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The Unveiling

for SSATTB (solo or choral), with optional string quartet parts  (5'30")

The Unveiling is a modern madrigal.  It is an attempt to express multiple — often contradictory — emotions simultaneously around the themes of love and passion.  The lyrics are derived from selected folk couplets from Pashtun women in Afghanistan.  Complex interiorities emerge through these potent texts, inviting diverse and conflicting representations, while featuring individuals in war with love and a society in love with war.

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The lyrics are derived from English translations of folk couplets from female Pashtuns (in northern Afghanistan):

I love! I love! I shall not hide it. I’ll not deny it.

Even if your knife will cut off all my beauty marks.

 

The sweetheart is mine and I am his!

I will accompany him even though he may sell me in the market.

(Sample Score Page)
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