Hello Michael,
My mom always told me that because me and my brother were raised simultaneously in three languages (that is Persian, Swedish and French), both of us had to split our vocal energy in three channels, whereas my Swedish pre-school mates where always slightly advanced in their single Swedish mother tongue. When we grew older, we simply considered our tri-linguistic capability as keys to open a door to some additional spheres of kids excitement. In addition to the talking and playing with the other kids in prep-school, we could also sing with our parents french children songs and listen to old-persian fairy-tales when we visited Grandma in Tehran. Throughout the years, however, this advantages lost their importance more and more: now one can read almost everything in translations, and my music taste has also changed from french childrens songs more to contemporary music. And if I listen to Persian music, it is more for the rhytm and the melodies that I like, rather than for the lyrics. Sometimes I was always wondering if the three languages we grew up with could have really any long-term benefit for me, in particular now when English seems to be the dominating tool for worldwide communication.
It was always suggested, however that people who grew up in a multilingual environment (like in bi-national families) perform better in various neurological tests, independent on which languages. It was not clear, however, to what degree other social factors such as higher educational level in such families or their intention to provide these kids with additional skills and training might have biased such a finding. In a recent paper by Krizman and co-workers from Northwestern University, Evanston IL, published in PNAS it could be shown, that bilinguals had a specifically increased ability to differentiate between simultaneously sounding auditory objects. The perception of an auditory source is considered a key element in the ability to learn in a concentrated manner. It considerably increases the tolerance of a person against disturbances from external sources while concentrating on a subject. Their study also showed that the neural enhancements observed in multitalker babble intersect with bilinguals’ known advantages in cognitive control and are similar to advantages seen in musicians.
The continuously manipulating sounds across two languages leads to an expertise in how sound is encoded in the bilingual brain. In both groups of auditory experts (i.e., musicians and bilinguals), enhanced experience with sound results in an auditory system that is highly efficient, flexible and focused in its automatic sound processing, especially in challenging or novel listening conditions. Thus, converging evidence from both musicians and bilinguals points to subcortical plasticity as providing a biological basis for advantages in real-world experiences with sound.
Didn’t you came up last year with this theory that the sounds and music the unborn child hears in the mothers womb can have a profund effect onto his mental development ? So if we all hear music from iPod or MP3 player any more, should not at least the pregnant woman expose themself and their unborn baby to some real good sound, like going to a concert or a music club ?
Well, I guess this all depends on the mothers taste (which than coins the taste of its kids).
Take good Care
/ghazal
Multilingualism and music both enhance intellectual preformance
Persian Mojito
Hello Michael, didn’t you always tried to convince me that alcoholic drinks (at least in small quantities) are an integral part of civilisation and culture, and that I should not be so reluctant in sipping at least on your glas, when you ordered one of these various types of drinks and cocktails ? I think I was not ready then, and honestly I am still the one driving everybody home after a party, since I always stay dry.
But this has little to do with a fundamental refusal of alcoholic drinks, it is simply a personal dislike of its taste, and the observation that alcohol abuse here in Sweden is a major social and health issue. But I am very much aware that wine and spirits were always part of human civilisation and part of the culture heritage. This came to my mind yesterday, when we visit a family of friends of my parents. They served a very delicious, traditional iranian drink called “Doogh”. I liked its taste a lot, and when I asked the lady of the house how it is made, she took me to her kitchen and showed this very simple recipe. She took some ice cubes, lime juice, peppermint-leafes, a large portion of joghurt, mixed it all well up and filled it up with gased mineral water (look here, I made a photo of a glass Doogh for you).
So when I proposed to the other guests at this afternoon, to call “Doogh” the “Persian Mojito”, a loud and general discussion started about what was first. Some even asked to better call “Mojito” the “Western Doogh”. Sometimes Iranians can be very patriotic, and want to show that all big values of world civilisation and culture somehow have their roots in ancient Persian.
Take Care
/ghazal
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Oh Ghazal, my Dear, you are really full of phantasy. And its nice to read that even though you refused to drink the Mijito while you have been here in Munich, obviously you liked its colours and remembered the recipe. The one you have in your memories, is it like this one ?:
I hope that one day we will have the chance to try your Doogh and my Mojito. I think the two variants of summer drinks go together very well.
