Went to the Pentangle concert last week, part of their national tour celebrating the 40th anniversary of their formation. Pentangle was a superlative British folk-jazz-blues-raag group of 1967-73. The concert was superb, every one of these five musicians is transcendent and together... John Renbourn played guitar with geometric precision and a passion so contained it was as though his body had become a part of the instrument. He played sitar, too, while Bert Jansch handled banjo and several guitars and made it all look so easy - of course, it is incredibly complex. Danny Thompson and Terry Cox were on top groovy form as the prime jazzmen they are and Jacqui McShea's thousand year-old voice soared towards an invisible, yet tangible, emptiness.

Letter to the New Statesman, 20/4/08

Dear Editor,

I read Rachel Aspden's excellent article ('Written
in the Sand', NS, 17/4/08), on the deformations, vicissitudes and
inequalities of the Arab literary world and its glitzy, elitist
accolades, with great interest. As the proverbial, 'acclaimed,
award-winning, ground-breaking' novelist whose work has appeared in
national newspapers, been taught at universities and been translated
into foreign tongues, l feel it incumbent upon me to disabuse readers
of the cosy notion that the English book world likewise is not in bed
with - and indeed, a product of - class, corporate, metropolitan and
ethnic power. I'm surprised actually that I am even capable of writing
these lines, since I am Muslim, male, middle-aged, of Pakistani origin,
live 400 miles from London and didn't go to private school or Oxbridge
- and as I've just come off a 17-hour shift at my "second job". ... (more)

Letter to The Independent, 3/6/08

Sir,

Reading Bruce Anderson's regular Monday column can sometimes be refreshing because of his relatively independent conservative viewpoint. However, he ought to be thoroughly ashamed of himself for writing what was an unreasoned and bigoted diatribe ('We are destroying the very values which could save us in our battle against Islam', Independent, Monday 2/6/08). From his use of phrases like, "the average Muslim", his generic conflation of 'Islam' with extremism and his references to Mark Steyn's irrational and propagandistic work on the subject, it seems that like Martin Amis (whose book, 'The Second Plane', I reviewed for this newspaper on 1/2/08), Anderson has become infatuated with an ahistorical blood-and-soil philosophy. References to barbarians and the Roman Empire, the Frankish leader, Charles Martel and the Ottoman sieges of Vienna represent an attempt to generate ... (more)

Letter to The Herald 14/6/08

Sir,

I was disappointed, though hardly surprised, to read Struan Stevenson's article ('The West Stands in the Way of a Democratic Iran', The Herald, Friday 13th June), which consisted of ninety-nine-per-cent disinfomation and one per cent ink and is clearly part of the information war in the ongoing attempt in our wonderful polyarchy to manufacture consent for UK participation in a US attack on the sovereign state of Iran.

Truth is, the biggest terrorists - bringers of mass violent death in pursuance of ideology - in the world today are the corporate-military regimes in power in the USA and UK. Stevenson's 'evidence' demonstrates double standards on multiple fronts and flies in the face of that repeatedly presented by official bodies such as the IAEA and even the combined intelligence services of the USA (our knowledge of this latter is partly a consequence of the internal power struggle taking place between different factions ... (more)

... (more)

I have a terrible sense of inevitability about a US attack on Iran. It's clearly what the Bush administration (not to mention Israel) has wanted for ages and I think they'll go for it - they will try to create a precedent, as the UK tried to do with the gunboat episode, before the end of their term in office - this will also ensure victory for John McCain in the forthcoming presidential elections. What they've done to Iraq is unforgiveable and we must never forget that fact or let it slip away.

Check out this article by Paul Craig Roberts, a one-time member of the Reagan administration:http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts03312008.html

I do not agree with theocracy of any kind. However, if a single grain of Iranian soil or a single hair on the head of one Iranian child is so much as ruffled by an F-16 craft, an Abrams tank or the boot of a "bullet-headed, Saxon mother's son", I and a billion others will declare that:
"Ich bin ein Tehrani!"

You heard it here first.

Ever heard of Mighty Baby, or The Action? Check out these two websites:

http://www.renderingislam.com/alwhiteman.htm

http://www.actionmightybaby.co.uk/

I was very shocked to hear of Shusha’s death last week. I had no idea she was ill – I hadn’t been following the press much recently. I’ve known her for over twenty years but live far away and so when uncharacteristically she hadn’t responded to a couple of e-mails over the past couple of months or so, I’d assumed that she was just visiting her family in South Africa or something like that. And then, the other day I came across an obituary. My condolences to her family.

She has always been very supportive of my work and of me personally - I’ll always remember the lovely letter she wrote to me after my own mother died. Her music – she had the richest, most sonorous and emotive voice I have ever heard – that elegant distillation, suffused with humanity, of Persian, French and English philosophy, letters and music, combined with her engaged, affable and very Sufi-like persona contributed in some way to my becoming a writer. She was a hugely talented woman and was unique. ... (more)

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This blogosaurus is linked to my website: www.suhaylsaadi.com I am a writer and to check out my books and other material, please go to the website. The blogosaurus will be fed from time-to-time with various comments and thoughts of mine on an eclectic spectrum of topics. Enjoy browsing with the blogosaurus - it doesn't bite, but from time-to-time it may roar!