Syng! Rajih, Runesdatter & Khatib

In this concert performance, Liv Runesdatter introduces two outstanding Arab artists.

Writer Mansur Rajih and oud master Ahmad Al Khatib are two important and insightful artistic voices, with life stories, quality, and creative power that resonate across much of the Arab world. Both live in exile, in Stavanger and Gothenburg, respectively.

Mansur Rajih (1958) is referred to as Yemen’s ‘national poet’; a highly esteemed poet, democracy advocate, and human rights activist. Rajih was imprisoned for fifteen years before sustained international pressure eventually led to his release, and in 1998 he became Norway’s first city of refuge writer. Mansur’s poetry is closely tied to his history, and in his prose, he emerges as a sharp observer of society. As a writer, he has much to express and does so with rare poetic intensity. While he was in captivity, his poems were smuggled out and published in newspapers and journals across the Arab world. From his exile in Stavanger, he writes and publishes in media and journals around the world. He is a strong voice for peace, reconciliation, and justice. His poems have been translated into many languages, and four of his poetry collections have been published in Norwegian.

Ahmad Al Khatib (1974) is a Palestinian born and raised in a refugee camp in Jordan, where his family has lived since being forced to flee in the 1960s. He started learning the oud early on and later studied music history and cello at Yarmouk University in Jordan. After completing his studies in 1997, he moved to Ramallah, where he taught at the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music in the department of Oriental music, eventually becoming its head. In 2002, the political situation forced him to leave Palestine, and he continued his work through distance learning, producing a series of oud tutorials and transcriptions of classical Arab works. In 2004, he settled in Sweden, where he earned a master’s degree in ethnomusicology and music education. Currently, he is employed as a professor and lecturer at the University of Gothenburg. He has released several albums and toured in the Middle East, India, the USA, Europe, and Brazil.

In the fall of 2022, the trio will perform 30 concerts organized by Kulturtanken Møre og Romsdal.

Song Circus

Song Circus works with experimental music, sound art, and audiovisual projects, and has cultivated an unusually rich and fascinating sound vocabulary. Song Circus has also created projects in the intersection of concerts, conceptual art, installations, and performances, commissioned by galleries, museums, festivals, cultural producers, and artists. The ensemble has a very extensive production and touring activity.

The ensemble emphasizes close and long-lasting collaborations with composers and creative artists in the development of new music and performing arts. Among these are Pascale Criton, Trevor Wishart, Ruben Sverre Gjertsen, Therese Birkelund Ulvo, Tyler Futrell, Ole Henrik Moe, Nils Henrik Asheim, Harpreet Bansal, Morten Olsen Joh, Jaap Blank, and others.

Sangere: Liv Runesdatter, Stine Janvin Joh, Signe Irene Stangborli Time, Ingeborg Dalheim, Silje Aker Johnsen, Vera Sonne og Ingrid Lode

Song Circus has performed at international festivals and stages, and concerts have been broadcast on European radio and TV channels in Germany, Scotland, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Norway on several occasions. The ensemble has released the surround album Anatomy of Sound, which was nominated for the Spellemann Prize, as well as an EP and a short film created in collaboration with the Danish award-winning director Maja Friis. Currently, the ensemble is working on two new releases and a short film directed by Liv Runesdatter and produced by Hinterland/Von Mørner.

And yet they sing

“This is the world. More beautiful than we like to know, and more fragile, more fragile than we can bear”

 

Mansur Rajih and Liv Runesdatter’s collaboration spans over ten years, and Liv’s music to Mansur’s poetry has been conveyed through more than 350 concerts in Europe, the Middle East and the Caucasus, in collaboration with musicians from Azerbaijan, Syria, Iran, Baluchistan, Palestine, Lebanon and Norway.

In “Still they sing” a musical universe is created where rhythmic, harmonic structures and ornamentation from the Ottoman Empire meet related harmonic structures from the folk musical Haugian tradition in Vestfold.

