About This Item
I am writing these words while the Middle East, my place of birth, my roots, is bleeding. There are no words that can describe the pain, loss and suffering I see in the land and it's people on a daily basis.Like me, my friends, family, and neighbors who live on the other side of these fences that were built to divide us, carry an excruciating pain that grows deeper as the wars continue - pain that will live in hearts and souls for generations to come.I wanted this project to bring people together through music. My grandfather, born in Syria and shaped by hardship, believed in peace until his last day. Because of him, I believe in peace, and I hope this is one belief I will never have to grieve.The sonic landscape of conflict-the sudden silence after chaos, the irregular heartbeat of distant artillery, that unnatural quiet following destruction-has inevitably found it's way into my musical language.These experiences of personal loss, collective grief, and enduring hope became the foundation for the music in this album, each piece exploring different sides and shades of mourning.Shades of MourningThis album began, unknowingly, at my grandmother's deathbed. I didn't realize then that the piece I wrote while she was taking her last breaths would grow into an album, nor did I yet know I was a composer. The room was dark and hushed, air hanging motionless as though time itself had paused. Outside, the world continued it's rhythms, but in that space, existence narrowed to the shallow rise and fall of her chest.InchShades of Mourning, Inch which opened this collection of compositions centered around the process of grief, is a passacaglia - a farewell to a woman who shaped my life in ways I'm still uncovering. It opened a door to composing as a form of grief, reflection, and memory-and became the foundation of this entire work.RootsWhile grieving my personal loss, I found myse
