BETHLEHEM is an electroacoustic project bringing together Beirut musicians Sary Moussa and Abed Kobeissy with Lawrence Sammour, the longtime director of the Greek Orthodox Church of the Nativity choir in Bethlehem.
Commissioned by Wonder Cabinet and Radio alHara during the genocide in Gaza, BETHLEHEM responds to the Church of the Nativity's decision to cancel all festive Christmas celebrations in 2023. Built around Lawrence Sammour's voice and traditional liturgical hymns, Moussa and Kobeissy composed an immersive, contemporary sound work that honors Palestinian sacred musical traditions while reflecting on grief and the endurance of faith. Originally broadcast on Christmas Eve 2023 through Radio alHara and more than fifty radio stations worldwide, the piece reached listeners across continents before the musicians themselves had ever met. Travel restrictions between Palestine and Lebanon made collaboration possible only through exchanged recordings and conversations, with radio transmission bridging the distance.
The project's first live performance took place a year later at Le Guess Who? Festival in Utrecht, marking the first time Sammour, Moussa, and Kobeissy shared the same stage. The performance received an emotional standing ovation, affirming the work's ability to connect audiences through mourning and devotion. Further recordings were made in 2025 when the musicians were again able to gather in person during a residency at Dar El Nimer in Beirut. Mixed by Radwan Ghazi Moumneh at Hotel2Tango in Montréal, Bethlehem is a document of artistic collaboration across imposed borders and a meditation on grief, resilience, history and contemporaneity, that addresses sacred choral tradition through an electroacoustic and experimental lens.
