Nostalgia poetic review by Sadaf Munshi

The production of Nostalgia came after the Syrian tragedy, depicting the pain of losing one’s home, the agony associated with displacement and exile. The music for this composition was inspired by the picture of a father holding two of his children — one in his left arm and another in his right — with great difficulty – and crying. The composition begins with an excerpt from Iqbal’s poem lab pe ati hai dua ban ke tamanna meri ‘to my lips, my wish comes as a prayer’ which represents a prayer by a little child about his dreams and aspirations. This is followed by Margut Bikel’s poem in English which expresses the feeling of nostalgia using powerful imagery and evocative diction. The piece concludes with excerpts from two equally powerful poems in Farsi by Farouq Farokhzad and Hooshang Ebtehaj which depict the turbulence and fear associated with an uncertain future.