Liv Runesdatter’s extensive and critically acclaimed career as a singer and composer spans 25 years. She tours over large parts of the world, and has collaborated with artists from more than 30 different countries.

Mansur Rajih came to Norway from Yemen as Norway’s first free city writer almost 25 years ago. He has been a political prisoner for 15 years, but was also referred to as Yemen’s national poet in modern times. After his release, he has worked both as a poet and human rights activist, and among other things, he has published four critically acclaimed poetry collections in Norwegian. The last collection of poems, “Der trærne sto” was published in autumn 2021.

Ahmad Al Khatib is considered to be one of the world’s top three oud players. He is Palestinian, born and raised in a refugee camp in Jordan, where the family has lived since they were forced to flee in the 60s. He started learning the oud early and after finishing his studies he moved to Ramallah to teach. In 2002 the political situation forced him to leave Palestine and in 2004 he settled in Sweden where he currently works as a teacher and lecturer at the University of Gothenburg. He has collaborated with many of the leading representatives of Arabic music, released many records and toured the Middle East, India, USA, Europe and Brazil.

Mansur Rajih – recitation
Liv Runesdatter – vocals
Ahmad Al-Khatib – oud
Torben Snekkestad – saxophone and clarinet (NO)
Youssuf Hbeisch – percussionist
Harpreet Bansal – violin
Svante Henryson – cello

This Is the World

This is the world

More beautiful than we want to know

and more delicate

More fragile than we can abide

The music is composed by Liv Runesdatter and the poems are by Mansur Rajih (Jemen/NO).  The concert piece was commissioned by ICORN and performed at Kapittel, Stavanger International Festival of Literature and Freedom of Speech.

The poet Mansur Rajih (Jemen/NO) express himself with a rare poetic fervor. His poems holds a universal tone. In his deepest darkness, he writes about his longing for light. He writes about life’s fragility. The poems affect us all, and they appeal to us in different ways, depending on our experiences, the situation in which we hear them and our personal perception.

Runesdatter compositions are build on musical structures of classical traditional music from regions of the former Ottoman Empire and Norwegian ancient spiritual folk music. «And yet they sing» is performed by a powerful chamber ensemble of outstanding soloists:

Liv Runesdatter (vocals, NO), Mansur Rajih (resitation, Jemen /NO), Snorre Bjerck (percussion), Abdulrahman Surizehi (benju, Iran/Balouchistan/NO), Ilmari Hopkins (cello, FIN/NO), Rolf-Erik Nystroem / Tor Yttredal (saxophone, NO), Henning Rød Haugland (piano / percussion, NO), Magnus Rød Haugland and Ivan Savgoroniy (double bass)

Photo 1: Liv Runesdatter. Photo 2: Signe Christine Urdal

Mansur Rajih has been described as the national poet of Jemen. A radical writer and political activist from the time he was a student, Rajih spent fifteen years as a prisoner of conscience, during which time his poems were smuggled out of prison. In 1998 he was released after a long international campaign involving the Norwegian government, Amnesty International and International PEN. He joined his wife in Stavanger, Norway, where he continues to live with his family, and has had several poetry collections published, including Horoscope: Prison (2000), So Far: So Close (2003), My Brother’s Pain (2008) and From there (2010). Rajih has been the subject of several short films, and in 2010 he was awarded the regional human rights prize for Northern Jæren, Norway.

Syng hjerte – Sing Heart

20 years ago Liv Runesdatter stumbled across a small collection of old recordings. Hidden on them lay forgotten melodies from a small pietistic laymen’s movement that emerged in eastern Norway in the 1860s, and it marked the start of a passionate affair and study. Since then she has worked on her project Syng hjerte (Sing Heart) and delved even deeper into this rare music tradition. She has studied the songs and the stories behind them. Hours and hours have been spent in archives, pot after pot of coffee brewed in retirement homes, moving conversations and a surrogate grandmother…The Norwegian folk tunes are inseparable from Norwegian roots, tradition and thought. They can be compared to the tradition of Negro Spirituals, a fortifying draught in times of adversity and, in prosperity, an inspiration.

