The Story About
When Mountains Meet /جب ملیں پہاڑ
Across two lands, one family collide.
"Dear Dr Agha Shirazi",
Please sit down. My mother is Janet from Edinburgh and ... I believe you are my father."
Inspired by Composer Anne Wood’s true story, When Mountains Meet/Jub Milain Pahaar is a piece of gig theatre, storytelling, Scottish/Pakistani fusion music with striking visual images to recount Anne's adventures as she leaves Edinburgh for an unforgettable voyage through Pakistan with her newly found father.
"This is my story. My mother is Scottish. My father was Pakistani. In my early twenties I found the father I had never met, visited Karachi and experienced generous hospitality and cultural riches. I also discovered that being a professional musician and an illegitimate woman accorded me little status in Pakistan. I had arrived but didn’t know who to be. I needed to find my own way to thrive."
It explores universal themes, connection with family, relationships, love and nurture, how we root ourselves in communal religious, linguistic or musical practices and how we navigate prejudice, conflicting emotions with a yearning to belong.
