A recent astronomical event was, quite obviously, at the root of this odd musical piece. I accidentally came across a few posts on the social networks conveying a certain degree of confidence in this astrological occurrence, but I honestly couldn't afford to share their flaunted optimism. I couldn't recall any idyllic connection between Jupiter and Saturn, so I thought that a recording of an acapella singing performed by my wife about 10 years ago might have best fit my initial sonic atmosphere. It was an improvised sung rendition of an Arabic poem composed by Said Bin Ahmad al-Busaidi (d. 1803) that seems to have been used as lyrics by several modern Middle Eastern artists. I thought of it as a suitable fictional outlet for a broken hearted Saturn.
On the other hand, my everyday life subsequently offered me a chance to observe this "great" conjunction from a socio-political perspective in the country where I'm living in. I had the opportunity to take a field audio recording of a riot that took place not so far from home in mid-January, and I thought that it would perfectly give expression both to the disappointment of local people against those who have been managing political power since 2011 and to the reaction shown by law enforcement. In order to sound politically correct, I thought it was appropriate to give voice to the establishment as well, to "Jupiter" if you like, so I googled around and found a video (www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpJVq78A4Y0) starring the guy who's been behind the scenes of this brilliant democratic experience in Northern Africa during the last 10 years. I extrapolated a few audio samples from his declarations and used them in the first sequence of this piece. I finally added a few instrumental and vocal parts, then I processed all of the audio recordings through a heavy, meticulous sound design work
This track has been remixed and remastered in 2023..
lyrics
LYRICS (Jupiter's verse has been sampled from the Rashed Ghannouchi's TV interview I mentioned above; the second part is a partial rework of Said Bin Ahmad al-Busaidi's "Ya Man Hawah", English translation provided below):
JUPITER:
We try to avoid any sort of exclusion.
We opt for the dialogue... Consensus.
We faced many problems.
All our policies are based on the notion of consensus.
I don't deal with "if", I deal with reality.
We try to go to the consensus.
There isn't any paradox.
To avoid any sort of extremism, democracy is the solution.
We need international cooperation, regime cooperation, development, democracy, dialogue, consensus... Consensus.
SATURN:
يا من هواه
أعزه وأذلنـــي
كيف السبيل إلى وصالـــــك دلني
أنت الذي حلفتني
حلفتني وحلفت لي
وحلفت أنك لا تخون وخنتني
فلأدعين عليك في غسق الدجى
يـبـلـيـك ربي كـمــا أبلـيـتـنــي
[Oh you who love
Oh you who passionately love
May you be cherished and may I be humbled
Show me how shall I ever find the way to get back to you
It was you who made me swear, and you swore to me
You swore you weren't going to betray me, but you cheated on me
So I'll pray against you in the dark of the night
May the Lord afflict you just like you afflicted me]
credits
from That's Sin,
track released February 6, 2021
Aroussia Riahi : vocals
Teth Sin : bağlama, bass guitar, samplers, background vocal noise, field recordings, sound design, vocal arrangement/mix
Original composition, arrangement, mix, mastering & cover artwork design by Teth Sin
Release date: February 6, 2021
℗ 2021 Teth Sin
The Great Conjunction by Teth Sin is licensed under a BY-NC-ND Creative Commons License 3.0 Unported
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