She seeks to let the past and the present melt together. The songs are embellished with life stories and tales, coloured by material from her own musical universe, and inspired from hoarse voices on creaky old recordings, nature, squeaking audiotape players, rooms, shapes, smells, sounds and people. The Norwegian traditional roots are evident, though impulses from other places and traditions can be traced.

Her solo cd «Syng Hjerte» (Grappa/Galileo) received outstanding reviews in international newspapers, magazines and radio shows:
The Dutch magazine Folkforum selected Syng Hjerte on their list of «Best international recordings » and writes «What a voice!».
«An important music project,challenging the Norwegian traditional music field, both through Runesdatter´s voice performance andthe catchy and untraditional musical choices.» «What we hear is a heartfelt, personal music, with a rarecreative fantasy: Liv Runesdatter, remember her name. A certain voice, encircled by a powerfulensemble of musicians. The sound on the cd is experienced as clear and near, and I immediately recognize small details: crackling, air without sound/delay through the saxophones, a hint of splinteredbowstrokes.. It is blessed, it is cheerful and drifting, and it is heavy and refreshing at the same time. Itis imaginative art!» Kjetil Bjørgan, The Norwegian Broadcast.
«Runesdatter shows to belong to the elite of Norwegianmusic. Although her music breaths the Norwegian air, it also has something modern and unique. Hervoice is warm and has a natural peacefulness. It reminds of the ice cold traditional jazz of JanGarbarek, without being a copy of his style. When Runesdatter sings one of the many psalms on thisalbum, I feel the ancientness of these songs and when she is backed by the Hardingfele, she bringsthe dales of South-Norway to live.» FolkWorld, international music magazine.
«Herrlich mystisch, verdreht, abenteuerlich,verhalten. Runesdatters Stimme ist klar wie ein norwegischer Gebirgsfluss. So ein Projekt verdient Aufmerksamkeit. Soultrain, Germany.
«Liv’s voice throughout this recording is breathtakingly gorgeous and hymn-like.Syng Hjerte is both reverently soothing and exotically jarring, and well worth a listen.» Lori Gordon, UK.

Anonymia

– art exhitibion: photographies, text and multichannel sound installations

With this exhibition Runesdatter (sound installations) and Urdal (photographies) tells stories about love, choice and trust. Whether to carry on a great sorrow one does not share with others. Anonymia is about self-image and others´ gaze. How do we want to be seen?

The exhibition tells stories about HIV, one of the greatest disease taboos of today. By studying people with and without this diagnosis the artists want to tell something fundamental about the human: About our need of forming our own identity and the stories about ourselves. To be allowed to obscure those aspects of ourselves that we do not want to be identified with. What conflicts arise when our need to be honest and gain acceptance for our weak and strong sides meet the need we have to protect ourselves and our families? And what happens to our self-confidense when we choose to break society´s taboo?

Sari Gelin

A prized Norwegian-Azerbaijani collaboration between a group of highly recognized musicians lead by the Norwegian singer and composer Liv Runesdatter and kamanecheh player Elshan Mansurov. Rare Norwegian folksongs meet the traditional classical music of Azerbaijan, the Mugam.

Liv Runesdatter – vocals

Ehtiram Huseinov – vocals

Elshan Mansurov – kamanecheh

Alfred Janson  – accordion

Tuva Thomassen Bolstad – hardanger fiddle

Elekber Elekberov – tar

The Mugam tradition and traditional Norwegian folk songs are similar in that they both are vehicles for the perpetuation of the soul of a people. The two traditions have much in common. In terms of musical structure, they are different, but they are brothers in their expressiveness and in their dramatic qualities. Sari Gelin is a famous mugham and the title can be translated as «blond bride». The azeri-armenian story behind the song belongs to a tradition of tragic romance, and can be assembled with the european drama Romeo and Juliet. Mugam is an ancient living tradition and it is with a great sense of fascination and humility, as well as heartfelt respect for its poetry and performers that I embark upon this project.

