Atash/fuego/fire

 "Fire is a very powerful element, and despite the fact that it can devastate everything it touches, it can also provide the warmth and sustenance necessary to survive. We live in times of war, and I believe that Zabi's poem invites us to reflect and be empathetic about the situation experienced not only by him and his family but by thousands of people who have been displaced from their homes and forced to migrate. 

"In this piece, I focus on fire as an element of communion beyond borders. We can hear the dance of the Aztec fire (Familia Ramírez) merging with Afghan rhythms played on the table (Hamid Raouf Habibzadah), followed by a kind of incantation in Dari, Spanish, and English that turns into a quasi-ritual cacophony where we become burning flames. There are no more ashes, only hope, life, and movement. I thank Maria Margaronis for recording Zabi’s voice and feelings."

Zabi's poem reimagined by Ana Mora.

Part of the Migration Sounds project, the world’s first collection of the sounds of human migration. 

For more information and to explore the project, see https://www.citiesandmemory.com/migration

IMAGE: Faktengebunden, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons