A Wasted Breath Inside a Balloon

The piece results from collaboration between the artists Ramia Beladel and Gilles Aubry in Moulay Bouchta l’Khmar, a village in the northern part of Morocco. Informed by Beladel's long term research on popular Sufism, the piece documents events which took place in July 2017 during the annual celebration of the local saint Moulay Bouchta. One can hear songs, prayers, field recordings, and an excerpt of bokharia, a healing ritual based on the powerful sound of rifles. The piece also provides a stage for a performance by Beladel relying on introspection, trance and self-reconfiguration, breath by breath, balloon after balloon.

World premiere at Sonohr Radio Festival, Bern, 2019. Moroccan premiere at Sakhra Encounters, a festival and exhibition in Moulay Bouchta, 2019.