Songs from UR

Artist: Sussan Deyhim & Torsten Rasch

Embark on an extraordinary musical journey into the enchanting realm of Mesopotamia, inspired by the earliest known piece of music, the Hurrian Hymn No. 6, which dates back an astonishing 3,400 years. The evocative lyrics, sung in the ancient tongues of Akkadian and Sumerian, draw from the poignant 'Lament for the Destruction of Ur,' meticulously preserved on cuneiform tablets housed in the Louvre.

At the heart of Torsten Rasch's opera, The Other Woman, is a pivotal character known as The Eyewitness, for whom Sussan Deyhim was the composer’s first and only choice. Originally set to premiere in June 2020, the opera's launch was thwarted by the global pandemic, which gripped Italy and subsequently the world following Easter that year, inducing a state of unprecedented stillness. Amidst lockdowns, with Torsten in Rome and Sussan in Los Angeles, these two musicians devised a creative solution: they expanded the relatively brief 'Eyewitness' segments from the opera and collaborated on new music by exchanging musical ideas through digital files, bridging continents and transforming isolation into an innovative artistic endeavour.

The long-awaited premiere of the opera took place at the Semperoper in Dresden in January 2022, during a time when the pandemic still loomed large, yet the world was beginning to stir back to life. Although the musical framework for ‘Songs from Ur’ was largely established, fresh ideas continued to blossom in the years that followed as Sussan and Torsten delved into writing and performing new compositions.

Tracklist:

• EYEWITNESS I - 05:35
• Whispers - 07:52
• EYEWITNESS II - 03:41
• Raise your laments - 03:25
• EYEWITNESS V - 08:09
• The Shadow and the Ghost - 03:24
• Murm-UR - 06:59
• EYEWITNESS IV (instrumental) - 04:10
• EYEWITNESS VI - 04:08

Available Formats:

• Digital Album (Streaming + Download) – €10 EUR

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