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- Carved with Breath
- Ramah
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Ramah
"A voice is heard in Ramah: lamentations, great
weeping. Rachel is crying for her children,
refusing to be consoled about her children
for they are nowhere" -- Jeremiah 31:15
The Hebrew text of the quote from Jeremiah is divided into
thirteen lines. The voices speak the lines repeatedly
based on a six-beat pattern, moving forward and
backward by steps among the lines.
In the midst of the speaking, each voice sings each line once, in order, proceeding to the next line only when all have sung that line.
Legend has it that Rachel, mother of many of the tribes of Israel, was buried in Ramah, in the cave of Machpelah, a site declared holy by many religions and the location of recent civil and religious conflicts.
The opera The Cave by Steve Reich and Beryl Korot also concerns the cave of Machpelah.
"Ramah" was originally composed for choir, with a twelve-tone piano accompaniment. The piano part was never completed, since the piece was stronger without it. For performance by Comma, the composed structure was converted into a materials and methods for improvisation, and the singing was added.
The Hebrew text is:
- Kol
- b'Ramah
- nishmah
- n'hi
- b'khi
- tamrurim
- Rakhel
- m'vakah
- al banehah
- meyeynah
- l'hinachem
- al banehah
- ki eynenu
