Hindi Urdu Talks (audio) show

Hindi Urdu Talks (audio)

Summary: In keeping with its mission to enhance Hindi-Urdu learning in the United States, the Hindi Urdu Flagship at The University of Texas at Austin frequently invites leading scholars and artists working in the Hindi-Urdu medium to speak and interact with Flagship students. In addition to seminars and performances, the series also features various workshops and classroom sessions with the speakers. We film each event and share each recording with the general public with the hope that learners and lovers of Hindi-Urdu nationwide can benefit from these unique scholars and artists.

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  • Artist: Hindi Urdu Flagship
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Podcasts:

 Rupert Snell – Autobiography is Another Story: “Lives” in Hindi | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1:26:29

In this fascinating talk, Hindi Urdu Flagship Director, Rupert Snell, presents his recent work on the diverse genre of autobiographical writing in Hindi. The talk, entitled Autobiography is Another Story: “Lives” in Hindi, features audio recordings of a number of Hindi Urdu Flagship students and faculty reading from a wide variety of Hindi autobiographies. According to Snell, his research “looks at several kinds of autobiographical writing in Hindi – revisiting a genre in which I have previously done translations and literary analysis.The texts included here vary widely, from self-consciously literary works to more spontaneous memoirs by ‘amateur’ writers. Most of the examples were written in the second half of the 20th century, but their narratives typically pertain to its first half and hence show a natural intertextuality in shared themes such as the Independence movement. Just as there are similarities of theme, so are there wide differences in literary conventions, narrative technique, and tone, and my aim is to compare and celebrate these in an exploratory overview of the genre.” Snell’s published work includes numerous textbooks and readers in Hindi and its pre-modern dialects. His research interests focus on the poetics of Braj Bhasha poetry from temple and court, and he is preparing a translation of the Satsai of Biharilal for the Murty Classical Library of India (Harvard University Press). His interests in Hindi autobiography stem from his translation of Harivansh Rai Bachchan’s 4-volume memoirs as a single volume with the title, In the Afternoon of Time (1998).

 Ali Asani – From Qawwali to Sufi Rock: Contemporary Expressions of Muslim Devotional Literature | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1:10:51

Ali Asani, professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic religion and cultures at Harvard University describes the modern Sufi rock phenomenon epitomized by Salman Ahmad and his band Junoon. Asani outlines Ahmad’s personal musical, religious, and political journey and attempted to place Sufi rock in the broader tradition of Muslim devotional literature. A native of Kenya, Asani received both his undergraduate degree summa cum laude in the comparative study of religion and his Ph.D. in Near Eastern languages and civilizations from Harvard University. He currently directs the university’s Ph.D. program in Indo-Muslim Culture and chairs the department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. He also serves as the associate director of the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Islamic Studies Program. A scholar of Islam in South Asia, Dr. Asani’s research focuses on Shia and Sufi devotional traditions in the region. In addition, he is interested in popular or folk forms of Muslim devotional life, and Muslim communities in the West. His books include The Bujh Niranjan: An Ismaili Mystical Poem; The Harvard Collection of Ismaili Literature in Indic Literatures: A Descriptive Catalog and Finding Aid; Celebrating Muhammad: Images of the Prophet in Muslim Devotional Poetry (co-author); Al-Ummah: A Handbook for an Identity Development Program for North American Muslim Youth; Ecstasy and Enlightenment: The Ismaili Devotional Literatures of South Asia; Let’s Study Urdu: An Introduction to the Urdu Script and Let’s Study Urdu: An Introductory Course. Dr. Asani has been particularly active post-Sept. 11 in improving the understanding of Islam and its role in Muslim societies by conducting workshops for high school and college educators as well as making presentations at various public forums. More recently, he has been involved in the Islamic Cultural Studies Initiative, an international professional development program for high school teachers in Kenya, Pakistan and Texas intended to promote a culturally and historically based approach to the study of Islam and Muslim societies. He has also served on the American Academy of Religion’s Task Force on the teaching of religion in schools. In 2002, he was awarded the Harvard Foundation medal for his outstanding contributions to improving intercultural and race relations at Harvard and in the nation.

 Prahlad Singh Tipanya – Kabir | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1:57:33

As part of its festival celebrating the living tradition of song and performance dedicated to the poet Kabir, HUF hosts a live musical performance by an acclaimed traditional Kabir folk ensemble led by Prahlad Singh Tipanya. Tipanya sings and plays the tambura, a five-stringed plucked and strummed instrument originally from Rajasthan, and kartal a wood and metal instrument consisting of two pieces struck together to make a tambourine-like sound, played with the fingers of the left hand. His younger son, Vijay Tipanya, sings with him and plays manjira (small cymbals); his older son, Ajay Tipanya, plays dholak (two-headed drum); his brother, Ambaram Tipanya, plays manjira, kartal and sometimes harmonium; Devnarayan Sarolia plays violin. This is the first half of the performance. The second half is available as a separate podcast episode and online at: http://hindiurduflagship.org/resources/lectures-performances/tipanya-sings-kabir/

 Frances Pritchett – How to Read Ghalib | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 50:09

Frances Pritchett, Professor of Modern Indic Languages in the Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures at Columbia University, walks us through some key techniques for reading the notoriously difficult Urdu poetry of Mirza Ghalib. Pritchett teaches courses on Indian civilization, Urdu literature and Islam in South Asia. Pritchett’s publications include Nets of Awareness: Urdu Poetry and Its Critics, The Romance Tradition in Urdu: The Dastan of Amir Hamzah, Urdu Meter: A Practical Handbook, and Urdu Literature: A Bibliography of English Language Sources.

 Ali Husain Mir – Romance and Revolution in Bollywood Songs: Politics, Language, and Religion in Hindi-Urdu Cinema | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1:04:14

Bollywood lyricist and script writer Ali Husain Mir guides us on a wonderful, interactive tour of the history of Urdu in Indian cinema. Mir, also a professor of Management at William Paterson University, is the author of Anthems of Resistance, the definitive book on the All India Progressive Writers’ Movement; he is also an acclaimed lyricist and script-writer for Hindi and Urdu films (Iqbal, Dor). Mir’s oeuvre engages issues of religious minorities and secularism in South Asia.

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