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Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Includes unlimited streaming of The Drowning Valley via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Shipping available only in the US and Canada.
Includes unlimited streaming of The Drowning Valley
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 2 days
edition of 50
$20USDor more
Sheet Music
Digital downloads of both "The Drowning Valley" and "Extinction" solo piano sheet music. Delivered as a PDF to your email address.
After completing your purchase, you will receive an email with the sheet music. Please allow up to 24 hours for delivery.
The Drowning Valley is Part 1 of "Into the Ether and Out of Our Anguish," a large-scale collaborative work comprising solo piano improvisations, string quartet, field recordings and testimonials collected by my colleagues Shareef Sarhan and Rana Batrawi, who both live and work in Gaza, from survivors of the latest massacre and also focusing on the nature and landscape of the Gaza valley. I was recently awarded the 2021 Palestinian Young Artist of the Year Award for "Into the Ether and Out of Our Anguish" by the AM Qattan Foundation in conjunction with the Mosaic Rooms in London. The theme for this year's award is "Divinations: The Art of Remembering The Future,” curated by novelist and writer Adania Shibli. It focuses on ways artists, academics, curators, historians and critics can work towards imagining a liberated Palestine, and is largely focused on process rather than outcome. Inspired by the five elements: air, water, earth, fire and ether, the sonic space in a future where Palestine exists outside of the boundaries and politics of nation statehood and of earthly, material alliances. Ether is the space where we come together amidst the constantly changing environmental forces to adapt and change with them, a place where residents value the natural world, rather than being neglectful and incredibly wasteful of its natural resources.
Imagine a Ferris wheel made of herbs and flowers in The Drowning Valley (Marj Sanur), in Sanur, Jenin. It exists on another plane that is accessible only by Palestinians and ancestral spirits. The Ferris wheel transports you to the sea and into the ether. In this mode of the future,
Palestinians have developed supernatural powers and teleport in and out of different spiritual planes. Their powers and teleportation devices such as the Ferris wheel are passed down by the spirits of children.
Sanur Lake is present in Palestinian oral and written folk stories as a sign of the abundance of rainwater. Located in the northern occupied West Bank, in Jenin, its valley transforms into a grey, shallow lake after the rainy winter season, giving it the nickname “The Drowning Valley”. Jenin, my father's home village, is part of a coastal strip extending along the Mediterranean Sea. However, most occupied West Bank Palestinians do not know this coast and have never been able to visit it because Israel's Apartheid Wall has turned the territory into isolated cantons.
Sanur Lake is located in an area surrounded by a mountain chain in the towns of Sanur, Meithalun, al-Judeida, Siris, Sir, Misilyah, and Jarba.
The mountain chains are the reason for the rainfall accumulation, and the lake, while beautiful to witness for most, means the destruction of crops for Palestinian farmers. The Ministry of Agriculture has been unable to solve the problem. In the past, the drowning valley only appeared every decade or so, but due to climate change, and more heavy and regular rainfall, the lake is now a permanent fixture in the winter.
Extinction was written in memory of the Gazan Wild Rabbit. Reservoir incorporates interviews and field recordings on water and access from folks in Nablus, Bethlehem and Ramallah, including children from Jalazon Refugee camp, compiled by my colleague Riham.
Offerings II is the video version of the first single from this project, released here in digital audio and CD format.
credits
released December 15, 2021
Written, Produced and Performed by Donia Jarrar
Violins- Xenia Deviatkina-Loh and Kate Outterbridge
Viola-Cassia Streb
Cello-Jennifer Bewerse
Mastering on 1- Josephine Shetty
Mastering on 2 and 4- Alberto Lopez
Mastering on 3- Ryan Gregory Tallman
Recorded at Tropico Union Studios and California Institue of the Arts, with funding supported by The AM Qattan Foundation and the Mosaic Rooms in London
Photography by John Bubniak
Special Thanks to Chris Labadie, Randa Jarrar, Asiya Later, Manan Kocher and Fadi Shihadeh, Ramy El-Etreby, Irene Yeh and Nancy Alexander.
Music Videos Directed by Adrian Hernandez and Donia Jarrar
Set Design by Samira Idroos
Costume by Maria Emma Galba
Makeup by Valerie Von Prisk
Hair by Rebecca Chavez
For my mama, without whom my life as a pianist would not have been possible. Thank you for transferring your magic to me. I love you, endlessly.
supported by 6 fans who also own “The Drowning Valley”
My god, what an absolutely incredible Suite. I'll admit, I've struggled to get into Pharoah Sanders due to diving headfirst into some of his most challenging catalogue and that never worked. This is the perfect place to restart. Floating Points is new for me and I can honestly say I've never heard synthesizer music this lush and organic before. the LSO is just perfect. This is one of those albums that any serious music fan needs in their life. The perfect swan song for the great Pharaoh! 5/5 ClassyMusicSnob
supported by 5 fans who also own “The Drowning Valley”
Ghost’s Michio Kurihara is a Japanese guitarist whose spectral tone and majestic Ebow I can spot clouds away; among their many credits together, his work on 2000’s Damon & Naomi with Ghost is truly special. That magic remains, as Kurihara teases lustrous textures out of Damon & Naomi’s gently brushed and hushed songs. https://www.vikingschoice.org/archive/vikings-choice-guide-to-bandcamp-friday-aug-2021/ Lars Gotrich
St Celfer returns with tracks culled from a series of live shows, each one a showcase for his inventive experimentalism. Bandcamp New & Notable Jun 26, 2023
supported by 5 fans who also own “The Drowning Valley”
Energy time maddafakkas! This is hard hitting free jazz for the revolution. Listening to this you could believe it might actually happen!
Anyone who thinks Jazz is for old folks should give this a spin. It couldn’t be more contemporary to my ears. Crinklechips