An endless vibration

When I listened to the recording, I went back to sit with my mother in nature in the village. The rhythm was beating her favourite song (Rewşenê) alongside '"Tu Paine", and it was reciting memories that will not be remembered unless passing through a genocide. It is inspiring how 14,000 kilometres of distance can vibrate the same feelings that I had in my childhood. It is interesting how a sound can describe nature, culture, the spiritual, and a divine power that music has and how it travels with the wind to gather with other communities and add their cultural sounds. The song Rewşen has been dug into my memory and it connects me to my land whenever I hear something similar. The song is a traditional song about love stories where lovers need to be married at the end. 

For this recording, I played the oldest instrument among Yazidi people called Tembûr. It is a collection of wood, strings, and animal veins alongside human ability to bring sound to it. Tembûr is used in every house among the Yazidi community and is accompanied with singers to preserve thousands of stories and oral traditions. 

I used a GarageBand program and a simple mic to record the sound of Tembûr and my voice. I sang my mother's favourite song as an act to reveal what I felt while listening to the song. I added some notes to reveal the pain of the memory and identities who are under danger all the time. These memories stole me to them and let me relax in nature again.

I did some research about Malampa’s culture and environment, the origins of people who are close to nature and oceans, and some research about Fiji too which is near to Vanuatu and I may plan for a visit to discover the culture and music instruments there. 

"Tu Paine": song for guitar reimagined by Fehedê Herbo.

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Part of the project A Century of Sounds, reimagining 100 sounds covering 100 years from the collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford. Explore the full project at citiesandmemory.com/century-sounds