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Cameron and Ramak share poems of love and wonder in English and Farsi! Who is this 'Persian' and this 'Poet'? Ramak Bamzar is a conceptual photographer studying her Masters in Fine Arts at RMIT. She has always had a love for poetry and she's 'The Persian' of this duo, having moved to Melbourne from Iran 10 years ago. Cameron Semmens is 'The Poet' of this team with 28 years experience on the stage and the page, with 24 books to his name. As well as being relentlessly poetic Cameron also does book design, well-being facilitation and dabbles in fine art. Their websites: www.ramakbamzar.com www.webcameron.com
Episodes
Tuesday Dec 22, 2020
Tuesday Dec 22, 2020
Episode 14 : Yalda Night Special
Ramak and Cam share a night full of candles, cosiness, fruit and poetry! Gorgeous ghazals from one of the greatest of all Persian poets: Hafiz, as well as exquisite poems from Cam’s 3 favourite poets: David Whyte, Mary Oliver and John O’Donohue…. and Cam couldn’t not share a brand-new ghazal he’d just written.
But some may be asking – What is Yalda Night?
Well, Yalda Night is a winter solstice festival celebrated in Iran. Friends and family gather on the longest night of the year to eat, drink and read poetry (especially Hafez) until well after midnight. Nuts and fruits are shared. The red-coloured fruits, like pomegranates and watermelons, are particularly significant – symbolising the crimson hues of dawn and the glow of life. The poems of Hafez, which can be found in the bookcases of most Iranian families, are read aloud… and even used as a light-hearted form of divination called ‘fal-e Hafez’, where the reader sends out a wish to Hafez, flicks through their book of Hafez poems, stops at a random page, and reads that poem as an answer to their wish…
and on this Yalda Night in 2020 Ramak and Cam try a bit of fal-e Hafez… with thought-provoking results!
Poem list:
1 : Sweet Darkness by David Whyte.
2 : A Summer Day by Mary Oliver.
3 & 4 : Ghazals by Hafez from The Divan of Hafez.
5 : Ode 44 (a ghazal by Hafez) translated by Richard Le Gallienne.
6 : A Silent Refrain by Cameron Semmens
7 : For The Break-up of a Relationship by John O’Donohue
All music by Jared Haschek: jaredhaschek.com
Podcast produced by Cameron Semmens : www.webcameron.com
Photography and graphic design by Ramak Bamzar : www.ramakbamzar.com
Tuesday Dec 08, 2020
Tuesday Dec 08, 2020
Poem 1 : The Wattle and The Willow by Cameron Semmens.
Translation by Ramak Bamzar.
Music : Rod Gear www.rodgearmusic.com
Poem 2 : How Impatient by Ahmad Shamlou.
Music : Rod Gear www.rodgearmusic.com
Title music : ‘A Warm Welcome’ by Jared Haschek: jaredhaschek.com
Podcast produced by Cameron Semmens : www.webcameron.com
Photography and graphic design by Ramak Bamzar : www.ramakbamzar.com
Friday Nov 27, 2020
Friday Nov 27, 2020
Episode 11 : And someone is dying
... In this episode Ramak and Cameron discuss times they have stood beside death. For Cameron, at hospital bedsides; for Ramak, as a documentary photographer, in the disaster zone of the 2003 Bam earthquake in southern Iran. And they wonder over the fact that… as someone is dying… another is coming to life. As Ned Kelly said in his famous last words before he hung from the noose: such is life.
Poem 1 : Upon Approaching a Dead Person in a Hospice by Cameron Semmens; translation by Ramak Bamzar. Music : ‘Frederique’ by Michael Carney.
