Kicking off the Spring term with a bang, SLCE hosted Dastaangoi, Dastan-e-Mahabharat, a unique and mesmerising story telling performance on February 5, 2020.
Dastaangoi, the Urdu oral story-telling form which evolved in the Indian sub-continent in the 19th century, refers to a 500 year- long tradition of performing tales of magic, war and adventure. It borrows freely from sources such as the Arabian Nights, storytellers such as Rumi, and storytelling traditions such as the Panchatantra.
Subversive and political in its essence, Dastaangoi is an immersion into the fantastical world of magic, fantasy, sorcery, and spell and ‘aiyyari’ (the art of trickery), that imaginatively creates a world and reality much more elaborate and magnificent than the one we inhabit presently.
About Dastan-e-Mahabarata
Dastaan-e-Mahabarata is a stylized rendition of the age-old epic in classic Urdu to reinforce the cultural harmony of India. Using poetry from various Urdu versions of the epic, and alternating this with the narration of the great battle, this Dastaan grips audiences not just for the intensity of the story, but also for the harmony of the two major streams of Indian tradition which become one here through this critically acclaimed performance.
The performance has been written and directed by Danish Iqbal and performed by the renowned Dastaangoi performer duo, Fouzia Dastango and Firoz Khan.