Whispers of Oasis: Likoo’s Poetic Mirage

A collaboration between an ethnographer, a bilingual poet, and an Anglo-Irish literature scholar, this multilingual volume includes 100 Likoos, a syllabic genre of oral poetry, in their original Roudbari, accompanied by English and Persian translations.

Likoo is one of the oldest and most concise forms of oral poetry in the Iranian plateau. Composed in the languages of the people of Roudbar and Balochistan in southeast Iran, Likoos are a testament to the cultural diversity and linguistic richness of the region. Balochistan and Roudbar, akin to siblings in geographical proximity, share a profound cultural bond.

Likoos echo the lives of people in Roudbar, the lives of those living in the oasis, surrounded by the desert. They depict life in the desert with all its hardships, challenges, and failures. Likoos are the poetry of short joys and continuous hardship, reflecting the brutality of life dominated by nomadic social relations. They are the voice of a lover who catches a glimpse of his beloved in the desert, the call of a camel driver in the lonely nights of the desert on a dry path, or the mourning over the death of a young person due to tribal violence.

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“Whispers of Oasis: Likoo’s Poetic Mirage offers a mesmerizing journey into one of the world’s richest yet least-known traditions of folk poetry. This captivating collection transcends linguistic boundaries, providing readers with a profound glimpse into the cultural tapestry of the Iranian plateau. Likoo, an ancient form of oral poetry native to Baluchistan and Roudbar regions in Iran, embodies the resilience of a vibrant heritage amidst life’s challenges in harsh environments. Anonymous poets contribute daily to this living tradition, enriching its community-owned treasure trove. Through succinct yet profound verses, Likoo transports readers to a realm where everyday life intertwines with emotions of longing, grief, love, and separation. Meticulously translated and explored, with a thorough introduction, this anthology preserves and celebrates the enduring power of poetry in safeguarding indigenous cultures and endangered languages.”

ALIREZA ABIZ, author of Censorship of Literature in Post-Revolutionary Iran: Politics and Culture since 1979.

“The cultural form of the nation-state is nowhere more evident than in the genre of literary history, a model rooted in monolingualism and cultural singularity. This unique poetry collection of likoos militates against Iran’s modern cultural form in three consequential ways: it celebrates multilingualism and orality in its content and collaboration in its method. It is then no surprise that translation figures in this collection not through the tired paradigm of “original” vs. “copy,” but as a robust mode of cultural and literary cross-pollination. Such efforts must be intellectually and materially supported.”

ARIA FANI, author of Reading across Borders: Afghans, Iranians, and Literary Nationalism.

The publication of this work has been supported by a 2021 Persian Heritage Foundation grant for publication.

Sandy regions of Turig, near Qaleh Ganj. Photo: Courtesy of Mahdi Mirzaee

An oasis in the Great Roudbar. Photo: Courtesy of Mahdi Mirzaee

Qaychak. Photo: Courtesy of Mahdi Mirzaee

Mansour Alimoradi (in white) in the company of Fereydon Jafari, chang player, and Rahman Jafari (left), a Likoo reciter from Chah Hieshvarki village in Qaleh Ganj. Photo: Courtesy of Mahdi Mirzaee

A musical recitation of Likoo by Shir Mohammad Espandar, a renowned Baloch musician who resides in Bampur city, in Iran’s Balochistan.

A short Likoo music file from an audio tape that Mansour Alimoradi managed to make a copy of in 1998 and later digitize. The singer’s name is Alijan, and he resided in the Chah Kichi area, a rural region situated between Roudbar-e Jonoub and Balochistan. Alijan was one of the prominent reciters of Likoos in the Roudbar and Balochistan regions.

Mansour Alimoradi’s recitation of several Likoos in their original Roudbari language.

Yari Jan, a Toronto-based Iranian Baloch singer, is performing Likoo for the launch of the book “Whispers of Oasis: Likoo’s Poetic Mirage.”
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