Take Care, Michael
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Hi Michael, for your interest, here is a recipe for Iranian Doogh as given on this website
Ingredients (4 glasses)
1 cup Yogurt
3 cups sparkling Water
Dried or fresh mint
Ice cubes
The magnificance of Irans Nature
Dear Ghazal,
Yesterday night the french-german TV channel Arte broadcasted this amazing two-series documentary about the magnificance of Irans Nature. And by chance (or perhaps not really by chance but due to a telepathic link of two like-minded souls), both Omid and myself were watching it. When we met in the morning at coffee break, we were both still out-of-breeze about the beautiful pictures, so we decided that we will travel Omids home-country next summer. In fact he already invited me several times, but I always had some issues regarding the current political tensions between the Regime in Tehran and the West. But now Omid convinced me that he will teach me how to get around all hussles there.
So we made firm plans for 2013 to restart the Grand Game again.
Whats about you, Ghazal, would you consider accompanying us ? It would be so much nicer, and of course we both would take care of you.
To give you some taste of what will expect you if you come with us to visit the land of your ancestors, have a look at the Arte TV series (you can change the language to german in the tiny menue on the bottom, if you prefer):
The second serie goes to the north and north-west of Iran, visiting the reservation-area Golestan, Elburs Mountains and the Caspian Sea. It also shows peoples visiting Hafiz’ tomb in Shiraz and reading his poems with great passion. Rare wild creatures such as Brown-Bear, the beautiful Ghazel, Leopard and Caucasian Deer. The animal photographs of the Serie were shot by Benny Rebel, a gifted expert of animal behaviour and the aesthetics of life.
(You can also watch the two documentaries full-screen size by pressing the tiny rectangular button below the videos.)
Super-Cooled Persian Lady
All I can say about her courage is “Marg Bar Dictator”.
White dog listens to white rabbit
Ivo, when we rescued you in the 2006 hot summer from a waste bin in the Bulgarian mountains, who could ever think that you will once appear in a music video for Jefferson Airplanes “White Rabbit”. (The music might sound a bit weird, I tried to slightly raise the key and increased the pace, hoping that this way it might got unnoticed by Youtube DRM filter).
33rd aniversary of Tehran hostage crisis
No, the headline of this post does not mis-calculate the days of the year 1979. In my eyes, the hostage crisis in Tehran started on March 31st 1979, and not in November of the same year. Sure, Wikipedia and history textbooks will consider the occupation of the US embassy as THE Tehran hostage crisis, and this event indeed took place at the end of the year. This “performance” of angry students, however, only temporarily caused a freeze in the US-Iranian relationship and did not caused any direct victims.
In my eyes, the real hostage crisis happend already 7 month earlier, at the 31st of March. This was the day when the islamist regime took over power, after the Shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi and his entire family fled the country. The majority of the Iranian people, however had no chance of turning away from their home country, and these people are the real hostages since 33 years. Although there might have been a real majority being in unease with the authoritarian monarchist power of the Shah, the real tragedy for them started when the so-called Iranian Revolution established a cruel, in-human regime that refuses people their basic rights of freely expressing their opinion, chossing their life-style, clothing or religion. Hundred thousands of Iranian people were branded as enemy of Islam by the regime and cowardly killed by police and basidj thugs.
The tragedy of many political activists of Iran, who in the 70s for honest reasons were engaged in the fight against the political unfreedom under the Shah, but suddenly found themself in a system of uncomparable opression and hypocracy is exemplified by the story of Maryam Farman Farmaian, nicknamed the Red Princess. When Princess Maryam was 10 years old she continued to learn at the first Tehran school for girls, where her sense for social rights and equal opportunities and human progress developed. She received a liberal education for the Persian women of her time, and attended university later in life while living in exile. She was a linguist, fluent in Persian, Arabic, French, Russian, German, and English. An independent thinker, she appreciated communist theory.
She chose to become a member of the Tudeh party, because this political organisation was the only party willing to accept her as a woman and give her a chance to become active in the women’s rights movement. Maryams enthusiams for political changes and a new society with equal rights for everybody was so strong that she decided to abandon her aristocratic name and adopted the surname Firouz in her political struggles; her grandfather’s name. She became known as Maryam Firouz in the political arena. She retained her legal name as Maryam Farman Farmaian with pride.
