Neil Postman: Education, Technology and other Musings
February 11, 2010
In-Store talk at Wardah Books
Dear Friends
Its no secret that we at Wardah love the writings of the late Neil Postman, a social commentator. We are glad to have Educational Consultant Amran Noordin share and discuss Postman’s views about technology and education. Amran will also relate these ideas to Singapore and to the Muslim community.
You can read Wardah’s reviews on Postman’s ‘Amusing Ourselves to Death’ and ‘The Disappearance of Childhood’ in this blog.
Date: Saturday, 6 March 2010, 2pm
Qasidah al-Burdah at Wardah Books – Videos
December 28, 2009
Salaam
For those who missed the Qasidah al-Burdah event with Habib Hassan al-Kaf on 26 December 2009 at Wardah Books, here are the videos:
‘Qasidah: An Introduction’ Videos
December 24, 2009
‘Qasidah: An Introduction’ by Maadihul Mustafa at Wardah on 19 December 2009 was a wonderfully inspiring event. We would like to share the videos of the event with you here:
Part 3: Thola’al Badru and Nadzam Seka
Part 4: Qasidah in Nadzam Jiharka
Qasidah al-Burdah at Wardah
December 21, 2009
Dear Friends,
The Qasidah al-Burdah of Imam al-Busiri is celebrated throughout the Islamic world and is held in such high esteem that it is engraved in its entirety on Masjid Nabawi (the Mosque of the Holy Prophet in Medina). The Qasidah al-Burdah has been the hallmark of traditional Islamic communities from Moluccas to Marakkesh, serving as a beacon for all followers of the Prophet of Mercy, Muhammad (s.a.w).
On Saturday, 26 December at 2pm, Habib Hassan al-Kaff from Solo will be at Wardah Books to recite a selection from the Qasidah al-Burdah and to give a short introduction about it in Bahasa Indonesia. Everyone is welcome.
The CD of Habib Hassan’s recording of the Qasidah al-Burdah is available at Wardah Books.
Qasidah: An Introduction
December 9, 2009
Dear Friends,
The Maadihul Mustafa ensemble will be singing qasidah and will be speaking about qasidah at Wardah Books on 19 December 2009 from 2pm to 3pm. All are welcome.
Briefly, qasidah is a Sufi poetry form. Almost all are devotional and bear the themes of Divine Oneness and love for the Beloved Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.). Qasidah are sometimes incorporated in Mawlid and sometimes sung on its own as is the famous Qad Kafani of Al-Imam Al-Habib Abdullah Bin Alawi Al-Haddad that is sung in munajat (sincere supplication).
Qad Kafani of Al-Imam Al-Habib Abdullah Bin Alawi Al-Haddad
My Lord’s knowledge has sufficed me
from asking or choosing
For my du’a and my agonising supplication
is a witness to my poverty.
For this secret (reason) I make supplication
in times of ease and times of difficulty
I am a slave whose pride
is in his poverty and obligation.
O my Lord and my King
You know my state.
And what has settled in my heart
of agonies and preoccupations.
Save me with a gentleness
from You, O Lord of Lords.
Oh save me, Most Generous
before I run out of patience (with myself)
My Lord’s knowledge has sufficed me
from asking or choosing
O One who is swift in sending aid
I ask for aid that will arrive to me swiftly
It will defeat all difficulty
and it will bring all that I hope for
O Near One Who answers
and All-Knowing and All-Hearing
I have attained realisation through my incapacity,
my submission and my brokenness
My Lord’s knowledge has sufficed me
from asking or choosing
I am still standing by the door, so please my Lord
have mercy on my standing.
And in the valley of generosity, I am in i’tikaf (solitary retreat)
So, Allah, make my retreat here permanent.
And I’m abiding by good opinion (of You)
For it is my friend and ally.
And it is the one that sits by me and keeps me company
All day and night.
My Lord’s knowledge has sufficed me
from asking or choosing
Story-and-Song Clip
December 6, 2009
Dear friends, we had a wonderful session at Wardah Books on 5 Dec 2009 with Oniatta Effendi and Art Fazil. Oni read The Boy With No Name, and Art sang from his Syair Melayu album.
For all those who missed the event, here is a short clip.
Story-and-Song with Art & Oni
November 29, 2009
Dear Friends,
On 5 December (it’s a Saturday) we have a treat for the children – a story-telling sing-a-long with Art Fazil and Oniatta Effendi right here at Wardah Books.
We’ll start at 2pm and end around 3pm. Oh, and Kak Oni will be reading from one of Idris Shah’s illustrated books, “The Boy Without A Name”. Its suitable for 7 year-olds or older.
Art will be doing some numbers from his new CD, Syair Melayu.
InshaAllah.
Invite your friends and neighbours… bring your children (or someone else’s).
See you there
Electric Ghazal of Alfian Sa’at
November 20, 2009
Dear Friends,
Wardah is hosting an afternoon of Electric Ghazal by Alfian Sa’at. Ghazal is an ancient form that consists of rhyming couplets. While ghazal creative expression is diverse, the central themes are traditionally love and longing.
Alfian will read some English ghazal from his own collection of verse, ‘A History of Amnesia’. Do drop by on 28 November, 5pm at Wardah. If you have some of your own ghazal, don’t be shy to share. (In case you’re wondering, there will be no band of backing musicians.)
