BETHLEHEM بيت لحم - BETHLEHEM بيت لحم (2026) [Hi-Res]
![BETHLEHEM بيت لحم - BETHLEHEM بيت لحم (2026) [Hi-Res]](https://img.israbox.com/img/2026-10/15/v59j4inswlc9qmyc94htmcvgh.jpg)
- Title: BETHLEHEM بيت لحم
- Year Of Release: 2026
- Label: Constellation
- Genre: Ambient, Electroacoustic, Arabic Liturgical, Drone, Contemporary Classical
- Quality: FLAC 24/96000; 16/44100; MP3 320
- Total Time: 00:37:16
- Total Size: 164; 300; 765 MB
- WebSite: Album Preview
In December 2023, as the genocide in Gaza unfolded, the Greek Orthodox Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem for the first time cancelled all Christmas festivities. In response, the Bethlehem arts center The Wonder Cabinet and Radio alHara commissioned a work bringing together the Beirut musicians Sary Moussa and Abed Kobeissy with Lawrence Sammour, who has directed the church’s choir since 1970. The remotely recorded piece was broadcast on Radio alHara on Christmas Eve 2023 in place of the church service, and two days later it was rebroadcast by dozens of stations worldwide, among them NTS, Refuge Worldwide and LYL Radio.
This became the project BETHLEHEM, built around Sammour’s voice and traditional Greek Orthodox liturgical hymns sung in Arabic, with buzuq, electronics and drone unfolding around them. The singing remains the centre of the work: its devotional and historical weight is preserved in full, while a restrained electroacoustic language enters into dialogue with it and yields extended instrumental textures growing out of the voice itself. The work was shaped by separation: travel between the musicians was impossible, so Sammour recorded a cappella hymns at the Radio alHara studio in Bethlehem, while Moussa and Kobeissy composed and recorded instrumental parts around them in Beirut. The result is a powerful contemporary work and a document of artistic exchange across violently imposed borders.
In November 2024, the project gave its first concert at the Le Guess Who? festival in Utrecht, which was also the first in-person meeting of Sammour with Moussa and Kobeissy; the performance’s ceremonial restraint and emotional power drew a prolonged ovation. In 2025, during a residency at the Beirut & Beyond festival, the musicians expanded the composition, recorded new studio and live material, and were joined by double bassist Makram Aboul Hosn. The recordings from 2023–2025 were then mixed into a cohesive album by Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (Jerusalem In My Heart, Matana Roberts, Suuns) at Hotel2Tango in Montréal.
It is an encounter between distinct musical practices grounded in mutual respect and careful listening: sacred chant and contemporary composition coexist without hierarchy. The work speaks of grief without spectacle and resilience without sentimentality, and cannot be reduced to a political statement or an exercise in cultural preservation. By giving contemporary form to one of the oldest living liturgical traditions, it shows that music can carry memory across borders and make room for communion in the face of enduring separation.
