{"id":9546,"date":"2022-07-25T11:21:04","date_gmt":"2022-07-25T09:21:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/?p=9546"},"modified":"2023-03-08T18:32:33","modified_gmt":"2023-03-08T16:32:33","slug":"poet-faiz-ahmed-faizs-dasht-e-tanhai-a-desert-soundscape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/poet-faiz-ahmed-faizs-dasht-e-tanhai-a-desert-soundscape\/","title":{"rendered":"Poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz&#8217;s &#8220;Dasht-e-Tanhai&#8221;\u2014A Desert Soundscape"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>A poem by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, translated from the Urdu and read by Mara Ahmed, with sound design by Darien Lamen.<\/p>\n<h4><\/h4>\n<h4>Mara Ahmed<\/h4>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Dasht-e-Tanhai (The Desert of my Solitude) by Reclaiming the Narrative\" width=\"750\" height=\"400\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?visual=true&#038;url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F1238851171&#038;show_artwork=true&#038;maxheight=1000&#038;maxwidth=750\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>While this recording and soundscape are new and have never been shared online until now, I first translated <em>Dasht-e-Tanhai, <\/em>a remarkable poem by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, in 2009. A little nervous about the audacity of such an undertaking, I read all the translations I could find online and in books and discussed the poem at length with my parents, both lovers of Urdu poetry. In the end, I took some liberties and strayed from a literal translation. I wanted to subscribe to Faiz\u2019s own understanding of poetry and how it is made of sense and feeling. In his essay, <em>Poetry and Sense<\/em>, he describes poetic ideas as \u201cjetsam\u201d strewn on the mind\u2019s beach by waves of feeling. It is then the poet\u2019s job to collage those \u201cbits of wreckage\u201d and build them up into a house.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Faiz_Ahmad_Faiz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Faiz Ahmed Faiz<\/a> (1911-1984) is one of the greatest Urdu poets of the last century. A two-time Nobel Prize nominee, he was a best-selling author on both sides of the border, in Pakistan and India, and a fearless public intellectual whose political vision mobilized a mammoth following.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_9551\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9551\" style=\"width: 670px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Faiz_Ahmad_Faiz\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-9551\" src=\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/faiz-ahmed-faiz-bw.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"670\" height=\"458\" srcset=\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/faiz-ahmed-faiz-bw.jpg 670w, https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/faiz-ahmed-faiz-bw-600x410.jpg 600w, https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/faiz-ahmed-faiz-bw-300x205.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 670px) 100vw, 670px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-9551\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pakistan&#8217;s poet, Faiz Ahmed Faiz.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>An avowed Marxist who received the Lenin Peace Prize in 1962, Faiz was a key member of the All-India Progressive Writers\u2019 Association which was established in London, in 1935, by Indian writers and intellectuals. The Progressives were a radical group committed to modernizing South Asian literature and strongly invested in literary realism.<\/p>\n<p>In a 1998 lecture, Agha Shahid Ali explained how Faiz\u2019s work pushed Urdu poetry into the political realm. Not that Urdu poetry had been apolitical before that. It had always challenged orthodoxy, but in ways subtle enough to escape the gallows. Faiz placed revolution at the center of his work, turning it into the intoxicating beloved \u2014 one\u2019s eternal desire and mission. These departures for Urdu poetry also meant that Faiz was frequently jailed.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, <em>Dasht-e-Tanhai<\/em> was published as part of a collection of poems written in prison. This was back in 1951, when Pakistani Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan implicated Faiz in a ludicrous communist coup and ordered his arrest.<\/p>\n<p><em>Dasht-e-Tanhai<\/em> (The Desert of Loneliness) or <em>Yaad<\/em> (Memory) has always moved me, its words and metaphors like pearls strung together with elegant ease. It embodies Faiz\u2019s style of writing: filled with glorious ideas of beauty and social justice but always fluid, unencumbered, songful. With luminous spaces in between. Never pedantic or oppressive. <em>Dasht-e-Tanhai<\/em> is a poem about separation and longing, about sensory memory and its permanent aching imprint on the heart. It\u2019s a love poem and therefore a gem in Faiz\u2019s rich portfolio of prose and poetry. Some connect the poem\u2019s theme of loss and nostalgia to the 1947 partition of British India, when a much-awaited moment of decolonization turned into violent fracture and exile.