Wailing Songs of the Past, Might they Grow our Resilience - music by Maya Khaldi

Wailing Songs of the Past, Might they Grow our Resilience is a work that revisits rituals of loss and explores the wailing traditions within Palestinian heritage. Expression of death and the pain of departure in Palestinian folklore took the form of a collective ritual, in which women would lead songs and lamentations during mourning and burial rites. Over time, this musical genre began to fade and, with it, the voices of the wailers disappeared. Through research into this history tied to women, Maya discovers the lyrics of some funeral songs, while also encountering the silence that has enveloped this sound of grief. Maya composes music for the five songs she has found, sharing her exploration, experimentation, and engagement with the question of loss and death in this work.