JERUSALEM IN MY HEART
IF HE DIES, IF IF IF IF IF IF (CONSTELLATION)
"A daring act brimming with promise." - TINYMIXTAPES "Compelling, confounding, deeply moving." - ALL MUSIC GUIDE Radwan Ghazi Moumneh returns with a second full-length album from his acclaimed Jerusalem In My Heart (JIMH) project, conceived and recorded in his dual homes Montréal and Beirut.
Since the release of his first album in 2013, following many years during which the project was a strictly Montréal-based live/theatrical happening, Moumneh has brought JIMH to mesmerized live audiences in Canada, Europe and the Middle East.
While JIMH continues to expand to include a larger cast of players for select engagements and commissions, the group is currently an immersive and performative audio-visual duo at its core, with Moumneh responsible for all sound/composition and filmmaker Charles-André Coderre creating 16mm visuals and live projections/installations.
Moumneh expands his compositional palette on If He Dies, If If If If If If, exploring new deconstructions and juxtapositions of both traditional and popular Arab musical currents, with an album that oscillates between powerfully emotive vocal tunes and instrumental works that primarily make use of Radwan's expressive acoustic playing on buzuk and zurna as a point of departure.
If He Dies, If If If If If If is an adventurous, scrupulous, impassioned and highly original work of modern contemporary Arabic music and a gratifying sign that JIMH is situating itself in recorded works with the same thoughtful and dynamic intensity previously accessible only in live performances.