<\/p>\n<p>To me it\u2019s a love poem brimming with scents, sounds, landscapes, and textures. It speaks to movement and physical phenomena, to disconnection and union. Perhaps to the cyclical nature of life itself. Faiz wrote the poem while in prison, from a place of sensory deprivation and seclusion, and therefore all the physical world\u2019s vividness and intensity are contained in his words. The poem demands more coloring in, more relief than words on a page.<\/p>\n<p>My English translation of <em>Dasht-e-Tanhai<\/em> became the most popular translation of the poem online, if one is to go by Google. I get thanks for it from lovers of Faiz\u2019s oeuvre from across the globe. Although most of my work involves visual art and film, I have become fascinated by sound over the last few years. I work closely with my friend and collaborator Darien Lamen, a musician, ethnomusicologist, and filmmaker.\u00a0I agree with Darien when he says that \u201cby virtue of\u00a0its disembodied presence, sound tends to evoke rather than dictate, coax rather than\u00a0coerce our imagination, which has grown more passive through our\u00a0engagement with dominant forms of digital media.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 2019, we produced a piece called <a href=\"https:\/\/maraahmed.com\/wp\/2019\/03\/06\/knowing-is-beautiful\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Knowing is Beautiful<\/em><\/a>. It\u2019s about rain, its varied moods, geographies, and contexts. As a continuation of our work together, I recorded <em>Dasht-e-Tanhai<\/em> in both Urdu and English and Darien developed the sound design for it.<\/p>\n<p>We discussed Faiz\u2019s poetry and politics, his muse Alys George, a fellow communist who met Faiz in India long before the partition, and then married him in 1941. We were inspired by Pakistan\u2019s Thar desert, its sand dunes, windstorms, and music. As Darien explains: \u201cWe discussed the importance of an aesthetics of sparseness, in which we might introduce snatches of music and faint voices at various intervals \u2014 tantalizing, fleeting, never enough to satisfy \u2014 in a chain of substitutions standing in for the absent object of desire: a perfumed breath, a wife and muse, home, freedom, revolution.\u201d He continues: \u201cThe ambient desert audio that forms the\u00a0backdrop for <em>The Desert of My Solitude<\/em> is characterized by the low rush of wind and the high\u00a0skittering of sand. I tried to build the sound design around other \u2018analogous\u2019 sounds \u2014 the shudder of an accordion bellows beneath the dry\u00a0clicking of its buttons, the approving murmur of an audience as a harmonium player chases after\u00a0Iqbal Bano\u2019s vocal ornamentations. Developing these sonic analogues provides a formal\u00a0coherence to the sound design, while also inviting a mode of listening that is hopefully both active and immersive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For me personally, as someone who is permanently d\u00e9racin\u00e9e, who lives in between homes and languages, and feels a particular ache for Pakistan, Faiz\u2019s words of love and wistfulness set off untold emotions. I tried to read <em>Dasht-e-Tanhai<\/em> in Urdu at the Spirit Room, in Rochester, New York, in 2018. I could see my parents and husband in the audience. The import of releasing Urdu poetry into a wintry space, a world away from the fragrant jasmine Faiz describes, overwhelmed me. This recording is a way to be able to say all the words, finally.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\"><strong>References<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">Yaqin, A. (2013). <a href=\"https:\/\/eprints.soas.ac.uk\/22908\/1\/Yakin.pdf\">Cosmopolitan ventures during times of crisis: a postcolonial reading of Faiz Ahmed Faiz\u2019s \u201cDasht-e tanhai\u201d and Nadeem Aslam\u2019s Maps for Lost Lovers<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">Ali, A. S. (1998). <a href=\"https:\/\/poetshouse.org\/audio\/1998-agha-shahid-ali-on-faiz-ahmed-faiz-full-audio\/?fbclid=IwAR2rnx37vZbfm_5qK83bRegaW7cse7k8rM1BkWiEkpH-XDSoet2SA7uZWiI\">Agha Shahid Ali on Faiz Ahmed Faiz<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">Saeed, M., Moghees, A., Dar, S. A. (2018). <a href=\"https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/326267451_Sense_and_Feel_The_Missing_Elements_in_Faiz_Ahmad_Faiz%27s_Translated_Poetry\">Sense and Feel: The Missing Elements in Faiz Ahmad Faiz\u2019s Translated Poetry<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">Magray, A. U. H. (2019). <a href=\"https:\/\/www.academia.edu\/39986522\/Prison_poetry_of_Faiz_Ahmad_Faiz_FULLY_FINAL\">Prison poetry of Faiz Ahmad Faiz<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Multimedia artist Mara Ahmed translates and reads Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz&#8217;s Urdu classic, composed while in prison.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":9578,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,51],"tags":[503,1286,1761],"coauthors":[2024],"class_list":["post-9546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry","category-tmr-weekly","tag-desert","tag-pakistani-writers","tag-urdu-poetry","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.8 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz&#039;s &quot;Dasht-e-Tanhai&quot;\u2014A Desert Soundscape - The Markaz Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Multimedia artist Mara Ahmed translates and reads Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz&#039;s Urdu classic, composed while in prison.