Recorded by Karen Heath in Melbourne, august 2024
Score published by Babelscores

Tesbih 17, for bass clarinet, as quasi-concert version, from the chamber-pantomim-ballet based on the poetry collection ”The Tale of Fatumeh” by the Swedish poet Gunnar Ekelöf (1907-1968).


It is the tale of Fatumeh, a girl sold into prostitution by her mother, then for a while kept as a concubine by a prince, abondened but surviving by force of spirit. Although the story is conventionally tragic, the vitality of Fatumeh brings a completely new dimension to the story.


The collection of poems are devided into two parts; the first naming the poems Naẓm 1-29, the second Tesbīḥ 1-29.


Your head breathes heavily, slowly, Fatumeh
it swells and contracts
as if it felt the burden of
its own weight on the pillow –
of the long threads of the thoughts
of the fringes of the thoughts
Your spring was blue, with a sprinkling of red
Red your summer was
Blood red now in autumn
You are like the jellyfish, blooming
before its end with long threads
Your head tries to breathe
where you lie where the waves hit the sand
with scarcely enough water
to move up or down
There is no depth anymore
and no hope – or is there still?
Yes, to sink into one’s own depth of jelly
when the sea pulls back
and you lie left on the sand
and shrivel
Turn to stone.

Tesbih 17 – Your Head Breathes Heavily, Slowly, Fatumeh

Live at Het Nutshuis March 14th 2016 
MusicNow 

Susanne Peters, Flute and Voice 
Christian Smith, percussion 

Rob Strolenberg, sound engineer 
Bauke Makkenze, sound engineer assistant

Tesbih 17 – Your Head Breathes Heavily, Slowly, Fatumeh

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