My most recent piece, The Wind Will Blow Us Away, for String Quartet which was commissioned by my friend and long-time collaborator, Hannah Nicholas was premiered at The New Tropic, Miami, Fl as part of O, Miami Poetry Festival on April 4th. The piece was performed again at The New World Symphony on April 10th by Hannah Nicholas, Julia Yang, Maya Cohon and Rebecca Reale. The visuals for this piece were original and designed by Syrian NY-based artist, Kevork Mourad. The piece more of a descriptive piece of music which is based on the poetry of Forough Farrokhzad, arguably one of Iran's most influential female poets of the 20th century, a controversial modernist poet and an iconoclast who died tragically in the late 60's. The poetry is recited by the performers and embedded inside the piece.
Inside my little night, alas,
the wind has a rendezvous with the leaves;
inside my little night, there is fear
Hear the darkness blow like wind?
I watch this prosperity through alien eyes.
I am addicted to my despair.
something’s coming to pass.
is troubled and red; cloud
are a procession of mourners waiting
to release tears upon this rooftop,
this rooftop about to crumble, to give way.
Beyond this window, the night quivers, and the earth once again halts its spin.
From beyond this wind, the eyes
of the unknown are on you and me.
May you be green, head to toe,
put your hands like a fevered memory in mine...
these hands that love you.
like a life-warmed feeling
to the caress of my lovesick lips.
The wind will one day blow us away.
The wind will blow us away.
Farrukhzād, Furūgh. "The Wind Will Blow Us Away." Sin: Selected Poems of Forugh Farrokhzad. Trans. Sholeh Wolpé. 1st ed. Fayetteville: U of Arkansas, 2007. 34-35. Print.
