Bani Adam are the first words in a famous poem by renowned Persian poet: Saadi.

Please join us to raise funds for Amnesty and show our support for human rights in Iran

Today’s interview is with sculptress Shenda Amery, currently showing her work RAGE at the Xerxes gallery London.

It will broadcast today at 13.30 GMT and you can hear via the ResonanceFM Facebook player if you like. It is repeated Sunday at 20.30 GMT

Soon we’ll broadcast our long chat with film maker Masoud Bhakshi on his 7 year long oeuvre “Tehran Has No more Pomegranates”.

Also we have a few copies of Bidoun to GIVE AWAY! If you’d like a copy of the the Pulp back issue, let us know, by answering this question: Name a topic that Shenda Amery treats with her series Rage.

Ten correct answers will be posted their copy of Bidoun, so be sure to leave your contact details.

http://www.bidoun.com/

An interview with Shirley Elghanian from Magic of Persia.

Magic of Persia Contemporary Art Prize finalists exhibit in London this month, as do the artists involved in the Iran Unbowed exhibition which Magic of Persia have curated to coincide with the Frieze Art Fair. With luminaries such as Abbas Kiarostami on board and Sheena Wagstaff chief curator of the Tate, Magic of Persia works to promote Iranian arts and culture outside of Iran.

This interview was broadcast live from the Resonance 104.4FM studios on October 5th 2009.

This year on 6 October 2009 the third Anna Politkovskaya Award will be presented by Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Mairead Maguire to a courageous human rights defender from Iran.

RAW in WAR (Reach All Women in WAR) with the Guardian newspaper as a Media Partner and with the support of Kings Place, present the Anna Politkovskaya Award 2009

The evening will be hosted by prominent UK journalist, Jon Snow (Channel 4). Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Mairead Maguire will present the award to the brave human rights defender from Iran. We will be remembering Anna and Natalia and their work in pursuit of the truth with Lord Frank Judd, Elena Kudimova (Anna’s sister), Eva Hoffman, Gillian Slovo, Azar Nafisi, Lord Nicolas Rea, Mariana Katzarova, (founder of RAW in WAR), and many others who knew Anna and Natalia. The audience will join with the acclaimed musicians Sussan Deyhim, Alfia Nakipbekova, Cellorhythmics and others in remembering Anna and Natalia, two special and brave women, and in honouring the work of the new award winner.

The annual award ceremony is a powerful and special event at which artists, musicians, human rights supporters, journalists, friends and colleagues come together to remember Anna on the anniversary of her murder. The award is presented to a woman human rights defender from a conflict zone in the world who, like Anna, seeks justice and gives voice to the victims, often at great personal risk

http://www.kingsplace.co.uk/spoken-word/raw-in-war-anna-politkovskaya-award-2009

Maziar Bahari A ResonanceFM ClearSpot show presented by Neil Denny of ‘Little Atoms’ and Fari Bradley of ‘Six Pillars to Persia’.

The recent Iranian elections were mired in controversy and accusations of corruption. Early in August around 100 so called “opposition leaders” appeared in a Tehran courtroom, in what has been described as a Stalinist show trial. They had been accused of formenting a “Velvet Revolution”.

This program focuses on one of those accused, the Canadian Journalist and film-maker Maziar Bahari. Joining Fari and Neil to discuss Maziar’s current plight, and his life and career as a journalist, are the film-maker Simon Ardizzone, who collaborated as editor on a number of Maziar’s films, writer Malu Halasa, co-editor with Maziar of the book Transit Tehran, and Little Atom’s own Padraig Reidy, news editor of ‘Index on Censorship’. Clear Spot 8pm until 9pm Wednesday 26th August 2009

Audio

Tennis impresario Mansour Bahrami at the launch of his DVD, talks about his extraordinary rise to stardom via homelessness in France and singularly harsh treatment as a child on the tennis courts in Iran.

BIBA (The British Iranian Business Association) organised this event in Summer 08 as part of their public service programming. We also hear comments from Fari Taydayon, The Energy Deployment Company and Bez Ghazian at the BIBA event at the Hilton where Bahrami was speaking.

This show also features classical music played by Haydn Dickenson, piano imitates and transcends santoor in the ten minute piece ‘Tariq 1′ from the album ‘East’.

* Hear the Podcast *

Author Rudi Mathee discusses his study of Persian uses for narcotics and other more mundane stimulants throughout history.  Mathee’s book “The Pursuit of Pleasure” has just been released in Iran, and Fari Bradley asks him about Sherry, Shiraz wine and stimulants and opiates in ancient Persia from coffee to opium.

Mathee focusses on the Safavid period (1501-1722) in Persia, when excessive drinking by the Shah was sanctioned by society, as he was seen as the son of Shi’i Imam and therefore exempt from the ban on alcohol. This one example embodies many of the massive paradoxes that existed during this period, and still exist as the tension between public piety and personal freedom.

Like the British, the Persians lived through entire eras of compulsive drinking, yet which were then followed by periods when imbibing became punishable with 40 -80 lashings of the whip due to Islam.

This progamme was originally broadcast from Resonancefm studios in  London on July 28th 2008.

* LISTEN TO THE PODCAST *

When five young men who are a typical modern concoction of traditional Iranian values and MTV play music together what will it sound like?

Simorgh incorporate group chanting and a lyrical poetry that is folk-rap, accompanied by the evocative ney flute, tar strings and the empty bellow of the daf drum in their music, which is as far as our experience shows, at it’s optimum best when seen live.

Fari talks to the five members of the up and coming band ‘Simorgh’ about leaving university, playing football, parents, Bryan Adams and musical instruments as weapons of culture.

Simorgh are running workshops for the BBC on Iranian music and putting on their own concerts around London. With a name taken from a Sufi text, the band stand for something many of us can comprehend: what it’s like to be a cultural cocktail in London now.

This programme was originally broadcast from the Resonance104.4fm studios on July 21st 2008.

Listen to the podcast

Two travel companies explain the ins and outs of travelling to Iran.  From dry sand skiing to Zoroastrian tours, there is a lot on offer!

Persian Voyages and Magic Carpet Travel share anecdotes and histories, as well as tips for those considering leaving.
This programme was originally broadcast on Resonance 104.4fm in London, on July 14th 2008

Podcast

6IIIs to Persia on Resonance104.4fm

Photographer Jamshid Bayrami shows his works in ‘Haj’, the opening exhibition at Xerxes Fine Arts Gallery in London, the only permanent gallery dedicated to Iranian art.

Bayrami has worked successfully as a photo journalist and is known for his picture of a bloodied hand print on a T-shirt during student protests that appeared on the front of The Economist magazine.

Here Fari Bradley talks to gallery owner and curator Ali Bagherzadeh, who is himself a collector, about the show and its pieces.

This show was originally broadcast from the Resonancefm studios on July 7th 2008

…Listen to the interview…