Ask Hafiz is available from Thornwillow Press
Winner of the 2021 Patrons’ Prize for Emerging Artists from Thornwillow Press, Ask Hafiz is a migration story told through poetic divination. The hybrid narrative interweaves memoir with the ghazals of the 14th century Persian poet and seer Hafiz-e-Shirazi. It draws on the ancient bibliomantic tradition of Fal-e-Hafiz to tell the story of a family’s forced migration from Afghanistan.
Ask Hafiz
is also a live and recorded collaborative performance, originally conceived and directed by Malini Srinivasan. It integrates the ghazals of Hafiz, Sahar Muradi’s narration, the gestural language of Bharatanatyam choreographed and performed by Malini Srinivasan, and a lush musical soundscape created by Haleh Liza Gafori, Trina Basu, Rich Stein, and Christopher Hoffman. The show premiered live in the 2019 Brooklyn Raga Massive’s Out of the Woods Festival at Joe’s Pub, and it was broadcast globally as part of the 2020 Ragas Live Festival.