The Crossing: Words Adorned
Navona Records

There is a sense in which Words Adorned might seem the least Crossing-like recording of the twenty-five The Crossing has issued. That's not because the musical focus is Arabic—the choral group's interests have always extended broadly—but because The Crossing adopts a less dominant presence on the release. Yes, the group's singing is integral to the arrangements, yet it's often Al-Bustan Takht—an Arabic chamber group comprising oud (Wassim Odeh), qanun (Hicham Chami), violin (Hanna Khoury), cello (Kinan Abou-afach), and percussion (Hafez Kotain)—and Palestinian singer Dalal Abu Amneh (b. 1983) who are the focal points. That doesn't make Words Adorned any less rewarding than other sets by the chamber choir; it simply makes the project feel more like a collaboration of which the Donald Nally-led vocal ensemble is but one part.

Khoury, Takht's music director, also acted as the musical coach for the project, which features two commissioned works by Syrian-American Kareem Roustom and Syrian-born Kinan Abou-afach plus the traditional muwashshah “When He Appeared” by Muhammad ‘abd al-Rahim al Maslub. (Muwashshah is an Arabic poetic genre whose texts are usually presented in five strophes, each numbering four, five, or six lines.) Whereas Roustom's Embroidered Verses consists of four songs based on Andalusian poetry, Abou-afach's Of Nights and Solace is a fantasia on Andalusian muwashshah poetry. Like The Crossing, the two composers collapse borders in their music, the Emmy-nominated Roustom having worked with figures such as Daniel Barenboim, Shakira, and Tina Turner, and Abou-afach known for merging Arabic music elements with those from Western genres.

The instrumental artistry of Takht is front and centre on Embroidered Verses, but The Crossing makes its presence felt too, especially when Roustom's mesmerizing music asks the choir to deliver long melismatic lines in spoken, hushed, and declamatory forms. Instruments and voices blend seamlessly in the nearly twenty-minute work, with the musical tone of each part attuned to the text. “Ya'ahla'andalusen lilahi darrukumu” expresses heartfelt appreciation for the natural beauty of the Andalusian people and its land. Compared to that rather meditative opening song, the second, “Qum ya nadim”(“Arise oh drinking companion”) is livelier and carefree and the third, “Ya ma'shara al-nasi ala fa'jabu” (“Oh people, stop and wonder”), entrancing in its use of lilting rhythms. If the fourth, “Qul Iil'ida” (“Tell the enemy”), exudes a tad more urgency than the others, it should as Roustom fashioned the music to accompany a war-themed poem as the song's text.

Presented in six parts, Abou-afach's Of Nights and Solace tells an Andalusia-based story about love and beauty that starts at sunset and ends at break of day. His fusing of Arabic and Western elements is apparent in the musical character of the work. Western harmony is applied to Arabic quarter tones to produce a mellifluous result, and polyphony is also used. Appearing in moments sans instrumental accompaniment, The Crossing dominates “Prelude: Moonrise,” whose text deals with love and the sorrow of parting; the breezy dance-styled “Interlude: ‘á La Dulap',” on the other hand, features Takht alone. A more equal balance between voices and instruments informs “Forsaken” and “Ya man ‘ada (You Who Left and Passed),” both of which memorably feature Abu Amneh emoting poignantly alongside the choir. One comes away from the work struck by the delicate balance Abou-afach enacted between Abu Amneh, Takht, and The Crossing. At album's end, the Palestinian singer entrances once again in “When He Appeared,” the song a live performance from a concert the day after the album's recording on December 4, 2015 at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania.

September 2021