July 9: The Crossing Releases WORDS ADORNED, Featuring the Al-Bustan Takht Ensemble and Dalal Abu Amneh, on Navona Records

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PR Contact: Katy Salomon | Morahan Arts and Media
katy@morahanartsandmedia.com | 863.660.2214

The Crossing Releases
WORDS ADORNED

Featuring the Al-Bustan Takht Ensemble and
Vocalist Dalal Abu Amneh in Works Inspired
by Andalusian Poetry Composed by Kareem
Roustom, Kinan Abou-afach, and
Muhammad ‘abd al-Rahim al Maslub

Out July 9, 2021 on Navona Records
Physical Copies Available Upon Request

“The Crossing [has a] gift for lending social activism poetic form” – The New York Times

www.crossingchoir.org 

Philadelphia, PA (June 3, 2021) — On Friday, July 9, 2021, GRAMMY-winning choir The Crossing, led by Donald Nally, releases its 25th commercial album, WORDS ADORNED, on Navona Records. WORDS ADORNED features The Crossing with the Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture’s Takht Ensemble – led by Hanna Khoury, who served as musical coach for the project – and Palestinian vocal soloist Dalal Abu Amneh in commissioned works by Kareem Roustom and Kinan Abou-afach inspired by Andalusian poetry, and the traditional muwashshah When He Appeared by Muhammad ‘abd al-Rahim al Maslub. 

The release celebrates one of The Crossing’s favorite collaborations, an exchange of musical cultures and ideas that greatly stretched the ensemble and expanded its horizons. The recording was made and originally released as part of an Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture multimedia project inspired by Andalusian poetry, with a series of events and newly commissioned works bridging the traditions of east and west. This re-release on Navona Records is produced by The Crossing’s Executive Director Jonathan Bradley, conductor Donald Nally, and assistant conductor Kevin Vondrak. Major support for WORDS ADORNED was provided to Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage with additional support from the Arab Fund for Arts & Culture and the William Penn Foundation.

Kareem Roustom’s Embroidered Verses consists of four Anadalusian poems translated by Ahmad Almallah, each is based on a poem on a theme common to the muwashshah. The first text extols the natural beauty of al-Andalus, and the second is a lively re-setting of a well-known drinking song. This re-setting of text to new music is also part of the tradition and is a nod to Aleppo’s rich musical heritage. The third text is a love poem composed by poetess Umm al-Kiram, and the final text is a war-themed poem. Each setting showcases the virtuosic capabilities of the takht – an Arabic chamber group composed of oud, qanun, violin, cello, and percussion – and requires The Crossing to sing intricate harmonies and long embellished lines mixing quarter tones, speaking, whispering, and full-throated singing.

Of Nights And Solace by Kinan Abou-afach is a fantasia on Andalusian muwashshah poetry, also translated by Almallah. Abou-afach was inspired by the pre-Islamic era (al-Jahiliyya) in the Arabian Peninsula, where poets were treated as rockstars and tribes celebrated having a poet in residence. The Andalusian era wasn’t an exception, and the muwashshah developed and flourished. Of Nights and Solace is a virtual trip to Andalusia, a story with multiple characters that begins at sunset and ends at the break of day, progressing from classical style to a broken form that still hints at the muwashshah. The piece begins with a poem by Ibn Zuhr on the love and lament for parting with a beloved one; followed by a tearful longing for the creator by Sufi poet and philosopher Ibn Arabi; undeclared love and the difficulty of keeping this love in Ibn Isa al-Khabbaz’s poem; a beautiful rhythmic poem by al-Qazzaz; and finishes with Sahl Bin Malik’s poem about sunrise. The piece uses a wide range of harmonic styles, from simple to complex, also incorporates quarter tones, and has canon-like sections that begin and end the piece.

Donald Nally says of the release, “This is one of those great collaborations in which everyone is equally vital, no one is fully in charge and no one is in the background; everyone is driving the energy of the project and the music forward with physical, intellectual, and emotional energy. The result is something The Crossing really loves; amazing music, written for us by two uniquely gifted composers, and shaped by Hanna Khoury and the Takht players. And, of course, Dalal is a miracle. We are so fortunate that Al-Bustan asked us to join them for WORDS ADORNED and to have the album, years later, finally reach a larger audience!”

