~𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝑺𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈~
One week into the Spring season, and also into the 13-day celebration of Iranian New Year- Nowrouz, I would like to share with you this beautiful Persian Folk Song about the Spring (Bahaar) and the return of New Beginnings and Hope.
This song is very special to me- not just because it is in my mother tongue, Farsi, that I adore. It is also the very first song that I ever allowed myself to sing. The one that initiated me into singing 6 years ago. To this day, it is one of my all time favorite Persian songs that I have had the honor of learning. The elegance and the depth of the Farsi literature, the words and the poetry, make my heart sing.
This video was created and recorded 2 years ago on Salt Spring Island when with the arrival of Spring, I felt the urge and the courage to record the expression of my heart through this song, and one day maybe even share it with the world. (Well it took 2 years as vulnerability is not always easy to embrace, but here it is! )
In September of 2016, after a debilitating accident at work, I was forced to stay in bed and home for weeks. During this time I became undeniably aware of the Block I have carried in my voice and the constriction in my throat. Until then, I had never ever dared to sing in my life, not even when I was absolutely alone and nobody could hear. There was a deep shame and blockage in expressing my voice, especially in the form of singing. I would cringe at hearing the sound of my own voice in a recording. And despite my admiration for singing and music, I felt completely hopeless to even try. I had known for a while at that point that this block was not just My shame (or fear), but an intergenerational one. One that ran through my grandmothers and my mother as well, and most probably through most women of my nation, and also the world. It is one that most people can relate to.
So it became super clear for me at that time, that I had to work with this block. Get to know it, and move through it. That same night, I had a dream of a very old folk Persian song that I had not heard since we had left Iran- (Dar Golestaneh- در گلستانه- for those who know it) I woke up that morning with a deep sense of nostalgia and an undeniable realization that: I have to start singing in my own language, in my mother tongue- Farsi.
The next day I was in my first class and it marks the start of my journey with Singing, which very quickly became one of my deepest medicines and form of prayer that I walk with in this life.
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A bit about the song:
بهار دلنشین The Endearing Spring
This song is a calling to the Beloved- which in Farsi songs can be interpreted as God, Divine presence, Life, or the manifestation of the Beloved in a person.
It speaks about the arrival of Spring and is calling the Beloved to also return. With beautiful metaphors of nature, it says to the beloved: "Just as the winsome spring has returned and with its touch is bringing all of nature back to life; you, my beloved, also return to my heart and awaken my whole being back to life".
The song ends with:
Your face, the mirror to my soul
Your love, the forever longing of my heart
Come back, like the flower in the spring
And gently rest your head on my heart