A Rain from the Shadows was written in response to the lauded Australian-based Iraqi-born poet Yahia al-Samawy’s Four Loaves From The Hearts’ Oven. This is one movement from a suite of pieces where each movement correlates to a stanza from the poem. It was written for Zephyr Quartet who have performed the suite several times with Yahia reading his poetry in Arabic.
In the third stanza of the poem Yahia talks about building things with his imagination – a minaret, a playground with swings, ‘embroidering the desert with fountains that played in orange groves’ – all incredibly evocative, all pictures of a better, richer life than perhaps the one the author was experiencing at the time.
In my imagination the viola and cello are a reflection of the stillness of the desert, a meditation echoing a repetitive oud ostinato. The violins are Yahia’s imagination - building, searching, swirling and praying.
Hilary Kleinig 2011
Duration: c. 5'30
Excerpt from Four Loaves From The Hearts’ Oven - Yahia al-Samawy
I built in my imagination
A minaret
And a playground with swings
And I embroidered the deserts
With fountains that played in orange groves
And when I fell asleep at the window of my prayers
I saw my tent was on orchard
And I a cloud that poured down onto the wild wastes
A rain from the shadows
A Rain from the Shadows was written for and premiered by Zephyr Quartet in 2011.