Bridging sacred hymns and sonic experimentation, \u2018Bethlehem\u2019 debuts with haunting performances live in France this May.<\/p>\n
Originally titled \u2018Christmas in Mourning\u2019, \u2018Bethlehem\u2019 is a collaborative composition between\u00a0Lawrence Sammour, the 86-year-old choirmaster of Bethlehem\u2019s Church of the Nativity, and Beirut-based electro-acoustic musicians\u00a0Sary Moussa\u00a0and\u00a0Abed Kobeissy.<\/p>\n
Commissioned for Christmas 2023 – at a time when the streets of Bethlehem (the birthplace of Jesus Christ) fell eerily silent as celebrations were canceled in response to the genocide in Gaza – this work provided a haunting, powerful voice for the region. <\/p>\n
The collaboration is a rare and profound piece of music that bridges between the sacred hymns of the church and the experimental sonics of Moussa and Kobeissy, that results in a tragic exploration of centuries old tradition reimagined in light of enormous pain and suffering. <\/p>\n
On the evening of\u00a0May 16th, the echoes of one of the world\u2019s most ancient cities will resonate in the heart of Montreuil. For the first time in France, the trio will be performing\u00a0live at\u00a0Le Bal Chavaux alongside bassist Makram Aboul Hosn, with a second show in\u00a0Lyon for the Nuits Sonores Festival on May 17th. <\/p>\n
The evening will begin at\u00a08PM\u00a0with an opening performance by\u00a0Charbel Haber, a legendary figure in Lebanon\u2019s alternative music scene since the late 1990s. Haber\u2019s work is a masterclass in using sound to explore memory, decay, and the political landscapes of the Middle East, setting a somber and speculative tone for the main event. <\/p>\n
Get your tickets through Tzkrti, DICE, or Bal Chavaux’s tickets platform.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bridging sacred hymns and sonic experimentation, \u2018Bethlehem\u2019 debuts with haunting performances live in France this May. Originally titled…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":181862,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-181861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}