IT IS ONLY SOUND THAT REMAINS

“Sound, sound, sound
the sound of limpid wishes
of water flowing,

the sound of starlight falling 

on the wall of earth’s femininity 

the sound when meaning begins 

at the expansion of loves shared mind. 

sound, sound, sound, 

only sound remains…”
– Forough Farrokhzad “It Is Only Sound That Remains”

A Sound theatre performance

It Is Only Sound That Remains is the story of Montreal-based artist, Shahrzad Arshadi coming into contact with an exceptional woman, Ziba Kazemi after her tragic death at the hands of Iranian authorities in the summer of 2003.

An experimental and innovative project using the words, archival recordings and voice of Ziba Kazemi, herself, It Is Only Sound That Remains creates a living document to honour and celebrate this Montrealer’s life. Written and directed by Shahrzad Arshadi with the collaboration of Caroline Künzle (artistic production and sound) and Moe Clark (poetry and sound).

Sounds are playing softly in the space. After everyone is settled, the lights go out. The play begins. We hear a voice; it is Ziba, the woman we admire, here with us. It’s an invocation of her spirit that exists beyond our visual realm. Sounds of archival conversations and audio footage of her life, music, her conversations with her four-year old son (Salman) Stephan while Ziba prepared dinner, teaching him to say certain phrases, mixed with professional actors reading from the script, sometimes in French, in Farsi, in English, these private moments heard by the audience in the dark, allow each person listening to draw an image of this living, breathing woman and her life in their mind’s eye and come into the intimate sphere of a woman whose life became very public only after her death.

http://www.shahrzadarshadi.com/soundtheater/

Moe collaborated with Shahrzad and Caroline to create soundscapes and to perform Forough Farrokhzad’s poetry through out the sound theatre piece. In addition, she collaborated with Amir Amiri to bring the poem to life in one full piece with voice, santur and viola, released on her album “Within.”