Reading “The Rain Song” by Badr Shakir al-Sayyab, with Dona Abbadi

Metapsychosis #OnlyPoetry channel presents:

A guided reading and discussion of Iraqi poet Badr Shakir Al-Sayyab’s poem, “The Rain Song,” with Jordan-based author Dona Abbadi.

Dona guides us through a reading of one of the most beloved poems in 20th-century Arabic literature, helping us translate between languages and across cultural, historical, and religious contexts, to better understand and appreciate the meaning of Al-Sayyab’s work.

We begin with some music to set the mood…

Participants

Dona Abbadi
Marco V Morelli
Mary Thaler
Geoffrey Edwards

Recorded: 22 March 2019

Primary Reading

Background

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badr_Shakir_al-Sayyab
• http://www.bu.edu/agni/poetry/print/1975/5-sayyab-messiah.html
• Myth, T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land”, and Modern Arabic Poetry: Badr Shakir Al-Sayyab’s “Rain Song” and “Jaikur and the City”
• https://www.jstor.org/stable/162330
• http://www.elliottcolla.com/blog/2014/12/25/badr-shakir-al-sayyab-one-crutch-in-hell
• http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/10.1163/157006493×00168
• http://www.irssh.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/16_IRSSH-1091-V9N1.115111519.pdf

Also See

• English Translation of Selected Letters of Badr Shakir al-Sayyab [via Amazon]
• Placing the Poet: Badr Shakir al-Sayyab and Postcolonial Iraq [via Amazon]

Credits

• Opening music: “Leïla a Pris Ma Raison,” by Ensemble Ibn Arabi — download the full album via Archive.org.
• Closing music and recitation: “Song of the Rain,” via YouTube.