MUSEI IN MUSICA
7 December 2024, from 20:00 to 2:00

MACRO takes part in Musei in musica, the event of culture and entertainment supported by Roma Capitale, Department of Culture – Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali, with organization by Zètema Progetto Cultura in over 30 spaces including museums, archives, universities and academies.

For the occasion, it will be possible to visit the museum in the evening, for a special viewing of the exhibition Post Scriptum. A Museum Forgotten by Heart, which hosts Tear Drought or Teach Me How to Cry, an original sound work by the musician and multidisciplinary artist KUKII (aka Lafawndah). Installed inside an immersive setting, the track contains excerpts and recordings of traditional laments from different cultures, cemeteries and places of worship, offering an intimate moment in which music becomes an element of gathering, mourning and sublimation of pain. 

KUKII (aka Lafawndah)
Tear Drought or Teach Me How to Cry, 2024
Audio, 29’

«The track was made with the following recordings: 12-hour original recording of CitíNí Ghallchóir—a traditional Irish lament; extract from Neniae—an ancient Romanlament: recordings from Behesht-e Zahra—the biggest cemetery in Iran; recordingsfrom Khajeh Rabie—mausoleum in Mashhad; recordings of mourners in Sardinia.I’ve been interested in the figure of the professional mourner which exists in someform or another pretty much everywhere and across time. Whydo we pay someone to cry our pain? I know for myself that I was not allowed to cry as a child, nor a teenager or an adult, in my family. It was seen as a sign of weakness and most importantly, the pain was not believed to be true. It was seen as Commedia dell’Arte. So naturally, when I lost people that were dear to me, I didn’t get a chance to mourn. When I came across this figure, it started to pull me in and I figured I wanted to learn how to cry through the musical legacy of these women. Music can teachyou everything. In this piece, I recorded myself learning a song over many hours in a row. Singing one song over and over again takes you places. Opening and closing the portals that needed me to attend to them. The attempt to learn this lament creates the layers for a choir of mourners. Underneath the choir, there are other mourners. From different timelines. There are also recordings from the two cemeteries where my family members are buried, one in Tehran, one in Mashhad, both in Iran. In these recordings, you can hear people do what I wasn’t allowed to do. The song I learned is an Irish traditional keening song (traditional form of lament) called Cití Ní Ghallchóir. The musical style of the song is called Sean-nós singing which is an Irish acapella vocal technique used for lullabies and lament and which echoes in parts Arabic vocal ornamentations. How grief moves through the world, through time, through me. » (KUKII aka Lafawndah)