Leaving Hamlyn
September 5, 2009
The Pied Piper raises his flute to his lips, casts a knowing backward glance, and leads the children away. All our children have gone, yet there are no mourners and no one regrets not paying the Piper his due.
The flattening of society’s hierarchies, the marginalisation of literacy in adult life and the levelling effect of television and other electronic media have ushered the disappearance of childhood. This might be an oversimplification, for surely the decline in nurturing family life has accelerated the transition from booties to stiletto heels, but the heart of the matter is that children are disappearing because the period of incubation before adulthood where, hitherto, children had to acquire the tools of literacy in order to function in the adult world, quite frankly is no longer required. As Neil Postman explains in The Disappearance of Childhood, reading is an act that transforms the child into an adult by ‘acquiring the sort of intellect we expect of a good reader: a vigorous sense of individuality, the capacity to think logically and sequentially, the capacity to distance oneself from symbols, the capacity to manipulate high orders of abstraction, the capacity to defer gratification. And of course, the capacity for extraordinary feats of self-control.’ But these hallmarks of rational adulthood are obsolete. To live in the modern world, one no longer needs to be literate, disciplined, or even responsible. Take voting for example. It is assumed that adults, having gone through the rigour of school where skills such as logical analysis and the ability to either construct or debunk concepts are (it is hoped) honed, have the requisite discernment to elect a worthy political representative. But do adults do this now? And is this even expected of them? The charismatic persona is more important than the rhetorical point. The television demeanour is more important than the policy discussion.
Perhaps the surest sign of the disposability of literacy in the adult domain is the ubiquitous use of cartoons to explain government policy – well if you put it like that, any kid could understand CPF. You see, the adult world has been kiddie-fied and the child, fed on a staple media diet of sex, drugs and rock&roll, is adulti-fied to the point that she or he has cast off childish curiosity for precocious indifference (What-ever!), or worse, arrogance.
There are other signs of the Piper’s handiwork. Violent crime among those below the age of 16 has increased so much that in some states in the United States – and this was in the 1980s – legislators contemplated dismantling juvenile courts altogether in favour of hearing these cases in the main courts. And then of course, there’s sex. Pre-teen sexually transmitted disease is on the rise, and the only segment of society where pregnancies are increasing is among girls below 17.
So, what, are we as parents to do? Well, Postman recommends going against almost every single social trend by rebelliously teaching our children manners, delayed gratification, deference to elders, and by taking up the mantle of literacy-empowerment that schools have cast off in the misguided attempt to make learning ‘fun’. Postman’s most radical suggestion is to limit children’s exposure to mass media and to supervise closely whenever they are exposed to media. Echoing Frithjof Schuon’s proposition that only the complete child can become a whole adult, Postman contends that children thus nurtured (and protected) in a kind of monastery of media abstinence will, in the short-term bring about adults that are mature, upstanding and intelligent; and in the long term, preserve human civilization and dignity. It is a service we owe to our ancestors who toiled for what we take for granted today. To look at it another way, just as books transmit ideas to another place and another time, our children are messages we send to generations we will never see. We need to do our fard kifayah by slipping a coin to the Pied Piper and giving childhood its due.
The Disappearance of Childhood
Neil Postman
Syair Melayu
June 26, 2009
This is not the usual Wardah book review. In fact it is not even a book I am reviewing, but Art Fazil’s new album, Syair Melayu.
I first saw Art Fazil at the DBS Auditorium way back in the late 1980s. It was a simple gig: Ramli Sarip, some percussionists, a guy with an ocarina, and tenderfoot Art Fazil. I distinctly remember them playing the blues standard, ‘Sweet Home Chicago’. Of all the performers on stage, Art looked the least at ease with himself – perhaps because it was an improvisational encore ‘jam’.
Fast-forward twenty years to the present: Art releases his second album with Life Records. Art is now a mature musician, comfortable in his own skin, literally.
The album features 10 tracks of Malay folk songs that would be familiar to Malays and Peranakans who grew up in Singapore or Malaysia. Apart from the music, which is beautifully produced by the way, the album’s liner notes includes a short essay by Dr Hadijah Rahmat, Singapore’s expert on rural Malay social history. Lyrics (in Jawi!) and short synopses of the songs are also provided. Overall, this album is a real gem in a neat package.
Listening to the CD brought me back to the days of primary-school classroom singing, catching fish in Changi creek and experiencing the hubbub of Geylang Serai market. So much has changed, but thankfully, Art’s nuanced interpretation of these perennial Malay songs reminds us that culture is not something to be stashed in a time-capsule and banished to the past but is rather a living, timeless matrix of shared memories, joys and hopes.
Art’s collection brought a smile to my face and a lump in my throat. No wonder he was ill at ease singing about ‘sweet home’ Chicago. His heart was pining for Nusantara all along.
Track Listing
1. Kampong Pasir Berdengung
2. Bangau O Bangau
3. Air Pasang Pagi
4. Ikan Kekek
5. Lagu Tiga Kupang
6. Syair Hang Nadim
7. Nenek Si Bongkok Tiga
8. Geylang Si Paku Geylang
9. Lompat Si Katak Lompat
10. Injit-injit Semut
11. Rasa Sayang
(And yes, it is available at Wardah Books)
