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Jerusalem In My Heart
Daqa'iq Tudaiq
“Stunning exploration of traditional Arabic music and electronic processing by pivotal Montrealer Radwan Moumneh, including unmissable meshes of rolling rhythms with spectral ‘tronics in ”Bein Ithnein", and Coil-like digital vocal manipulation on “Thahab, Mish Roujou’, Thahab”, along with entrancing theatric orchestrations of trad vocals, buzuk and zurna with synths and tape FX." – Boomkat
CST137 180gLP • CD • DL
Release date: 05 October 2018
Duration: 37:27
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Jerusalem In My Heart (JIMH) returns with Daqa'iq Tudaiq, the third full-length album from the Montréal-Beirut contemporary Arabic audio-visual duo, following the acclaimed 2015 release If He Dies, If If If If If If (year-end lists at The Wire (#39), The Quietus (#24) and A Closer Listen (Top 10), among other accolades). Featuring voice, electronics, buzuk and other instrumentation from composer-producer Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (Matana Roberts, Suuns, BIG|BRAVE) and complemented by the 16mm analog film work of Charles-André Coderre in live performance, JIMH continues to expand the horizons of its profound conceptual and aesthetic engagement with Arabic/Middle-Eastern traditions. Daqa'iq Tudaiq translates as “minutes that bother/oppress/harass” – which presumably needs no further explanation – and features two distinct album sides of music.
Side One realizes a long-held dream of Moumneh’s to record a modern orchestral version of the popular Egyptian classic “Ya Garat Al Wadi” by the legendary composer Mohammad Abdel Wahab. JIMH assembled a 15-piece orchestra in Beirut, enlisting the celebrated Montréal-Cairo musician/composer Sam Shalabi (Land Of Kush) as arranger and musical director for the session. Anchored by the stately hypnotic pace of plucked and percussive instruments (riq, santur, derbakeh, kanun), the piece unfolds with lush, languid, reverb-drenched manoeuvrings through virtuosic Maqam shifts (oriental scales). Moumneh’s melismatic lead vocals and electronic production sensibility pay homage to the genre’s documented historical recording traditions, while pushing things subtly and respectfully into new territories of sonic distortion and noised, artefact-laden transmission. The song’s original title (with lyrics penned in 1928 by the poet Ahmad Shawqi) translates as “Oh Neighbour Of The Valley”, but JIMH takes a different line from the original lyric as the new title for its orchestral-electronic re-interpretation. “Wa Ta'atalat Loughat Al Kalam” (“The Language Of Speech Has Broke Down”) is an expression of wordless love and transcendent communication between two lovers’ eyes in Shawqi’s poem; JIMH re-titles the song with this line, exploding the sentiment with more complexity, tragedy and socio-political meaning – also prefiguring the formal aesthetic ruptures JIMH bring to the piece itself. Love in a time of politics, politics in a world conspiring against love, and the specificity of Arab diasporic experience in our brutish 21st century.
Side Two comprises four tracks of non-ensemble “solo” material by Moumneh which push rupture and decomposition/recomposition of tradition further into avant-garde territory – voice, buzuk and electronics take the lead on a suite of emotive and evocative songs, including the percussive loop-driven instrumental “Bein Ithnein” (“Between Two” ) and the stunningly unsettling processed vocal track “Thahab, Mish Roujou', Thahab” (“The Act Of Departing, Not Returning, Departing”).
Daqa'iq Tudaiq features album art by Charles-André Coderre, whose innovative 16mm film techniques frame JIMH’s entire visual identity – this time using archival photos from the Arab Image Foundation, which have been re-photographed and subjected to experimental chemical treatments of Coderre’s own invention.
Daqa'iq Tudaiq is a masterful, mesmerizing artistic statement and confirms Jerusalem In My Heart as one of the most engaged and forward-looking groups at work in avant-garde Middle Eastern music today. Thanks for listening.
Side One realizes a long-held dream of Moumneh’s to record a modern orchestral version of the popular Egyptian classic “Ya Garat Al Wadi” by the legendary composer Mohammad Abdel Wahab. JIMH assembled a 15-piece orchestra in Beirut, enlisting the celebrated Montréal-Cairo musician/composer Sam Shalabi (Land Of Kush) as arranger and musical director for the session. Anchored by the stately hypnotic pace of plucked and percussive instruments (riq, santur, derbakeh, kanun), the piece unfolds with lush, languid, reverb-drenched manoeuvrings through virtuosic Maqam shifts (oriental scales). Moumneh’s melismatic lead vocals and electronic production sensibility pay homage to the genre’s documented historical recording traditions, while pushing things subtly and respectfully into new territories of sonic distortion and noised, artefact-laden transmission. The song’s original title (with lyrics penned in 1928 by the poet Ahmad Shawqi) translates as “Oh Neighbour Of The Valley”, but JIMH takes a different line from the original lyric as the new title for its orchestral-electronic re-interpretation. “Wa Ta'atalat Loughat Al Kalam” (“The Language Of Speech Has Broke Down”) is an expression of wordless love and transcendent communication between two lovers’ eyes in Shawqi’s poem; JIMH re-titles the song with this line, exploding the sentiment with more complexity, tragedy and socio-political meaning – also prefiguring the formal aesthetic ruptures JIMH bring to the piece itself. Love in a time of politics, politics in a world conspiring against love, and the specificity of Arab diasporic experience in our brutish 21st century.
