JO DOOBA SO PAAR | THEATER DER WELT

In the organizer's words:

Song, rhythm and stories: A popular Indian musical theater piece sheds light on the life of the Sufi poet Amir Khusrau from the Indian Sultan period.

The musical JO DOOBA SO PAAR, captivatingly presented by an ensemble from Mumbai, tells the story of the famous poet and musician Amir Khusrau. He lived in the 13th century during the Indian Sultan period and wrote songs, stories and poems. JO DOOBA SO PAAR is the title of one of his famous verses, which translates into German as "Whoever dives into love reaches the other shore". What is remarkable about this evening is not only its rarely experienced content, but also the form of the performance in the traditional style of Urdu storytelling known as Dastangoi. This art form of reciting text and music, which originated on the Indian subcontinent in the 13th century, has been experiencing a pop-cultural renaissance in modern India since the 2000s. Magic, adventure and romance - it's all there.
The performance consists of stories, songs and moments that revolve around Khusrau. His work and life are treated as a transition between different worlds. As a student of the Sufi master Nizamuddin Auliya, he lived in the 13th century between the sultan's court and the monastery, between power and retreat, between language and song. His songs, poems and stories, written in Farsi, are full of poetry, imbued with human sincerity. What does this tell us today? The performance succeeds in transporting Khusrau's attitude into the present: Love as the basis of life, music and storytelling as elements of connection.
Taken from the traditional performance style, two narrators guide us through the story. Mohit Agarwal and Ajitesh Gupta set the rhythm of the evening with their rapid narrator changes. They wrote the lyrics and music for the musical themselves. The production from Mumbai has visited the biggest Indian festivals and can now be experienced in Europe for the first time.

Venue: Spinnbau - Festival Center
Introduction: 30 minutes before the start of each performance
Duration: 2 h
Information: In Urdu, Hindi, Persian and English with German and English surtitles

All further information at: https://www.theaterderwelt.de/programm/

A festival of the German Centre of the International Theatre Institute e.V.
Organized by Chemnitz Theatres, the Festival Academy Brussels and the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025 GmbH.

Price information:

Admission free