Product Description
In August of 2014, Syrian refugees Doaa Al Zamel
and her fiancé Bassem had to flee their temporary home in Egypt after living
there without a work permit and in constant fear. Bassem spent his
life savings and hired smugglers who took them on a packed old fishing
boat, with the hope of getting married and building a new life in
Europe. After a few days another smugglers ship showed up and
rammed a hole in the boat. Most of the
passengers died, while the rest tried to survive by swimming. Doaa could
not swim, but luckily Bassem found a life preserver and gave it to her.
After a day passed, Bassem ran out of energy. He drowned
before her eyes. Doaa was one of 11 out of 500 passengers who
survived the wreck. Another was Masa, an 18-month old girl who was handed
to Doaa by her mother, who drowned shortly after she gave her child to
Doaa. Doaa not only miraculously survived four days in the sea
without food or water before being rescued by a Greek vessel; she also saved
the life of Masa, playing with her and singing to her afloat on the small life
preserver in the middle of the ocean.
My wife and I heard this story one day on WNYC Radio as
told by UN's High Commissioner for Refugees Melissa Fleming. I
was overwhelmed with tears. How did Doaa find the strength to
witness her love drown, survive in the sea for four days, and save a strangers
baby? My wife suggested that I would write a piece about it, and
this became Doaa and Masa, which I wrote for my friend, harpist Sivan
Magen. The harp is a natural instrument to represent a stormy ocean,
and in order to situate it in the Middle East, I structured a mode that
superimposes two appearances of a tetra-cord that is common in traditional
Arabic music (Hijaz tetra-cord: half step three half step half
step). I likewise employed a type of texture that is common in this
music: a melody over a repeated rhythmic pattern using long meters
such as 10/4 and 17/8. While writing the piece I was visualizing the
inconceivable image of Doaa on a life preserver in the middle of the ocean,
singing to Masa. I consequently wrote a short lullaby that can be
heard twice in the piece accompanied by a texture that resembles a Qanoon, a string
instrument commonly used in Syrian music. Above anything else, the
moment that breaks my heart in this incredible story is when Doaa's fiancé died
right before her eyes. And so, the piece ends with a lament for
Bassem and for anyone who lost their life while fleeing their homeland.
This product was created by a member of ArrangeMe, Hal Leonard's global self-publishing community of independent composers, arrangers, and songwriters. ArrangeMe allows for the publication of unique arrangements of both popular titles and original compositions from a wide variety of voices and backgrounds.