Lament for a Strip of Land
Playing now on the Sound Bench
Lament for a Strip of Land – An Elegy for Gaza
About the sound work
During the creative process, I soon realised that it was a lament for Gaza. It was as if I had been carrying this around for a year, and now it was finally able to manifest itself. The instruments I play are gongs, singing bowls and a deep frame drum – instruments traditionally used for healing purposes. But these archaic sounds may also evoke memories of war, grief and suffering. Harmony and disharmony. Sounds for a lament, sounds for healing.
Tina Quartey has been an influential percussionist within the Swedish folk and world music scene for more than three decades. In groups like Filarfolket, Groupa, Nordan, Duo with fiddler/composer Mats Edén and many other constellations she has intertwined Afro Cuban and Brazilian drum traditions with the Scandinavian folk music in her own unique way. Since many years she is also exploring music as vibration and frequency in sound baths, sound art and meditative, ambient concerts. In 2020 she was awarded the prize »Tradition Bearer of the Year« at the Swedish Folk & World Music Gala, and 2023 she received the Folk Music Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.
Tina Quartey: gongs, singing bowls and frame drum.
Recorded at Umami Production in Malmö, October 2024 by Sofia Chanfreau.
Additional recordings from Cisternen at Svanö, June 2020 and June 2022, recorded by Lee Berwick and Daniel Jonsson.
Production and mixing: Sofia Chanfreau.
Composition by Tina Quartey, all rights reserved.