Syrian artists and Marthe Valle: “Every Child is a Prophet”

Marthe Valle has collaborated with Syrian artists and musicians on a project that addresses the situation on the Greek islands, where tens of thousands of refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries in Asia and Africa are forced to live in limbo in overfilled camps. They are unable to move on, nor can they be returned. Marthe Valle visited the Moria camp on Lesbos last year and again this winter.

Syrian artists still resident in Syria or who have settled in Lebanon or Jordan are also deeply engaged in the fate of those who have fled from a country in conflict in their attempt to find a safe and better life in Europe, and who have become stranded on Greek islands in the Aegean Sea. Marthe Valle and artists from Syria have created and recorded songs in Arabian

and English based on the plight of the refugees, caught in the cauldron between a Middle East falling apart and a Europe without the will to assume responsibility in this situation.

The well-known Syrian poet Adnan Alaoda has penned lyrical poems in Arabic, written especially for the project, and Marthe Valle interprets some of them into English. The recording targets both Arabic-speaking and European audiences. Marthe Valle has written the melodies and arrangements in collaboration with the Syrian composers Manar Alhashemi and Hussain Hajj. Manar Alhashemi, a refugee from Syria, now living in Os in Norway, and in recent years a participant in a number of musical projects in Norway, also plays guitar on the recording.

The geopolitical game, societies in conflict and falling apart, the situation of the refugees, the brain drain and current European cynicism, apathy and failure to take charge, are highlighted in these lyrics. The album, recorded in Hayyam studio in Istanbul and Studio Nordraak in Oslo, has been mixed in Broen Studio in Bergen.

Participants in the project are Marthe Valle: vocal, piano and synth; Manar Alhashemi from Syria: baritone guitar and guitar; Hussain Hajj from Syria: vocal and oud; Haneen Ayoub from the occupied Golan heights: vocal; Hozan Osman from Syria: bouzouki, baghlama and saz; Wissam Jamoul from Syria: percussion; Knut Reiersrud: electric guitar and weisenborn; Gjermund Silset: double bass; Erik Hillestad: producer.

Track list:

1. Every Child is a Prophet

2. No way

3. Zorba

4. Our houses

5. My heart is blind

6. Tomorrow we come

7. Sham and Beirut

8. Cheering at your height

9. The old zorba

10. Open the borders