Listen with Irfan

India’s extraordinary musical heritage stretches far beyond Bollywood and Indi-pop. Yet, much of it remains unheard, while thousands of distinctive voices from tribal, rural and suburban India have rarely found their way to the centre stage. During my journalistic travels and visits to these lesser-known cultural spaces, I have always tried to record, preserve and share such voices - with the hope...

केसरिया बालम / कहानी: जावेद सिद्दीक़ी / आवाज़: शेर तूखी /  BECOME A PATRON :  Work on  Listen with Irfan  takes time, money and hard work to produce. As of now it is being done voluntarily with the family, friends and listeners who came forward for hand holding from its inception.  If you like the Podcasts, admire it, and benefit from its content, please consider awarding us an honorarium to make th...

Krishna Sobti | Writer | Voice Library | Curated by Irfan/ Voice Library This curated series brings together speeches, public addresses, panel discussions, classroom lectures and conversations featuring eminent voices from diverse walks of life. Drawn from different times, places and contexts, these recordings offer access to ideas, arguments, experiences and reflections that deserve to be heard b...

Raghu Rai | Photographer | Voice Library | Curated by Irfan/ Voice Library This curated series brings together speeches, public addresses, panel discussions, classroom lectures and conversations featuring eminent voices from diverse walks of life. Drawn from different times, places and contexts, these recordings offer access to ideas, arguments, experiences and reflections that deserve to be heard...

Satyajit Ray interviewed by Samik Bandyopadhyay ft Richard Attenborough at 6.36/Recorded in 1980/Curated by Irfan/ BECOME A PATRON :  Work on  Listen with Irfan  takes time, money and hard work to produce. As of now it is being done voluntarily with the family, friends and listeners who came forward for hand holding from its inception.  If you like the Podcasts, admire it, and benefit from its con...

Unka Darr written by Asghar Wajahat, Urdu Translation by Rehman Masor from Aaj magazine Hindi kahaniyaan/The narration is voiced by US based my dear friend, the passionate bibliophile, cinephile, and an art aficionado Sher Tookhi / Curated by Irfan / BECOME A PATRON :  Work on  Listen with Irfan  takes time, money and hard work to produce. As of now it is being done voluntarily with the family, fr...

Meri Maa Meri Gangster: A Reader’s Journey with Zakiya Farzana / What happens when a book slowly becomes a conversation with yourself? In this episode of Listen with Irfan , I sit down with my wife, Zakiya Farzana , who has recently finished reading Arundhati Roy’s Meri Maa Meri Gangster - the Hindi translation of Mother Mary Comes to Me . Rather than discussing the book as a conventional literary...

Host: Irfan/ In this special episode, recorded on the evening of 19 August 2026 in his hotel room in Delhi, we sit down with Divya Bhatia - the long-standing Festival Director and producer of Jodhpur RIFF , India’s pioneering international roots music festival held at the magnificent Mehrangarh Fort. Since taking the helm in January 2008, Divya has shaped every aspect of the not-for-profit festiva...

Adha Din by Egyptian writer the Nobel prize winner (Naguib Mahfouz) translated by late Asif Farrukhi./Voice Sher Tookhi/Curated by Irfan.

Mexico Ki Beti Aur Lucknow Ki Bahu by Raza Ali Abdi | Voice Sher Tookhi/Curated by Irfan/ BECOME A PATRON :  Work on  Listen with Irfan  takes time, money and hard work to produce. As of now it is being done voluntarily with the family, friends and listeners who came forward for hand holding from its inception.  If you like the Podcasts, admire it, and benefit from its content, please consider awa...

Recording from "An ongoing celebration of the spoken word, attentive listening, and the imagination"./Live session 4th July 2026, Press Club of India/ Featured works: Vapsi by Usha Priyamvada, Typewriter Per Prahavadi Prayog by Sharad Joshi, Jamun Ka Ped by Krishan Chander | Narrated by Irfan/ About the series:- Through the art of vachik (oral interpretation) and avritti (expressive recitation), s...

