»Palmyra«

Dietmar Bonnen: „In autumn 2016 a poem by Hölderlin (again) fell in my hands, that gripped me in such a way, that melody, harmonies and form were immediately ready in my head.

Why? Why »Ages of Life«? Why Palmyra? Why clouds? Why ghosts?

Is it the unsetting at the sight of the destruction that took place, the assault on one of the oldest cultures of the world, the effect of Hölderlin’s biography, the transcendence?

Having no answer, the project simply had to be realised.

I asked friends if they felt like bringing »Palmyra« to life with me. Drummer Michael Pape and bassist Roman Fuchß already worked with me on a trio-cd. Electronic instruments specialist Ernst Gaida-Hartmann was asked for the mellotron part and I asked the Iraki djoze virtuoso Bassem Hawar for his arabesques.

Both of my Trio27 fellow artists took charge of the design of the mini-cd. Armenian Vazo Vazgen Pahlavuni-Tadevosyan painted the title picture and Peter Hölscher created the layout.

Because I could not express the motivation for this production by verbal nor
cognitive means, I decided not to choose the usual way to place it on the market but to put it at the free disposal of people in cultural fields.

May it be a drop of a wave of an ocean … “

Lebensalter

Ihr Städte des Euphrats!
Ihr Gassen von Palmyra!
Ihr Säulenwälder in der Eb’ne der Wüste!
Was seid ihr?

Euch hat die Kronen,
Dieweil ihr über die Gränze
Der Othmenden seid gegangen,
Von Himmlischen der Rauchdampf
Und hinweg das Feuer genommen;

——

Jezt aber siz’ ich unter Wolken (deren
Ein jedes eine Ruh’ hat eigen) unter
Wohleingerichteten Eichen, auf
Der Heide des Rehs, und fremd
Erscheinen und gestorben mir
Der Seeligen Geister

Friedrich Hölderlin