Mugham orig. Azerbaijan is a tradition of vocal music practiced in Azerbaijan, with variations of different names found over a wide area of the Middle and Far East. Drawing on popular stories and local melodies, it is a highly expressive and narratively complex form of music. Because it is both improvisational and adherent to a highly nuanced set of rules, mugham is difficult to master and notate. Mugham songs are often based on ancient Azerbaijani poetry with recurrent themes of love and mysticism, and performances can last for hours.

Sari Gelin

– Prisbelønt og kritikerrost musikalsk møte

På samme måte som mugam tradisjonen bærer i seg den aserbajdsjanske folkesjelen er de norske folketonene uadskillelige fra de norske røttene, tradisjonene og idehistorien vår. De musikalske strukturene er ulike, men uttrykksmessig og dramaturgisk har de mye til felles. Aserbadsjans shia-tradisjon rommer mye av den samme mystikken, inderligheten og undringen som er å finne i de religøse folketonene og i den norske haugianismen.

Sari Gelin er navnet på en av de mest kjente aserbadsjanske mughamene og betyr blond brud. Tittelen har blitt et symbolsterkt bilde på prosjektet, relasjonen mellom den norske og aserbadsjanske spirituelle musikken, kulturen og utøverne av den.

Liv Runesdatter – vokal
Ehtiram Huseinov – vokal
Elshan Mansurov – kamanecheh
Tuva Thomassen Bolstad – hardingfele
Alfred Janson – akkordion, melodika
Elekber Elekberov – tar

Konsertproduksjonen er utviklet av Liv Runesdatter i samarbeid med Elshan Mansurov, og finansiert av Utenriksdepartementet, Den Kongelige Norske Ambassade i Baku og det aserbadsjanske kulturminesteriet.

Anonymia

– Kunstutstilling i foto, lyd og bilde av Liv Runesdatter (lydinstallasjoner/musikk) og Signe Christine Urdal (fotografi)

I «Anonymia – Midt i blant oss» forteller Runesdatter og Christine Urdal historier kjærlighet, valg og tillit.
Om det å bære på en stor sorg, som en ikke deler med sine nærmeste. Anonymia handler om eget selvbilde og andres blikk. Hvordan ønsker vi å bli sett?

Kunstnerne har tatt utgangspunkt i hiv, et av vår tids største sykdomstabu. Gjennom et knippe representanter med og uten denne diagnosen ønsker de å si noe grunnleggende om det menneskelige. Om behovet vi har for å forme vår egen identitet, vår fortelling om oss selv. Å få lov til å skjule de sider av oss som vi ikke ønsker å bli identifisert med. Hvilke konflikter oppstår når behovet vi har for å være ærlige og få aksept for våre svake og sterke sider møter behovet vi har for å beskytte oss selv og våre nærmeste? Hvordan forholder vi oss som enkeltindivid og samfunn til det uakseptable? Og hvordan rokkes vår selvfølelse hvis det er vi selv som bryter samfunnets tabu?

“Tilsammen skaper de en stram helhet; jeg går fra stasjon til stasjon, fra lytting til betraktning, for å oppleve glimt av hivsmittedes historier og kropper, men også portretter av mennesker som ikke har denne smitten, men som bærer på andre hemmeligheter. Utstillerne har skapt et meditativt rom, en kunst til ettertanke. Vi kan kalle stasjonene for fire meditasjoner over hivsmitten.” Trond Borgen (Stavanger Aftenblad)

Anonymia hadde première 1. desember 2011 i anledning markeringen av Verdens Aidsdag og virusets 30 år lange eksistens.     21. januar-21. februar 2012 var Anonymia utstilt i Bryne Kunstforening.