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/poet-faiz-ahmed-faizs-dasht-e-tanhai-a-desert-soundscape\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz&#039;s &quot;Dasht-e-Tanhai&quot;\u2014A Desert Soundscape\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Multimedia artist Mara Ahmed translates and reads Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz&#039;s Urdu classic, composed while in prison.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/poet-faiz-ahmed-faizs-dasht-e-tanhai-a-desert-soundscape\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Markaz Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-07-25T09:21:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-08T16:32:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/sm-rabah-al-shammary-_yfv_9O9kVs-unsplash-copy.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1160\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"709\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mara Ahmed\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mara Ahmed\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/poet-faiz-ahmed-faizs-dasht-e-tanhai-a-desert-soundscape\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/poet-faiz-ahmed-faizs-dasht-e-tanhai-a-desert-soundscape\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mara Ahmed\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7508a2bd5025326be3e83fd434b56f6d\"},\"headline\":\"Poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz&#8217;s &#8220;Dasht-e-Tanhai&#8221;\u2014A Desert Soundscape\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-07-25T09:21:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-08T16:32:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/poet-faiz-ahmed-faizs-dasht-e-tanhai-a-desert-soundscape\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1109,\"commentCount\":4,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/poet-faiz-ahmed-faizs-dasht-e-tanhai-a-desert-soundscape\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/sm-rabah-al-shammary-_yfv_9O9kVs-unsplash-copy.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"desert\",\"Pakistani writers\",\"Urdu poetry\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Poetry\",\"TMR Weekly\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/poet-faiz-ahmed-faizs-dasht-e-tanhai-a-desert-soundscape\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/poet-faiz-ahmed-faizs-dasht-e-tanhai-a-desert-soundscape\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/poet-faiz-ahmed-faizs-dasht-e-tanhai-a-desert-soundscape\\\/\",\"name\":\"Poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz's \\\"Dasht-e-Tanhai\\\"\u2014A Desert Soundscape - The Markaz Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/poet-faiz-ahmed-faizs-dasht-e-tanhai-a-desert-soundscape\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/poet-faiz-ahmed-faizs-dasht-e-tanhai-a-desert-soundscape\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/sm-rabah-al-shammary-_yfv_9O9kVs-unsplash-copy.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-07-25T09:21:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-08T16:32:33+00:00\",\"description\":\"Multimedia artist Mara Ahmed translates and reads Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz's Urdu classic, composed while in prison.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/poet-faiz-ahmed-faizs-dasht-e-tanhai-a-desert-soundscape\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/poet-faiz-ahmed-faizs-dasht-e-tanhai-a-desert-soundscape\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/poet-faiz-ahmed-faizs-dasht-e-tanhai-a-desert-soundscape\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/sm-rabah-al-shammary-_yfv_9O9kVs-unsplash-copy.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/sm-rabah-al-shammary-_yfv_9O9kVs-unsplash-copy.jpg\",\"width\":1160,\"height\":709,\"caption\":\"Desert image by Rabah al-Shammary (courtesy Unsplash).\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/poet-faiz-ahmed-faizs-dasht-e-tanhai-a-desert-soundscape\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz&#8217;s &#8220;Dasht-e-Tanhai&#8221;\u2014A Desert Soundscape\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Markaz Review\",\"description\":\"Literature and Arts from the Center of the World\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Markaz Review\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/cropped-New-2023-TMR-Logo-500-pix.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/cropped-New-2023-TMR-Logo-500-pix.jpg\",\"width\":473,\"height\":191,\"caption\":\"The Markaz Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7508a2bd5025326be3e83fd434b56f6d\",\"name\":\"Mara Ahmed\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b195f838f5ff9815a59caa78411833565cd16098ce81956ff722bfcb4dcbd1c1?s=96&d=mm&r=g103a875af7731dd3b1a99b679d294ae0\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b195f838f5ff9815a59caa78411833565cd16098ce81956ff722bfcb4dcbd1c1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b195f838f5ff9815a59caa78411833565cd16098ce81956ff722bfcb4dcbd1c1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mara Ahmed\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/author\\\/maraahmed\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz's \"Dasht-e-Tanhai\"\u2014A Desert Soundscape - The Markaz Review","description":"Multimedia artist Mara Ahmed translates and reads Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz's Urdu classic, composed while in prison.