Shahram Shiva

Shahram Shiva is a performance poet, actor and author, known for his Rumi concerts. He was born to a Persian Jewish family in Iran and migrated to the U.S. at the age of 16. He has presented Rumi concerts various venues including United Nations, Smithsonian Institution, Yale and Columbia universities, among others. He has authored several books on Rumi.

Biography

Shahram Shiva is a performance poet, award-winning translator and scholar of Rumi and author of several books. He is known for his rich and entrancing concerts of Rumi, the 13th Century Persian mystic poet. He was born to a Persian Jewish family in Iran and migrated to the US at the age of 16. Shiva is the only major presenter in the West who performs Rumi's poetry in his own English renditions as well as the original Persian verses. His bilingual English-Persian concerts are Rumi events where the great mystical poet is celebrated with Shiva's unique and passionate recitations of the timeless poetry performed with musical groups of various genres.

Since 1988, Shiva has translated several hundred of Rumi's poems collected in 4 books and continues to translate and perform his work on an ongoing basis. Shiva's access to the original of these exquisite poems forms the basis for his memorable performances.

Shiva's translations of original Rumi poems have also been utilized by Western Rumi interpreters such as Andrew Harvey and Jonathan Star, among others and have been printed in several other publications.

Performances

Since 1992 Shahram Shiva has been presenting Rumi concerts at the United Nations, Symphony Space, Smithsonian Institution, CAMI Hall, Memorial Hall, Chopra Center, Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego, Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Joyce Theater, LaMama Theater, Omega Institute, Kripalu, New York Open Center, Yale, Columbia, New York universities, among many others.

Teaching

Shahram Shiva has devised a new, breakthrough method in teaching the whirling movement, where he has been conducting large-scale workshops since 1995. This method, featured on CNN, is now being taught by a few of Shiva's whirling students, including Deepak Chopra. Also look for Robert Downey Jr., who was trained by Shiva, to whirl in the movie Game 6 (2006).

Recordings

"Rumi: Lovedrunk" is Shahram Shiva's CD produced in partnership with Michael Harrison and composer & producer Olivier Glissant. Over two years in the making, this groundbreaking new audio project incorporates more than a dozen talented musicians from Persia, Europe, Latin America and the U.S., and includes original compositions by Glissant and Harrison.

Bibliography

RUMI, THIEF OF SLEEP: Quatrains from the Persian; foreword by Deepak Chopra (Hohm Press)

HUSH, DON'T SAY ANYTHING TO GOD: Passionate Poems of Rumi (Jain Publishing)

RENDING THE VEIL: Literal and Poetic Translations of Rumi; Recipient of The Benjamin Franklin Award (Hohm Press)

A GARDEN BEYOND PARADISE: The Mystical Poetry of Rumi (Bantam Books)

External links

* [http://www.rumi.net Rumi.net, About Shahram Shiva and Rumi]
* [http://www.shahramshiva.com ShahramShiva.com, A hub for his web sites]
* [http://www.lovedrunk.com Lovedrunk.com, Recording project]