Art of Music Night 3: Pakistan

Two weeks after the last Art of Music event, we held our third night time event in the series at the Levantine Cultural Center. This time, I focused on Pakistan. The story turned from traveling in countries and connecting to cultures I had never met before, to going home. I shared my short animated film Gul, featuring the music of the Girnari Jogi Group as well as the story behind both. I felt very grateful to have an opportunity to share the story of these fantastic Sindhi musicians across the globe for an audience that respected what they do and supported my efforts to benefit them. Once again, I met with many new faces and enjoyed the warm company of many old friends as well.My good friend Robin Sukhadia, Tablapusher kept the crowd going with his DJing and a live tabla performance in which he share the story of this beautiful instrument.

madguru.com Gul - Concept Art Added

I've redesigned the main website with a bunch of new material and the start of many exciting new things.  Have a look at concept art from my short film Gul(flower). The concept art gallery gives  a good glimpse into the design process, from taking inspiration from real life to re imagining it for the context of the story. A lot of the design process is about how you think about each element to make intelligent choices that drive the themes and purpose of the story home. A lot of time and care goes into each decision, while trying to balance the desire for spontaneity to bring in fresh, seemingly unrelated sources of inspiration into the mix.

Original Drawing of Gul.

Concept art of the Maker

Workshop Concept Art from Gul

Go watch Miral. Your Activism for the Day.

 I watched an incredible film called "Miral" by celebrated director Julian Schnabel and urge everyone to do so and write a review on Rotten Tomatoes which is a review site that can greatly help it. I won't give any spoilers to the film, so don't hesitate to read on. The film is based on the true story of several generations of women, which begins a year before the creation of Israel and runs through the time of the 1993 Oslo talks. This is a high profile film due to the fact that the director was celebrated for his previous film at Cannes and the Academy Awards and yet it is only showing in 2 theaters here in Los Angeles.Its premiere at the United Nations General Assembly in New York was protested by the American Jewish Committee, but thankfully went ahead despite that. I feel that the real power of this film is that when the truth is told without hatred and with nothing that can be easily dismissed, then it becomes truly dangerous to the very people who should feel uncomfortable by what it reveals. This film does not even begin to show the depths of cruelty visited upon people in this conflict and without that it makes perhaps an even stronger impact.This is the story of several generations of women, and their hardships come not just from the occupation of Palestine, but from everyday life. This story of people, to me is the most powerful way to create dialogue and promote a real interest in resolving serious political and humanitarian issues.What I ask, is that people please go and watch this film in the theater. Find a theater close by, or far away and watch this film and if you feel it has value, then encourage others to do the same. You have the power in your hands to make the voices of others who desperately need it heard.Watch the film, review it on Rotten Tomatoes (it takes less than 5 minutes to create an account and review it) and add it to your twitter/facebook etc. If you want to see films about under represented people, then this is your chance. If this film makes money, that will encourage Hollywood to fund and release films on these types of issues. It is a business. When you want high quality films about important topics that fail to gain the attention they merit, then support this film. It really is that simple.