father was Dr. Fereydoon Batmanghelidj.

Severely dyslexic, Batmanghelidjh completed her studies using a tape recorder instead of pen and paper. She completed her degree in theatre and dramatic arts at Warwick Uni gaining First Class Honours. Then she did a Master’s degree on the philosophy of counselling and psychotherapy, two years of child observation and a course in art therapy at Goldsmith’s. For four years, she trained in psychotherapy. She also worked with children as a nanny, and discovered a talent for the work.

Batmanghelidjh used her mortgage repayments to set up “The Place to Be”, offering psychotherapy and counselling to children in schools. It is now a national project and serves in excess of 20,000 children a year.

Camila is Director of “Kids Company” a registered charity. Kids Company supports children with severe behavioural, emotional and social difficulties resulting from significant levels of trauma and neglect. The children often suffer from abuse, mental health problems, substance misuse and homelessness. Kids Company aims to restore their trust and provide an environment in which they can begin the healing process, using a carefully designed support system that includes psychotherapy, counselling, education, arts, sports, hot meals and various other practical interventions.

Kids Company currently delivers services to 11,925 clients through - 33 inner-city schools in London, - a drop-in centre at street-level in Camberwell and - a new, post-fourteen educational institute, the Urban Academy in Southwark.

For ten years Kids Company has survived due to the support of charitable trusts and businesses. It has been a ‘hand to mouth’ existence for the organisation. On two occasions Camila re-mortgaged her flat to see Kids Company through its lack of funding.

Batmanghelidjh won the Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2005. She has written Shattered Lives: Children Who Live with Courage and Dignity, ISBN 1-84310-434-2 and other papers. She was also nominated in The Good List 2006, of exceptional people.

She appeared at the 2006 Conservative Party Conference and was awarded the Woman of the year award for 2006 in recognition of her work with Kids Company.

She has curated two major art exhibitions, one called “Shrinking Childhoods” at the Tate Modern in 2005 and “Demons and Angels: Does it have to be this way?” at Shoreditch Town Hall.

She appeared on Desert Island Discs on Sunday 22nd October, 2006 and talks today to Fari Bradley about the company, the children and is accompanied by one of the many kids that Kids Company has helped.

Critics Choice - The Independent 25th Feb

Six Pillars to Persia is today’s critic’s choice in The Independent. Click here for the high def version.

Many thanks to artist Amanda Moss, who texted to let us know.

Lilly Ladjevardi and Women’s Cinema: Tangiers to Tehran

Film maker and esteemed music librarian Lilly Lajevardi visits the studio to discuss what it means to sit with Charlie Gillet four hours every week to help select music for one of his BBC World music shows. Anyone who comes highly recommended by Charlie Gillet is welcome on Six Pillars to Persia.

Lilly made her name through music entrepreneurship and elegance, mixing with corporates and high falooting businesses (e.g. Annabell’s in Mayfair), basically any business that require musical and ambient direction. Lilly was one of the first people to conceive of an in-house music service, where fitting tunes were selected for play in hotels and other venues, as bespoke music libraries for the space. For those who have no time or confidence to browse the web and trawl the record store, Lilly is your consultant. Otherwise Lilly is a very down to earth person, working with award winning documentary film maker Kika Vliegenthart who she met in the Sahara. Together they film subjects as far removed from each other as Hong Kong city lights and camels chewing quietly.

See her website for samples of her wall projections HERE

Find out more about the film festival mentioned on: TANGIERS TO TEHRAN

Six Pillars to Persia is an English language program focusing on Persian heritage and modern Iranian culture. From rebel artists and exiled writers to social entrepreneurs the multifarious guest list builds a picture of the hotchpotch that is the Iranian diaspora in the arts now. (pictured left:Lilly in Qatar)

Persian Music, Not All Kitsch….

A wonderfully upbeat and eclectic look at what’s out there by Persian musicians. From Jew’s harp to hip hop, tombak to free form jazz we have searched far and wide to bring you some of the best sounds in alternative Iranian modern music.

Listen out for the distinct Iranian vocal technique employed by Mamak Khadem, pictured here, the experiments with Jew’s harp and the wonderful Sitar piece by Omid.

Thanks too all the artists, who gave permission for this podcast to happen.

Drawing From Iran - Maryam Mohajer

With many difficult subjects, animation can depict what film cannot. Maryam has found her metier in animation and even though she only graduated a short while ago, she has already been shown in several international galleries and completed a residency in Austria.

Maryam’s films touch on the innocence of youth, the trivia of everyday life in an Iranian setting of peaceful times at war, amongst other things.

We listen to music by Abjeez (slang for sister in Persian), discuss living away from your home town, animation as a trade, films in general, The Girl With the Short Hair (Maryam’s film) and more.

