Through weekly podcast installments MQUP is making available, for the first time, recordings of India's beloved and controversial Kamala Das reading her poetry in English.
In the 1990s, Merrily Weisbord – an award-winning author, filmmaker, and broadcaster – found Das' work so compelling that she flew to South India to meet and record her. A decade-long friendship between the writers developed from that initial meeting. Weisbord’s recordings of Kamala Das serve as inspiration for her recent book The Love Queen of Malabar.
Podcasts will include Kamala reading the poems Palam, In Love, Morning at the Apollo Pier, Herons, Gino, The Intensive Care Unit, Ethics, The Stone Age, and The Old Playhouse.
Ethics, read by Kamala Das. Click to listen.
Gino, read by Kamala Das. Click to listen.
Looking for more Kamala? A rare video recording of Kamala reading her poem Blood is available here .
Tune in next week for Kamala's Morning at the Apollo Pier and Herons ...
She FEELS the words with
her tongue before letting it out
and it speaks
longing, loving, lingering in our thoughts.
Posted by: B. Hariharan | October 21, 2010 at 08:52 AM
KAMALA DAS,FAMILIARLY KNOWN IN OUR CULTURE AS MADHAVIKUTTY WAS SO DEAR TO ME. I CALLED HER AMMA 'CAUSE THAT WAS HOW SHE WANTED ME TO CALL HER. I VISITED HER AT HER HOUSE IN PUNE AND STAYED WITH HER FOR A FEW DAYS JUST ONE MONTH BEFORE HER ETERNAL SOLACE. AMMA TALKED ABOUT SEVERAL THINGS. sHE ASKED ME TO SING SONGS ABOUT GOD KRISHNA. I SANG FOR HER AND ALSO TAUGHT AMMU, HER BELOVED MAID SONGS THAT AMMA LOVED TO HEAR. I COOKED KERALA DISHES FOR HER. EVERY WORD SHE UTTERED WAS DIPPED IN POETRY. I LOVE HER FOR HER BEAUTY,WIT AND CHARM. I LOVE HER POETIC STYLE. I LOVE HER SIMPLE,SHARP AND SHAKING WRITING STYLE. ABOVE ALL I LOVE HER FOR HER LOVE TOWARDS HUMANITY. AMMA WAS LOCAL BUT GLOBAL AMMA!
DR. SARADA, INDIA
dR.
Posted by: Dr.SARADA SREEDEVI AMMA | October 20, 2010 at 09:29 PM