Read the full story here Princess Maryam
Jane Eyre’s nocturnal escape inspired Kate Bush
I red recently that one of the great pop singers of the 80s/90s, Kate Bush, was very much influenced by this scene, and two of her most famous songs, “Wuthering Heights” and “Running up that hill” are about this .
When an irrational power reaches for hellfire
While Israel prime minister Netanjahu warns the Iranian regime of a military strike against their nuclear facilities, Trita Parsi, head of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) explains the background motivation of the mullahs attitude to gain full access to nuclear technology. But his interview with the US late night comedy “Daily Show” appears more as a promotional event for his book, than the thoughtful explanation of one of the most dangerous geopolitical constellations of our times.
Iranian movies attract greater international attention
Dearest Ghazal,
Before the 2012 Oscar will be awarded on February 26th to the different categories of cinematography, I would like to say something about the state of the Iranian Cinema. This year, the highly acclaimed masterpiece “Nader and Simin – A separation” by the prominent Iranian film-maker Asghar Farhadi is nominated as the best non-english movie and for the best script.
“Nader and Simin” was not the only Iranian film which made it to the western screens during the last years. We were mesmerized by Ali Samadi Ahadis “Green Wave” and “Salami Aleikum“, by Shirin Neshats “Zanan-e bedun-e mardan (Woman without Men)” and by the magic realism of Marjam Satrapis “Persepolis” and “Chicken with Plums“.
Movies by Iranian directors who have the chance to work abroad (like Marjan Satrapi or Ali Samadi Ahadi) are extraordinary masterpieces, carrying a very unique handwriting of their directors. And they breath the spirit of freedom and of unlimited creativity. But because they are produced in the west, they attract much less media attention. The media and critics in the west too often judge a movie more by the circumstances under which it has been produced, and therefore grant a movie that has been produced inside the country an extra bonus for “braveness”. And for this extra bonus there seem to be a consensus that Iranian movies which are a domestic production (like those by Jafar Panahi, Abbas Kiarostami, Asghar Fahadi or Mohammad Rasoulof) might lack the free-spirit and the very personal and experimental techniques and tough expressions, which are characteristic for movies like “Green Wave” or “Salami Alaikum” by Ali Samadi Ahadi, “Woman without Men” by Shirin Neshat or “Chicken with Plum” by Marijam Satrapi. How is it possible, that although anything else than happy ending soft-stories, these four movies leave the audience with a feeling of hope, with the confidence that even the biggest tragedy will find a solution, or at least a meaning ? Is it because each tragedy will loose its horror if it can be openly narrated, if a movie-director can show and say everything he/she wants to say, using the words and pictures he/she feels are appropriate in this very moment ? This way even the saddest and tragic stories like in “Green Wave” or in “Chicken with Plum” can be presented with the greatest of ease. Here, the movie will be a relieve for the director, for the actors and finally for the audience. Because the emotionally strong stories were transformed into movies with all possible and all neccessary cinematografic elements, the audience feels a strong satisfaction and happiness.
In contrast, the movies produced at home in Iran (like “Darbareye Elly” or “Nader and Simin – A divorce” by Fahadi or “Offside” by Jafar Panahi) can not make us forget that censorship is the dominating condition under which artists have to live and work. Each single word in a dialogue, every character, every scenery has to be considered under the threat of censoreship. The so-called “scissors in your own head” might help the director to finally produce a movie that passes the ideological watch-dogs of the regime, and therefore wont suffer too much from beeing “trimmed” by some uneducated beaurocrats. But the movie itself, even if it fullfills the highest standard of movie-arts and creativity, innovation and honesty, can not make us forget that it was produced under conditions of unfreedom. You still can smell the sweat of the film-makers from the fear of loosing the battle against the beaurocrats, you can feel the many frustrating moments they had when another brilliant idea had to be put aside, for the sake to get the whole project through the machinery. One feels that they had to carefully select their words and their pictures, and this leaves a feeling in the audience that not everything what should have been said and shown in the movie became real.
