These pieces were writ­ten as com­pul­so­ry work for the finale of MA com­pe­ti­tion 2021. 

Lamento di Nadima is the lament of a Jezidi moth­er who was forced by her fam­i­ly after years of IS cap­tiv­i­ty, to leave her 3‑year-old — born out of rape — in an orphan­age. A new hell. 

In the first part, per­cus­sion and soloist sound as two apart enti­ties. After that, both parts become denser and the per­cus­sion func­tions as an alter­na­tive bas­so con­tin­uo. It’s rhyth­mi­cal struc­ture is derived from Monteverdi’s Lamento del­la Ninfa. The per­cus­sive ener­gy — sta­ble and capri­cious at the same time — in com­bi­na­tion with the vari­ety of col­ors sym­bol­ize the inner dynam­ic of grief and pain. These var­i­ous col­ors in both instru­ments make them melt togeth­er in an unex­pect­ed way. 

By using bowed per­cus­sion, Heleen Van Haegenborgh searched for homo­gene­ity. The bowed vibra­phone com­mu­ni­cates clear­ly with the melod­ic char­ac­ter of the sax­o­phone. This in con­tra­dic­tion with the first part where both instru­ments stand com­plete­ly oppo­site to each oth­er and per­cus­sion is not more than a prim­i­tive accom­pa­ni­ment with the old­est per­cus­sion instru­ment: a sim­ple drum.

* Based on Brenda Stoter Boscolo‘s book The Forgotten People, the Yezidi’s Account of the Last Genocide. Chap­ter 9. 

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Credits

• Commission
  MA Festival
• Composition
  Heleen Van Haegenborgh
• Premiere by
  Tom De Cock, Hojin Kwon, Ursina Maria Braun, Lea Sobbe, Minori Deguchi and Teodoro Bau.
• Première on
  August 14, 2021 at Concertgebouw Brugge
• (other) performers
  Alejandro Fenollosa and Diego Sàenz Mateo.
• Instrumentation
  Viol, Perc
• Vn, perc
• Brq vc, perc
• Trav, perc
• Rec, perc
• Sax, perc
• Length
  7’