Side Two comprises four tracks of non-ensemble “solo” material by Moumneh which push rupture and decomposition/recomposition of tradition further into avant-garde territory – voice, buzuk and electronics take the lead on a suite of emotive and evocative songs, including the percussive loop-driven instrumental “Bein Ithnein” (“Between Two” ) and the stunningly unsettling processed vocal track “Thahab, Mish Roujou', Thahab” (“The Act Of Departing, Not Returning, Departing”).
Daqa'iq Tudaiq features album art by Charles-André Coderre, whose innovative 16mm film techniques frame JIMH’s entire visual identity – this time using archival photos from the Arab Image Foundation, which have been re-photographed and subjected to experimental chemical treatments of Coderre’s own invention.
Daqa'iq Tudaiq is a masterful, mesmerizing artistic statement and confirms Jerusalem In My Heart as one of the most engaged and forward-looking groups at work in avant-garde Middle Eastern music today. Thanks for listening.
PACKAGING NOTES
Deluxe 180gram vinyl pressing from Optimal (Germany) comes in a heavyweight 24pt jacket with black polylined audiophile dust sleeve, 12"x24" art print poster, 12"x12" art/credit insert, 12"x12" art/poem insert and 320kbps MP3 download card.
CD comes in a 20pt mini-gatefold jacket printed on 100% recycled CCNB with matte UV varnish and a black inner dust sleeve for the disc.
CD comes in a 20pt mini-gatefold jacket printed on 100% recycled CCNB with matte UV varnish and a black inner dust sleeve for the disc.
CREDITS
Music and lyrics by Radwan Ghazi Moumneh.
Film and visuals by Charles-André Coderre.
“Wa Ta’atalat Loughat Al Kalam” is an orchestral reinterpretation of "Ya Garat Al Wadi" by Mohammad Abdel Wahab with lyrics by Ahmad Shawqi.
Re-arrangements: Sam Shalabi & Radwan Ghazi Moumneh.
Recorded live in Beirut in December 2017 at Bustros Palace.
Abed Kobeissy: Buzuk
Ali El Hout: Riq
Amir Amiri: Santur
Bashar Farran: Contrabass
Eliana Awad: Derbakeh
Firas Andary: Viola
Imad Hashisho: Cello & all the love in the world
Jad Saliba: Oud
Jihad Assaad: Qanun
Layale Chaker: Violin
Radwan Ghazi Moumneh: Vocals & electronics
Reda Bitar: Violin
Sam Shalabi: Arrangements
Sharif Sehnaoui: Prepared Acoustic Guitar
Tony Elieh: Electric Bass Drones
Ziya Tabassian: Percussion on “Bein Ithnein”
Film and visuals by Charles-André Coderre.
“Wa Ta’atalat Loughat Al Kalam” is an orchestral reinterpretation of "Ya Garat Al Wadi" by Mohammad Abdel Wahab with lyrics by Ahmad Shawqi.
Re-arrangements: Sam Shalabi & Radwan Ghazi Moumneh.
Recorded live in Beirut in December 2017 at Bustros Palace.
Abed Kobeissy: Buzuk
Ali El Hout: Riq
Amir Amiri: Santur
Bashar Farran: Contrabass
Eliana Awad: Derbakeh
Firas Andary: Viola
Imad Hashisho: Cello & all the love in the world
Jad Saliba: Oud
Jihad Assaad: Qanun
Layale Chaker: Violin
Radwan Ghazi Moumneh: Vocals & electronics
Reda Bitar: Violin
Sam Shalabi: Arrangements
Sharif Sehnaoui: Prepared Acoustic Guitar
Tony Elieh: Electric Bass Drones
Ziya Tabassian: Percussion on “Bein Ithnein”
Fadi Tabbal: Recording engineer
Pascal Semerdjian: Assistant engineer
Anthony Sahyoun: Assistant engineer
Baris Dogrusoz: Production Assistance
Charles-André Coderre: Cinematography
Yann-Manuel Hernandez: Cinematography
Tony Elieh: Photography
Mixed at thee mighty hotel2tango, Montreal, April 2018 by Radwan Ghazi Moumneh.
Mastered at Grey Market in Montreal by Harris Newman.
Recording co-commissioned by Le Guess Who?