About The Crossing
The Crossing is a GRAMMY® Award-winning professional chamber choir conducted by Donald Nally and dedicated to new music. It is committed to working with creative teams to make and record new, substantial works for choir that explore and expand ways of writing for choir, singing in choir, and listening to music for choir. Many of its nearly 120 commissioned premieres address social, environmental, and political issues.

The Crossing collaborates with some of the world’s most accomplished ensembles and artists, including the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, American Composers Orchestra, Network for New Music, Lyric Fest, Piffaro, Beth Morrison Projects, Allora & Calzadilla, Bang on a Can, Klockriketeatern, and the International Contemporary Ensemble. Similarly, The Crossing often collaborates with some of world’s most prestigious venues and presenters, such as the Park Avenue Armory, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Pennsylvania, National Sawdust, David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center, Disney Hall in Los Angeles, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Menil Collection in Houston, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Haarlem Choral Biennale in The Netherlands, The Finnish National Opera in Helsinki, The Kennedy Center in Washington, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, Symphony Space in New York, Winter Garden with WNYC, and Duke, Northwestern, Colgate, and Notre Dame Universities. The Crossing holds an annual residency at the Warren Miller Performing Arts Center in Big Sky, Montana. 

With a commitment to recording its commissions, The Crossing has issued 24 releases, receiving two GRAMMY® Awards for Best Choral Performance (2018, 2019), and six GRAMMY nominations. The Crossing, with Donald Nally, was the American Composers Forum’s 2017 Champion of New Music. They were the recipients of the 2015 Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence, three ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming, and the Dale Warland Singers Commission Award from Chorus America.

Recently, The Crossing has expanded its choral presentation to film, working with Four/Ten Media, in-house sound designer Paul Vazquez of Digital Mission Audio Services, visual artists Brett Snodgrass and Steven Bradshaw, and composers David Lang, Michael Gordon, and Paul Fowler on live and animated versions of new and existing works. Lang’s protect yourself from infection and in nature as well as Paul Fowler’s Obligations, based on a poem of Layli Long Soldier, were specifically created to be within the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Crossing’s pandemic response daily series, Rising w/ The Crossing, a series of 72 past live performances with notes by Donald Nally, has been archived by the Library of Congress as “an important part of the collection and the historical record.”

The Crossing is represented by Alliance Artist Management. All of its concerts are broadcast on WRTI, Philadelphia’s Classical and Jazz public radio station. Learn more at www.crossingchoir.org.

About Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture
Rooted in Arab arts and language, Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture offers artistic and educational programming that enriches cross-cultural understanding and celebrates diversity. “Al-Bustan,” Arabic for “The Garden,” serves youth and adults of all ethnic, religious, and socio-economic backgrounds, while supporting the pursuit and affirmation of Arab American cultural identity and playing a constructive civic role within broader American society. www.albustanseeds.org

About Dalal Abu-amneh
Dalal Abu-amneh is a singer, producer, neuroscientist, and a mother of two. Born in Nazareth in 1983, Abu-Amneh has been fascinated by both science and music since being a little child. As in music, Abu-Amneh has gained fame and praise for her ability to perform a wide variety of different musical styles, while crafting a global Palestinian identity through her music. Abu-Amneh also produced all of her musical projects including her three albums: An Balady, Ya Sitti, and Nur. She emphasizes the value of musical heritage and glorifies the role of old women in preserving folklore through integrating them into her musical projects.

About Kareem Roustom
Syrian-American Kareem Roustom is an Emmy-nominated composer whose genre crossing collaborations include music commissioned by conductor Daniel Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, as well as projects with pop icons Shakira and Tina Turner, and with acclaimed British choreographer Shobana Jeyasingh. Known for his orchestral works, Roustom’s music has been performed by ensembles including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Boulez Ensemble, the Deutsch Oper Berlin, The Crossing, the Kronos Quartet, Lorelei Ensemble, A Far Cry, and at renowned festivals and halls such as the BBC Proms, the Salzburg Festival, the Lucerne Festival, Carnegie Hall, the Verbier Festival, the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. He has been composer-in-residence at the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago, the Grand Teton Music Festival in Wyoming, and with the Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen in Germany. Roustom’s music has also been recorded by the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester (Berlin), and the Philharmonia Orchestra (London). Current commissions include a large-scale orchestral work for the Malmö Symphony Orchestra (Sweden), and a trumpet concerto for the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker. 

