“Framed by Moumneh’s spoken and sung Arabic, buzuk (long-neck fretted lute) and sound design, Qalaq is the most variegated and finely wrought Jerusalem In My Heart album to date – featuring a different guest/collaborator on every track, yet as cohesive, emotionally resonant, sonically adventurous and narratively powerful as any release in JIMH’s celebrated discography. Guests across the album's 13 tracks include Moor Mother, Tim Hecker, Lucrecia Dalt, Greg Fox, Alanis Obomsawin, Rabih Beaini and many more. Qalaq is an Arabic word with a meaning Moumneh particularly intends as “deep worry” – on various universal levels, needless to say, but also specifically with respect to Lebanon/Beirut, its collapsing domestic politics, economy and infrastructure, its adjacent countries and its tragic geopolitics”. (Constellation Records)
Photo credits:
Front cover photograph by Myriam Boulos, taken in Beirut on
18 October 2019
Back cover lettering by Kristyan Sarkis
Black and white photographs by Tony Elieh, taken in Beirut
in August 2020
Tour Poster by Hraïr Hratchian