This show was broadcast on 104.4fm in London and recorded at Resonancefm studios, London on 14th January 2008

Lekonik _ Music Composition from Film Footage

Clever boy Lekonik has his finger in several musical pies. He can make beats as well as the next man but uses his film background to create truly singular tracks that make your ears prick up as soon as you hear them.

One of those tracks is played here: “Kitchen” where each screen shot corresponds to the sound it produced until the sounds layer up to make an intriguing and singular piece.

Amir discusses his current project based on his home town Shiraz, his family, Iranian culture and film and we are treated to four of tracks.

Hear the show:

Muslim Girls in Music

Propelled by the story of Deeyah (aka the Muslim Madonna) and her encouragement of other Muslim girls to make music, Jus1Jam came all the way from Bradford for a discussion on  being a Muslim and a musician at the same time,  and to read her lyrics as poetry.Deeyah’s career caused a lot of trouble and is subsequently conferred to the fringes of media attention.  People working with Deeyah have been known to abandon their projects for unexplained reasons, and she herself has received death threats and been forced underground.  This begs the question: how do Muslim girls with a leaning towards the arts balance their beliefs and their talents, in a western setting where other girls are ‘free’ to express themselves and perform without fear?

Jus1Jam recites her poetry for us in the studio, discusses being a muslim liberal and growing up in Muslim-heavy Bradford. 

Inside the Mind of Clive Collier

A studio visit by Director of the film company “Storm Creation Ltd“: Clive Collier.

Grandson and great-grandson of two Iranian poet laureates under the Shah, Clive was adamant that he was going to jazz dance the answers to Fari’s questions. However Clive was far too interesting to deviate from his work, his life, his thoughts into some abstract creativity. With only half an hour we managed to brush on his milestone work where he single handedly put together “Sanctuary” the only documentary on Lisa Gerrard of Dead Can Dance, his present project the release “Eureka: The Mind of Edgar Allen Poe“. He also treated us to some early work on the soundtracks to his Poe project, which already capture the Gothic complexities of both the man’s mind and the era he lived in.

Clive is also a technical editor of Showreel magazine and is not above taking the train from Brighton to grace us with his presence. I hope he will return with translations of his forefather’s poetry, more stories and some work about Allen Poe which if I know Clive, will be insightful, intuitive and inspiring.

Women and Sex in Iran

This week, through contacting the website Irandokht I was offered an interview with Dr Pari Esfandiari, Irandokht Editor-in-Chief.The website is in itself a subject worth covering in an interview as entrepreneur business woman Dr Esfandiari PhD has built it up to a massive readership and a vital forum for Iranian women all over the world. The site is an independent, non-partisan yet politically engaged site that allows women to communicate and promote peace and understanding. It is so vital that UNESCO has showcased the website among 34 others worldwide.

Dr Esfandiari also told me about her recent article called ‘Sex in Iran‘ which she wrote with co-writer Richard Buskin for Play Boy Magazine. I was rather dubious at first as sex is not a subject I like to cover for its own sake but once I read the seven page article, I found it very telling about the life styles in contemporary Iran and the extend of social problems that exist there.

It seems a well renowned actress of some esteem had either made with her ex-boyfriend or been body-doubled in a home made video tape involving lots of sex and nudity. The tape made millions on the black market and the poor girl’s career and life was hanging in the balance. Dr. Esfandiari explained that the popularity of the DVD is very revealing of a society that is unsure of its own values. She also pointed out the chauvinism that exists in the culture, as most people could sympathize with Madame X only after they portrayed her as a victim. The very idea of a woman enjoying sex seems threatening.
It is an amazingly interesting subject and worthy reading. The article also highlights the polarity and divides in society in general on this topic, with permissive and extremist views on

women’s roles, this was illustrated by two completely polarized stories: a group of young girls

fearing their families reaction were reported to have committed group suicide after featured on

internet dancing with revealing cloths and bare hair, and report of some private parties where

guests drink, socialize and even on occasions couple off at the end of the evening.

Mashayekhi and Anahita Rezvani

What a find. You really shouldn’t be buying this stuff until you at least know how to pronounce it but this I recommend to the most tongue tied and non-savvy Farsi novice, it speaks a Babylonian language so crisp and ear-catching, with a huge amount of depth. The most surprising thing is the history and the legacy of Mashayekhi, though he is still alive it seems the man is having a second life now mixing with Warp-signed Sote (more on him both later and previously).

Everything from his drawings to his philosophy is only matched by his depth of philosophy, he really is unique, especially considering his background: for example the govnerment in Iran has never funded any symphonic works so he and a few others set up the Tehran Contemporary Music Group and in 1995 established the Iranian Orchestra for New Music.

See also: