Meditations on Oummi

I started writing Meditations on Oummi on October 7th, 2024. The events that occurred exactly a year beforehand led me to join the group Standing Together, a grassroots social movement that aims to bring together Arab Israeli and Jewish Israeli communities in the struggle for Israeli-Palestinian peace, equality and social justice. At a Standing Together event in Chicago to commemorate October 7th, 2023, and acknowledge the loss and tragedy in Gaza and Lebanon, violinist Sam Hyson and I played a Lebanese song by Marcel Khalife called Oummi (my mother), set to words by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. The poem speaks of longings for the poet’s mother, for her bread, her coffee, her touch. During the nine minutes of playing the song, Sam and I felt a transformation occur in ourselves and in the audience. Somehow, the music made us all more pliable, more open to recognize our shared humanity. After the event, with the song still in my head, I wrote Meditations on Oummi, based on the Khalife composition. This piece is the most authentic way for me to express my feelings about the loss, hatred, dehumanization and grief that have stricken both sides of the conflict. It is dedicated to the inimitable Mivos Quartet.