Reminiscences of 15 musicians in Beirut
attempting a re-imagination of the Egyptian classic Ya Garat Al Wadi





Documentaire XP - XP Documentary / 2022 / 13 minutes

Réalisateur: Charles-André Coderre
Directeur de la photographie: Yann-Manuel Hernandez

Musique: Radwan Ghazi Moumneh / Jerusalem In My Heart Productrice: Johanne Bergeron Coordonatrice: Marie-Christine Guité With Abed Kobeissy, Ali El Hout, Bashar Farran, Eliana Awad, Firas Andary, Imad Hashisho, Jad Saliba, Jihad Assaad, Layale Chaker, Reda Bitar, Sam Shalabi, Radwan Ghazi Moumneh, Sharif Sehnaoui, Tony Elieh, Fadi Tabbal Distribution: Light Cone / Vidéographe Avec la collaboration de l’Aide au Cinéma Indépendant du Canada (ACIC)

This film documents the circumstances surrounding the creation of Jerusalem In My Heart’s live recording of “Wa Ta’atalat Loughat Al Kalam” (The language of speech has broke down) in 2017 (Beirut, Lebanon).

Ya Garat Al Wadi is a popular piece of Egyptian music arranged by the legendary composer Mohammad Abdel Wahab and written by the poet Ahmad Shawqy in 1928. Over the years, it has been interpreted by many influential artists, such as Fairuz, and the Rahbani brothers. Most notably, towards the end of the 1960s, the Lebanese singer Nour el Houda made an unforgettable contemporary rendition of this composition for television. More than 90 years later, this piece continues to fascinate the cultural imaginary, to the point where in December 2017, with the initiative of the experimental composer Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (Jerusalem in My Heart), an orchestra of 15 musicians was formed over the period of five days in Beirut to once again reinterpret this great classic of Arab music for a contemporary audience.  

︎ Juror’s Award Ann Arbor Film Festival 2021
︎ Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal (RIDM) 2021
︎ La Fabrique culturelle 2021
︎ Antimatter Media Art, Victoria 2021
︎ Cairo Video Festival (Medrar) 2021
︎ Revolution Per Minute Festival, Boston 2021
︎ Basilica Non-Fiction Screening Series, Hudson 2021
Mark