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/poet-faiz-ahmed-faizs-dasht-e-tanhai-a-desert-soundscape\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz's \"Dasht-e-Tanhai\"\u2014A Desert Soundscape","og_description":"Multimedia artist Mara Ahmed translates and reads Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz's Urdu classic, composed while in prison.","og_url":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/poet-faiz-ahmed-faizs-dasht-e-tanhai-a-desert-soundscape\/","og_site_name":"The Markaz Review","article_published_time":"2022-07-25T09:21:04+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-03-08T16:32:33+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1160,"height":709,"url":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/sm-rabah-al-shammary-_yfv_9O9kVs-unsplash-copy.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Mara Ahmed","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mara Ahmed","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/poet-faiz-ahmed-faizs-dasht-e-tanhai-a-desert-soundscape\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/poet-faiz-ahmed-faizs-dasht-e-tanhai-a-desert-soundscape\/"},"author":{"name":"Mara Ahmed","@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/7508a2bd5025326be3e83fd434b56f6d"},"headline":"Poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz&#8217;s &#8220;Dasht-e-Tanhai&#8221;\u2014A Desert Soundscape","datePublished":"2022-07-25T09:21:04+00:00","dateModified":"2023-03-08T16:32:33+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/poet-faiz-ahmed-faizs-dasht-e-tanhai-a-desert-soundscape\/"},"wordCount":1109,"commentCount":4,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/poet-faiz-ahmed-faizs-dasht-e-tanhai-a-desert-soundscape\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/sm-rabah-al-shammary-_yfv_9O9kVs-unsplash-copy.jpg","keywords":["desert","Pakistani writers","Urdu poetry"],"articleSection":["Poetry","TMR Weekly"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/poet-faiz-ahmed-faizs-dasht-e-tanhai-a-desert-soundscape\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/poet-faiz-ahmed-faizs-dasht-e-tanhai-a-desert-soundscape\/","url":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/poet-faiz-ahmed-faizs-dasht-e-tanhai-a-desert-soundscape\/","name":"Poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz's \"Dasht-e-Tanhai\"\u2014A Desert Soundscape - The Markaz Review","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/poet-faiz-ahmed-faizs-dasht-e-tanhai-a-desert-soundscape\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/poet-faiz-ahmed-faizs-dasht-e-tanhai-a-desert-soundscape\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/sm-rabah-al-shammary-_yfv_9O9kVs-unsplash-copy.jpg","datePublished":"2022-07-25T09:21:04+00:00","dateModified":"2023-03-08T16:32:33+00:00","description":"Multimedia artist Mara Ahmed translates and reads Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz's Urdu classic, composed while in prison.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/poet-faiz-ahmed-faizs-dasht-e-tanhai-a-desert-soundscape\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/poet-faiz-ahmed-faizs-dasht-e-tanhai-a-desert-soundscape\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/poet-faiz-ahmed-faizs-dasht-e-tanhai-a-desert-soundscape\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/sm-rabah-al-shammary-_yfv_9O9kVs-unsplash-copy.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/sm-rabah-al-shammary-_yfv_9O9kVs-unsplash-copy.jpg","width":1160,"height":709,"caption":"Desert image by Rabah al-Shammary (courtesy Unsplash)."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/poet-faiz-ahmed-faizs-dasht-e-tanhai-a-desert-soundscape\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz&#8217;s &#8220;Dasht-e-Tanhai&#8221;\u2014A Desert Soundscape"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/#website","url":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/","name":"The Markaz Review","description":"Literature and Arts from the Center of the World","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/#organization","name":"The Markaz Review","url":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/cropped-New-2023-TMR-Logo-500-pix.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/cropped-New-2023-TMR-Logo-500-pix.jpg","width":473,"height":191,"caption":"The Markaz Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/7508a2bd5025326be3e83fd434b56f6d","name":"Mara Ahmed","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b195f838f5ff9815a59caa78411833565cd16098ce81956ff722bfcb4dcbd1c1?s=96&d=mm&r=g103a875af7731dd3b1a99b679d294ae0","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b195f838f5ff9815a59caa78411833565cd16098ce81956ff722bfcb4dcbd1c1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b195f838f5ff9815a59caa78411833565cd16098ce81956ff722bfcb4dcbd1c1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mara Ahmed"},"url":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/author\/maraahmed\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/sm-rabah-al-shammary-_yfv_9O9kVs-unsplash-copy.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9546\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9546"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=9546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}