An eye-opening collection of clandestine poems by Afghan womenBecause my loves American;blisters blossom on my heart.Afghans revere poetry; particularly the high literary forms that derive from Persian or Arabic. But the poem above is a folk coupletmdash;a landay; an ancient oral and anonymous form created by and for mostly illiterate people: the more than 20 million Pashtun women who span the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. War; separation; homeland; lovemdash;these are the subjects of landays; which are brutal and spare; can be remixed like rap; and are powerful in that they make no attempts to be literary. From Facebook to drone strikes to the songs of the ancient caravans that first brought these poems to Afghanistan thousands of years ago; landays reflect contemporary Pashtun life and the impact of three decades of war. With the U.S. withdrawal in 2014 looming; these are the voices of protest most at risk of being lost when the Americans leave.After learning the story of a teenage girl who was forbidden to write poems and set herself on fire in protest; the poet Eliza Griswold and the photographer Seamus Murphy journeyed to Afghanistan to learn about these women and to collect their landays. The poems gathered in I Am the Beggar of the World express a collective rage; a lament; a filthy joke; a love of homeland; an aching longing; a call to arms; all of which belie any facile image of a Pashtun woman as nothing but a mute ghost beneath a blue burqa.
#769673 in eBooks 2004-03-31 2004-03-31File Name: B00LXV75E4
Review
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Excellent for developing breath controlBy rocket number 9Arthur Weisberg was my teachers teacher. I found his book to be extremely helpful to me ; although I play saxophone; not bassoon. Specifically it helped me develop my vibrato; as well as generally helping develop much better breath control; which seems to be THE essential skill in improving every aspect of woodwind playing. I recommend this book to all wind players regardless of level; and especially woodwind players; but I can see it would be helpful to brass players as well.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Master teacher of wind instrumentsBy Dr. Marie Jureit-BeamishMr. Weissberg was one of the most influential teachers of mine at Yale School of Music. His musical insights and knowledge of winds is amazing and has strongly impacted on my college teaching for the last 35 years. His book is essential for all woodwind players!1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. A classic!!!By RockDocGlad to see this book being reprinted!; its a CLASSIC for wind players (especially bassoonists!). This is a must-have IMHO.
