Ya Amar (Ode to the Moon)

Conductor Notes:

SSAA with two soli and ukulele or guitar

Natalie is an artist and social impact leader based in Ontario, Canada. She works with communities as an arts administrator, choir conductor, teaching artist, composer, and writer. Natalie is passionate about creating out-of-the-box, socially relevant performing arts experiences, that transport us into transformative possibilities for humanity.

Ya Amar was commissioned by Elektra for a concert about the human experience.  It was our first experience of singing in Arabic, specifically a Palestinian-Jordanian dialect. Natalie provides excellent Arabic pronunciation notes in the score, as well as audio recordings of herself speaking and singing the melody. About half of the piece is in English.

To perform the piece as imagined, a choir must have an alto soloist capable of also playing the ukulele or guitar.  It is possible to split these between two people if necessary.  The second soloist is a soprano capable of floating above the texture. The choral writing includes aleatoric and spoken sections and the opportunity to incorporate movement/staging.  Suggestions are given by the composer.  We made our own to suit limitations of our performing venues.  We created round moon shapes out of slightly luminescent cardboard that fit into our choir folders, which the singers, one by one, slowly held up as we finished the piece.

Natalie has also made suggestions as to some personal reflection activities choirs can undertake before they learn the piece.

Ya Amar was commissioned by Elektra with the generous support of Allison Tremblay in memory of Marie-Anne Tremblay, “devoted mother and friend, who sang everywhere she went. You are so missed.”

Composer / Arranger Notes:

During one of the Pandemic lockdowns, I was walking outside, feeling lonely and overwhelmed. I struggled to understand how I am equally isolated from both loved ones half an hour away, and halfway across the world.  I looked up, and there was the full moon, shining in the sky.  I felt grounded; it connects us all.  In that moment, this Arabic melody and words flowed out of me.  I got home and sang it while strumming my ukulele.  As such, Solo 1 in this composition is singing and playing ukulele or guitar at the same time.  This is an every person song.

Translation:

Oh Moon, light up the night.
Warm our hearts, give us hope.

Oh Moon, oh Spirit of the Stars,
This distance gets smaller
when we see you.

We’re all pieces of the moon
So when the moon shines bright in the sky,
it glues us back together

Text Source

Natalie Fasheh