#6: On the Island, ep 1
11/03/22 • 14 min
On this podcast of Faraway is Close: episode 1 of On the Island, a storypoem spoken and written by Shebana Coelho.
"On the Island, a boy called Riiaz stood in his rubber boots on the deck of the boat where he fished."
A curious storypoem about recovering the old songs that I wrote some years ago. I've never been able to define it and I kept hearing it. It felt like it needed to be spoken.
Oh and there are lobsters in the story too.
Riiaz is an island boy who, one day, stops fishing and throws the lobsters he has caught back into the sea; Zillahz is a lobster who take a stand against the might of men and nets, and her father Miryal is the great lobster of the deepening sea who transforms himself into a human to confront the village of men -all to save the old songs, the ones that save us.
This is the first episode. The second episode will arrive next week. Consider this my return to podcasting after some months of radio silence. This was really a lot of fun to record. There are a few melodies in in - flamenco, an Irish lament, a raga. I wrote it some years ago but speaking, listening, singing, humming, I feel I am rediscovering it. Re living it as something that has its own life.
I'll be glad to hear what your responses. Email me at info at shebanacoelho dot com. Shukriya. Gracias. ~ Shebana
On this podcast of Faraway is Close: episode 1 of On the Island, a storypoem spoken and written by Shebana Coelho.
"On the Island, a boy called Riiaz stood in his rubber boots on the deck of the boat where he fished."
A curious storypoem about recovering the old songs that I wrote some years ago. I've never been able to define it and I kept hearing it. It felt like it needed to be spoken.
Oh and there are lobsters in the story too.
Riiaz is an island boy who, one day, stops fishing and throws the lobsters he has caught back into the sea; Zillahz is a lobster who take a stand against the might of men and nets, and her father Miryal is the great lobster of the deepening sea who transforms himself into a human to confront the village of men -all to save the old songs, the ones that save us.
This is the first episode. The second episode will arrive next week. Consider this my return to podcasting after some months of radio silence. This was really a lot of fun to record. There are a few melodies in in - flamenco, an Irish lament, a raga. I wrote it some years ago but speaking, listening, singing, humming, I feel I am rediscovering it. Re living it as something that has its own life.
I'll be glad to hear what your responses. Email me at info at shebanacoelho dot com. Shukriya. Gracias. ~ Shebana
Previous Episode
#5: The Other Side of Despair in Portugal
This episode was recorded on May 4, the day after reading about the possibility of Roe v Wade being overturned, feeling despair and coming out on the other side of it, and wanting to share that journey. I don't know what the other side of despair is called but there is hope in it. It all begins, as many things do, with colonization - stories of encounters in Portugal, with the shadow of India, the origins of tea time, and an invitation to reflect on how you have really changed and from that place of change, to choose a true response to injustice. And a poem in English and French about an unexpected encounter to find your own song by the sea.
24:36 min Intro to Poem & French version of poem read by Irina Sels
30:57 min Poem in English read by Shebana
The English and French text of the poem, along with photos & links for material referenced in this episode - all this on my website: https:/www.shebanacoelho.com/blogcast
Next Episode
#7: Robby Parker
"For me success as a musician is to play what I hear and that has been my goal for my whole life....You sit down and you try to hear what's in the air and reproduce."~ Robby Parker.
On this episode, a new segment of What Arises in Encounter featuring guest story-travelers and their creative journeys, In this third segment, an encounter with musician Robby Parker who created lovely oud compositions for my documentary, Nasario remembers the Río Puerco (nasarioremembers.com, available on Vimeo on Demand) and with whom I collaborated on a poem set to music, Clay.
About Robby:
Robby Parker secretly wanted to be a rock star. Since he couldn’t admit it, life made him a world music vagabond. His deep fascination with culture, language, people’s spiritual beliefs, and plucked instruments has led him to study and perform throughout the Middle East, Europe and North America. He loves wearing sandals, long robes, walking with animals in the streets and drinking fresh 50 cent mango smoothies.
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