Poem 2 : Moonlight by Ahmad Shamlou; translation into English by Iraj Bashiri. Music by Jared Haschek: jaredhaschek.com
Title music : ‘A Warm Welcome’ by Jared Haschek: jaredhaschek.com
Podcast produced by Cameron Semmens : www.webcameron.com
Photography and graphic design by Ramak Bamzar : www.ramakbamzar.com
Tuesday Nov 03, 2020
Tuesday Nov 03, 2020
Poem 1 : The Mind is a Yacht, The Heart an Oil Tanker by Cameron Semmens; translation by Ramak Bamzar and Roya Bamzar. Music : Rod Gear www.rodgearmusic.com
Poem 2 : Oasis in a Moment by Sohrab Sepehri; translation into English by Ismail Salami. Music : Rod Gear www.rodgearmusic.com
Title music : ‘A Warm Welcome’ by Jared Haschek: jaredhaschek.com
Podcast produced by Cameron Semmens : www.webcameron.com
Photography and graphic design by Ramak Bamzar : www.ramakbamzar.com
Sunday Oct 18, 2020
Sunday Oct 18, 2020
Poem 1 : Rapid ‘I’ Movement Towards You by Cameron Semmens; translation by Ramak Bamzar. Music: ‘Love her and she will watch over you’ by Luke Pittman. Poem 2 : ‘Beyond Presence’ by Sohrab Sepehri; translation into English by Ali Salami. Title music : ‘A Warm Welcome’ by Jared Haschek: jaredhaschek.com Podcast produced by Cameron Semmens : www.webcameron.com Photography and graphic design by Ramak Bamzar : www.ramakbamzar.com
Wednesday Oct 07, 2020
Wednesday Oct 07, 2020
Poem 1 : ‘The Wind Will Take Us’ by Forough Farrokhzad; translation into English by Daniel Shams. Music : Rod Gear www.rodgearmusic.com
Poem 2 : ’Petalled Pillows and Thorny Sheets – Part 2’ by Cameron Semmens; translation by Ramak Bamzar. Music : Rod Gear www.rodgearmusic.com
Title music : ‘A Warm Welcome’ by Jared Haschek: jaredhaschek.com
Podcast produced by Cameron Semmens : www.webcameron.com
Photography and graphic design by Ramak Bamzar : www.ramakbamzar.com
Saturday Sep 26, 2020
Saturday Sep 26, 2020
Poem 1 : ’Petalled Pillows and Thorny Sheets – Part 1’ by Cameron Semmens; translation by Ramak Bamzar. Music : Rod Gear.
Poem 2 : ‘Tryst’ by Ahmad Shamlou; translation into English by Naim Nabili and Frank Lewis. Music : Rod Gear www.rodgearmusic.com
Title music : ‘A Warm Welcome’ by Jared Haschek: jaredhaschek.com …
Podcast produced by Cameron Semmens : www.webcameron.com …
Photography and graphic design by Ramak Bamzar : www.ramakbamzar.com …
Sunday Sep 20, 2020
Sunday Sep 20, 2020
Poem 1 : ’In The Mountains’ by Cameron Semmens; translation by Ramak Bamzar.
Poem 2 : The Dead-end Rod road by Ahmad Shamlou; translation by Sholeh Wolpé. Music : Rod Gear www.rodgearmusic.com
Title music : ‘A Warm Welcome’ by Jared Haschek: jaredhaschek.com
Podcast produced by Cameron Semmens : www.webcameron.com
Photography and graphic design by Ramak Bamzar : www.ramakbamzar.com
Saturday Sep 12, 2020
Saturday Sep 12, 2020
Episode 6 : Secrets... and Rumi.
Poem 1 : ’They are a secret’ by Cameron Semmens; translation into Farsi by Ramak Bamzar. Music : ‘Frederique’ by Michael Carney.
Poem 2 : A selection of quatrains by Rumi; translation into English by Maryam Mafi and Azima Melita Kolin. Music : Rod Gear www.rodgearmusic.com
Title music : ‘A Warm Welcome’ by Jared Haschek. Podcast produced by Cameron Semmens. Photography and graphic design by Ramak Bamzar.
Saturday Sep 05, 2020
Saturday Sep 05, 2020
Episode 5 : A Room Full of Rumi.
1 : ’Come Into Me’ by Cameron Semmens; translation by Ramak Bamzar. Music : ‘God’ by Spike Mason www.spikemason.com
2 : A ghazal by Rumi; translation into English by Mariam Maafi. Music : Rod Gear www.rodgearmusic.com
Poems 3 and 4 by Rumi.
Title music by Jared Haschek: jaredhaschek.com
Podcast produced by Cameron Semmens. Photography and graphic design by Ramak Bamzar.