Abhinetri Ki Aapbeeti Part 2 | Translated from Marathi to Hindi Vijay Bapat / Narrated by Bushra Fatma / Curated by Irfan/ BECOME A PATRON :  Work on  Listen with Irfan  takes time, money and hard work to produce. As of now it is being done voluntarily with the family, friends and listeners who came forward for hand holding from its inception.  If you like the Podcasts, admire it, and benefit from...

Abhinetri Ki Aapbeeti Part 1 | Translated from Marathi to Hindi Vijay Bapat / Narrated by Bushra Fatma / Curated by Irfan/ BECOME A PATRON :  Work on  Listen with Irfan  takes time, money and hard work to produce. As of now it is being done voluntarily with the family, friends and listeners who came forward for hand holding from its inception.  If you like the Podcasts, admire it, and benefit from...

परवीन शाकिर: मौसम की पहली बारिश Courtesy Book: Tarikh Mein Aurat by Ashok Pande/ Support this Podcast Channel i.e. Listen with Irfan :- Bank Name: State Bank Of India Name: SYED MOHD IRFAN Account No:32188719331 Branch: State Bank of India, Vaishali Sec 4, Ghaziabad IFSC–SBIN0013238 UPI/Gpay ID irfan.rstv-2@oksbi Support LwI by contributing:   ⁠https://rzp.io/rzp/Memorywala⁠ PayPal  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠pa...

Kis Ki Kahani | Gulzar's Dastkhat | Voice Sher Tookhi

I am delighted to present some of the sketches from the book Mere Mohtaram , a compilation of three works- Roshandan, Langarkhana, and Ujale- written by the esteemed Javed Siddiqi . The narration is voiced by my dear friend, the passionate bibliophile, cinephile, and an art aficionado Sher Tookhi . I have curated this recording to make the book accessible to those too who are not well-versed in re...

Badi Sarkar Ke Naam from Sannata by Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi/The narration is voiced by US based my dear friend, the passionate bibliophile, cinephile, and an art aficionado Sher Tookhi . I have curated this recording to make the book accessible to those too who are not well-versed in reading Urdu. No copyright infringement is intended. All rights belong to the original owners, and this post is shared f...

Kuldeep Nayar aur Peer Sahab by Gulzar / Voice Sher Tookhi Cover: Irfan

18 March 2018, New Delhi Compere Sanjiv Kumar Recorded and Curated by Irfan

वो शहनाई नवाज़ों का गाँव था। तीस साल पहले जब मैं वहाँ से गुज़रा तो सड़क के दोनों तरफ़ लगे पोस्टरों और बैनरों को देखकर दंग रह गया था जिन पर लिखा था बुकिंग के लिए यहां संपर्क करें। 38 साल पहले मैंने पटना में शहनाई नवाज़ उस्ताद बिस्मिल्लाह खान को रात भर शहनाई बजाते हुए सुना था और सुबह जब वह प्रोग्राम ख़त्म हुआ तो उनके साथ एक तस्वीर भी खिंचवाई थी। एक मामूली सी पिपिहरी से क्या क्या हो सकता है यह उस्ताद ने अप...

Text Pramod Singh/Voice Actors Vimal Verma and Irfan/Audio Engineer Anirban Sadhu/2015, Mumbai

Delhi, 28 September 2016

Recorded and Curated by Irfan/ More than fifteen years ago, I travelled extensively across Central Uttar Pradesh in search of the authentic yet gradually vanishing sounds of Nautanki ; the immensely popular folk performance tradition that once captivated large parts of India. Beyond entertainment, Nautanki shaped public imagination, social consciousness, and collective memory for generations throu...

Ashok Chaudhary sings Gorakh Pandey's Ghazal/Lokrang, Kushinagar, 8 May 2016/Recorded and Curated by Irfan

Vimal Verma an Actor and Director Share his one of the life anecdote/Recorded and Curated by Irfan/27 May 2016/Kolkata/ ** Every life carries a few stories that quietly stay with us - moments, encounters, conversations, journeys, surprises, losses, laughter, or revelations that refuse to fade with time. For this ongoing audio series Aur Sunao Guru, I invite friends, comrades, artists, listeners, a...