I still advocate the Oscar beeing awarded to Asghar Fahadi, I think the battle he fought against the dump and dogmatic Iranian censoreship and the excellent team work he set up with great artists such as Sareh Bayat, Leila Hatami, Peyman Hatami and many others should be honoured. I think that none of the directors that left Iran would have had enough mental energy to fight through all these odds as Fahadi did, always beeing aware of the risk to end up in prison or beeing sentenced with a ban to work, as his colleague Jafar Panahi has experienced it. For sure, neither Ali Samadi Ahadi, nor Marijam Satrapi or Shirin Neshat would have had the stand and the courage (and maybe other qualities as well) to go through all the husles and restrictions to produce their movies at home in Iran – but maybe under conditions of relative freedom they are the more innovative and creative art-directors. A case where an Iranian film-maker probably tried to get “the best of both worlds” was Bahman Gobadis “Kasi az gorbehaye irani khabar nadareh (No one knows about persian cats)” According to IMBD, “.. during filming, Ghobadi and his actors were arrested twice but released after giving presents to the authorities and lying about the real subject of the film.” This way Bahman Gobadi found a half legal, half underground style to get a movie approved by the Iranian authorities, although it was full of satyrical episodes and signs showing that a way-out of the misery requires the abolution of the dogmatic islamic laws of the mullahs regime. But this film must be considered a singular event.
In general, Iranian movies must be judged either by their political braveness (if they are produced inside Iran) or by the high cinematographic standard (when they are produced abroad). At the current political situation and the degree of oppression of intellectuals and arts-people under the islamic regime I think it is legitimate to honour with the Oscar award the movies who are the result of a brave political fight. But in history books of Iranian movie arts, I believe, the films of the exiled directors Ali Samadi Ahadi, Marjam Satrapi or Shirin Neshat might be considered more innovative and of longer-lasting value.
Persian Drag Queens
Dear Ghazal,
In general I don’t like to send or forward uncommented videos or photographs. But the following one is just so funny, I think any additional words would just spoil it.
Enjoy, Take Care, Michael
PS: the video has recently be blocked by youtube or classified as “privat”. Thats too bad, cause it was nice, funny, and not offencive at all
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Drag Queens are cult. Makes me smile. I love how they perform. Do you also think that transvestites very often look more attractive then real woman ?
Shava, however complained about the jokes they did in the video about big noses ! She insisted that big noses are beautiful,
that they are precious, that they give character and are a sign of strong personality.
But now big noses become an endangered species in Iran. Because its the easiest and most
profitable operation for the plastic surgeons. Shava said people who have their big nose reduced should better be send to
a neurosurgeon to get a Brain bypass operation.
I hope everything is fine with you,
Take Care
/ghazal
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Ghazal my dear,
First of all, I have to say how much I agree with Shavas opinion regarding big noses.It always makes me very sad to hear
that people can be ashamed of their sharp noses. The attempt to
“correct” it to resemble japanese manga figures is a regrettable and
irreversible damage to the personality. Large, sharp noses were always
seen as a reflection of a strong character. Therefore it does not come
as a surprise they are so common among the Iranians.
off statues that portrayed the local gods and goddesses. They thought that this way they can destroy their power.
What comes as a relief: a corrected nose can not be inherited to the
next generation. Size of the nose is largely genetically determined (i.e. by fixed DNA variations that are differently distributed among different ethnic groups). Therefore, the iranian people, even if they have their large noses reduced by plastic surgery, will transmit their original size as a
genetic treasure to the next generations. Tell Shava that hope is in sight. The attempt to improve its own chances on the hunt for a partner by “correcting” ones nose has even a long-term effect that causes even more large noses in Iran. It is simply by increasing the chance of woman with (genetically large/surgically small) noses to find one or more partner to have children with. Therefor the natural selection for genetically small noses is fooled, since the eyes cannot see whats hidden in the genes. Befor plastic surgery, partnership preference for small noses would have really caused continious loss of the large-nose-genes with the dangerous consequence of (as Shava called it) large noses becoming an endangered species. With the advent of plastic surgery, however, sexual selection against large noses does not work any more. Therefor, large noses are not lost, but rather hidden in our genes for future generations.
Take Care, my Dear (and take care of your beautiful nose. If any moron makes silly comments about it, print out this post and stick it him on his forehead !!!)
