Story

𝗘𝗿𝗶𝗰 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗼𝗻 | 𝗦𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗴𝗵 𝗦𝗲𝗶𝗿𝗮𝗳𝗶𝗮𝗻 | 𝗟𝗮𝘆𝗹𝗮 & 𝗠𝗮𝗷𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗻 | 𝗗𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗸 & 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗼𝘀

Why, you ask?
What brings all these names together?

In 1969 the hugely successful & influential careers of Eric & Sadegh overlapped, albeit miles and light years away. Rug n roll!

Somewhat simultaneously they both drew inspiration from the 12the century epic romance of Layla & Majnoun, a heartbreaking poem composed by the legendary Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi.

Eric Clapton wrote this beautiful song “I Am Yours” whose lyrics were lifted verbatim from a translation of Nizami’s Khamsa, a collection of his 5️⃣ poems. The passage dealt with the yearning Majnoun felt for his beloved Layla.

Around the same time, Grand Master Sadegh wove this beautiful pictorial rug whose subject—you guessed it—was a scene from the tragic tale of L&M. The only major difference (no, I’m not talking electric guitars and silk warps) is that Sadegh portrays them in a rare moment of happiness whereas Clapton’s song is markedly more poignant and plain sad.

Fun fact: Nizami’s poem was translated into Italian around the 14th century but adapted into a Renaissance Italian setting. Verona was the locale, Romeo & Juliet were their names. This version of the tale of the two star crossed lovers is the one that was in turn adapted into a play by Shakespeare.