About Kinan Abou-afach
Kinan Abou-afach is a cellist, oud player, composer, and recipient of the Pew Fellowship in 2013. The Syrian-born musician began his musical studies at the age of seven studying at the Arabic Institute of Music in Damascus, where he eventually joined the National Syrian Symphony Orchestra and performed with the Middle Eastern Ensemble. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in cello and oud performance from the Higher Institute of Music where he studied with Fayez Zahril-Din, Rasi Abdullaiev, and Valery Volkov. He also holds a Master’s Degree in Cello Performance from DePaul University where he studied with Stephen Balderston.

Abou-afach composes music that is saturated with unique scales, rhythmic grooves, and improvisation-esque progressions. He works on creating a sound that is based loosely on the Arabic modal traditions known as maqam, while using elements from the western traditions (classical, jazz, electronic, musique concrète). He has composed for concert, film, live theater, and live visual art including notable commissions performed by Grammy Award-winners Jason Vieaux and The Crossing; The Long Night, a film directed by Hatem Ali; Haunted by Liwaa Yazigi for Windy Clinard Dance Theater Jondo Portraits; and the 2014 film Maskoon. Recent works also include Nomads for Cello and String Quartet, Exodus for Brass Sextet, Munajat for SATB and cello, and Speak for Orchestra. 

Abou-afach has performed as a soloist and ensemble musician throughout the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and North America with musicians and ensembles such as the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Youssou N’dour, Concertante de Chicago, and the Ducati Piano Trio as well as conductors and soloists including Solhi Al-Wady, Daniel Barenboim, Cliff Colnot, Roberto Abbado, Sir Andrew Davis, Pinchas Zuckerman, and soloists like Yo-Yo Ma, Alex Klein, and Larry Combs.

About PARMA Recordings
Navona Records is a PARMA Recordings Company. PARMA Recordings is a leading figure in the commercial production and curated promotion of sounds by today’s musicians. Since 2008, PARMA’s GRAMMY-winning team has produced over 900 commercial releases, with works ranging from Billboard-topping classical chamber music to Cuban jazz to experimental electronic works. Music from their distributed labels has been featured in settings from CBS to Carnegie Hall, Microsoft to the Musikverein, and Nintendo to National Geographic. The 2019 Navona Records release from The Crossing THE ARC IN THE SKY was nominated for a 2020 GRAMMY Award and the 2020 Navona Records release CARTHAGE was nominated for a 2021 GRAMMY Award.

WORDS ADORNED Track List

Kareem Roustom – Embroidered Verses Songs on Andalusian Poetry
1. I. Ya’ahla’andalusen lilahi darrukumu / Oh people of Andalusia, what beauty you have [5:24]
2. II. Qum ya nadim / Arise oh drinking companion [3:55}
3. III. Ya ma’shara al-nasi ala fa’jabu / Oh people, stop and wonder [3:51]
4. IV. Qul Iil’ida / Tell the enemy [5:54]

Kinan Abou-afach – Of Nights and Solace Fantasia on Andalusian Muwashshah Poetry
5. I. Prelude: Moonrise [2:37]
6. II. ?ayyi-l wuj?h (Greet These Faces) [5:48]
7. III. Forsaken [7:53]
8. IV. Interlude: “á La Dulap” [2:37]
9. V. Ya man ‘ada (You Who Left and Passed) [5:16]
10. VI. Sunrise [1:44]

11. Muhammad ‘abd al-Rahim al Maslub – When He Appeared [3:52]
Traditional Muwashshah (bonus track from the live concert)

The Crossing
Donald Nally, conductor
Dalal Abu Amneh, vocalist
Al-Bustan Takht Ensemble
Hanna Khoury, violin and music director
Wassim Odeh, oud
Hicham Chami, qanun
Kinan Abou-afach, cello
Hafez Kotain, percussion

Recorded December 4, 2015 at Goodhart Hall, Bryn Mawr College in Bryn Mawr, PA

Recorded, Mixed, Edited, and Mastered by Joe Hannigan at Weston Sound

Executive Producer Bob Lord
Executive A&R Sam Renshaw
A&R Director Brandon MacNeil
VP, Audio Production Jeff LeRoy
Audio Director Lucas Paquette
VP, Design & Marketing Brett Picknell
Art Director Ryan Harrison
Design Edward A. Fleming
Publicity Patrick Niland, Sara Warner
Album Artwork Ashley Choukeir

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