Tracklist:
01-01 BETHLEHEM بيت لحم, BETHLEHEM بيت لحم, Sary Moussa, Lawrence Sammour, Abed Kobeissy - Al Masyh woulida المَسِيحُ وُلِدَ [3:55]
01-02 BETHLEHEM بيت لحم - ‘Azzimy ya nafsy (Ninth Ode of the Feast) عَظِّمِي يَا نَفْسِي (تَاسِعَةُ العِيِد) [3:47]
01-03 BETHLEHEM بيت لحم - Fasil I فَاصِل١ [6:32]
01-04 BETHLEHEM بيت لحم - Miladouka ayyouha-l-Masyh مِيلَادُكَ أَيُّهَا المَسِيِح [3:22]
01-05 BETHLEHEM بيت لحم - Khatima I خَاتِمَة ١ [1:54]
01-06 BETHLEHEM بيت لحم, BETHLEHEM بيت لحم, Sary Moussa, Lawrence Sammour, Abed Kobeissy - Buzuq for Four Hands (Live Recording) (تَسْجِيل حَي) بُزُق بِأَرْبَعِ أَيَادٍ [5:06]
01-07 BETHLEHEM بيت لحم - Miladouka ayyouha-l-Masyh (Live Recording) (تسجيل حي) مِيلَادُكَ أَيُّهَا المَسِيِح [3:03]
01-08 BETHLEHEM بيت لحم - Fasil II فَاصِل ٢ [3:37]
01-09 BETHLEHEM بيت لحم - Khatima II خَاتِمَة ٢ [3:19]
01-10 BETHLEHEM بيت لحم - Innany ouchahidou khidraka إِنَّنِي أُشَاهِدُ خِدْرَكَ [2:41]
This became the project BETHLEHEM, built around Sammour’s voice and traditional Greek Orthodox liturgical hymns sung in Arabic, with buzuq, electronics and drone unfolding around them. The singing remains the centre of the work: its devotional and historical weight is preserved in full, while a restrained electroacoustic language enters into dialogue with it and yields extended instrumental textures growing out of the voice itself. The work was shaped by separation: travel between the musicians was impossible, so Sammour recorded a cappella hymns at the Radio alHara studio in Bethlehem, while Moussa and Kobeissy composed and recorded instrumental parts around them in Beirut. The result is a powerful contemporary work and a document of artistic exchange across violently imposed borders.
In November 2024, the project gave its first concert at the Le Guess Who? festival in Utrecht, which was also the first in-person meeting of Sammour with Moussa and Kobeissy; the performance’s ceremonial restraint and emotional power drew a prolonged ovation. In 2025, during a residency at the Beirut & Beyond festival, the musicians expanded the composition, recorded new studio and live material, and were joined by double bassist Makram Aboul Hosn. The recordings from 2023–2025 were then mixed into a cohesive album by Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (Jerusalem In My Heart, Matana Roberts, Suuns) at Hotel2Tango in Montréal.
It is an encounter between distinct musical practices grounded in mutual respect and careful listening: sacred chant and contemporary composition coexist without hierarchy. The work speaks of grief without spectacle and resilience without sentimentality, and cannot be reduced to a political statement or an exercise in cultural preservation. By giving contemporary form to one of the oldest living liturgical traditions, it shows that music can carry memory across borders and make room for communion in the face of enduring separation.
Tracklist:
01-01 BETHLEHEM بيت لحم, BETHLEHEM بيت لحم, Sary Moussa, Lawrence Sammour, Abed Kobeissy - Al Masyh woulida المَسِيحُ وُلِدَ [3:55]
01-02 BETHLEHEM بيت لحم - ‘Azzimy ya nafsy (Ninth Ode of the Feast) عَظِّمِي يَا نَفْسِي (تَاسِعَةُ العِيِد) [3:47]
01-03 BETHLEHEM بيت لحم - Fasil I فَاصِل١ [6:32]
01-04 BETHLEHEM بيت لحم - Miladouka ayyouha-l-Masyh مِيلَادُكَ أَيُّهَا المَسِيِح [3:22]
01-05 BETHLEHEM بيت لحم - Khatima I خَاتِمَة ١ [1:54]
01-06 BETHLEHEM بيت لحم, BETHLEHEM بيت لحم, Sary Moussa, Lawrence Sammour, Abed Kobeissy - Buzuq for Four Hands (Live Recording) (تَسْجِيل حَي) بُزُق بِأَرْبَعِ أَيَادٍ [5:06]
01-07 BETHLEHEM بيت لحم - Miladouka ayyouha-l-Masyh (Live Recording) (تسجيل حي) مِيلَادُكَ أَيُّهَا المَسِيِح [3:03]
01-08 BETHLEHEM بيت لحم - Fasil II فَاصِل ٢ [3:37]
01-09 BETHLEHEM بيت لحم - Khatima II خَاتِمَة ٢ [3:19]
01-10 BETHLEHEM بيت لحم - Innany ouchahidou khidraka إِنَّنِي أُشَاهِدُ خِدْرَكَ [2:41]
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