Video - Palestinian Lullabies

A new video with the Silk Road Ensemble

Musicians of the Silk Road ensemble got together to record a selection of two beautiful Palestinian lullabies.

These songs were brought to us by Layale Chaker, who also sings and plays the violin.

They were recorded remotely (like in the “pandemic” days) and Shawn Conley did an incredible job editing and stitching everyone together. Kevork Mourad, an amazing visual artist who has collaborated with Silkroad for a long time, created the beautiful artwork. I contributed with some accordion and riqq (Arabic tambourine). See below for full listing of performers and instruments.

Unfortunately mainstream social media algorithms have “strangled” this video’s presence online as it contains the word Palestine, so I would like to share it with you here.

From Silkroad:

A musical offering from the Silkroad Ensemble.

These lullabies belong to Palestinian and Levantine Arab folk repertoire, traditionally transmitted orally for generations in the whole region of the Arab Levant. The first lullaby is a free form, where the singer follows a simple melodic contour and instrumentalists improvise variations and melismas around the poetry. The second lullaby is a more structured song that still invites freedom of interpretation and variation from its performers.

Lullaby 1 - Khet el Sobeh -

Thread of the morning
His eyes are full of sleep
O thread of the morning
O separator between him and I
His eyes are full of sleep
If only morning did not start appearing
His eyes are full of sleep

Lullaby 2 - Wa'ouyouneha -

Her Eyes My bird, you'd say that her eyes are like cups
Cups full of coffee
Your beautiful, black eyes
Your beautiful, black eyes
Oh your eyes

Artists/Instrumentation
Layale Chaker - Voice, Violin
Rhiannon Giddens - Voice
Francesco Turrisi - Accordion, Riqq
Shawn Conley - Bass
Kaoru Watanabe - Shinobue, Taiko
Hadi Eldebek - Oud
Kinan Azmeh - Clarinet
Haruka Fujii - Percussion
Shane Shanahan - Darbuka
Karen Ouzounian - Cello
Mike Block - Cello
Mario Gotoh - Viola
Reylon Yount - Yangqin
Nora Fischer - Voice
Shaw Pong Liu - Erhu
Mazz Swift - Violin
Maeve Gilchrist - Harp
Michi Wiancko - Violin

Visuals - Kevork Mourad

Learn more:
http://www.silkroad.org/