Everywhere is Falling Everywhere (2011)


Listen to and pre-order the premiere recording of “Everywhere is Falling Everywhere” using the Bandcamp box above!

“Everywhere is Falling Everywhere” was commissioned by Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble in 2011.

It takes its inspiration from a poem by Rumi, pasted in its entirety below.

EVERYWHERE IS FALLING EVERYWHERE music by Ljova

RUMI: “The New Rule” (tr. Coleman Barks)

It’s the old rule that drunks have to argue and get into fights.
The lover is just as bad. he falls into a hole.
But down in that hole he finds something shining, worth more than any amount of money or power.
Last night the moon came dropping its clothes in the street.
I took it as a sign to start singing, falling up into the bowl of sky.
The bowl breaks.
Everywhere is falling everywhere.
Nothing else to do.
Here’s the new rule: break the wineglass, and fall toward the glassblower’s breath.
Inside this new love, die.
Your way begins on the other side.
Become the sky. Take an axe to the prison wall. Escape.
Walk out like someone suddenly born into color. Do it now.
Your covered with thick cloud. Slide out the side. Die, and be quiet.
Quietness is the surest sign that you’ve died. Your old life was a frantic running from silence.
The speechless full moon comes out now. “I used to want buyers for my words.
Now I wish someone would buy me away from words. I’ve made a lot of charmingly profound images, scenes with Abraham, and Abraham’s father, Azar, who was also famous for icons.

I’m so tired of what I’ve been doing. Then one image without form came, and I quit.

Look for someone else to tend the shop. I’m out of the image-making business. Finally I know the freedom of madness. A random image arrives. I scream, “Get out!” It disintegrates.

Only love. Only the holder the flag fits into, and wind.

No flag.

CATEGORY instrumental music, chamber music, flexible instrumentation
INSTRUMENTATION flexible instrumentation of the Silk Road Ensemble — kemancheh, gaita, pipa, shakuhachi, percussion (1-3 players), accordion, sheng, string quintet
DURATION approximately 15 minutes
WORLD PREMIERE September 26, 2011 at Harvard University
WORLD PREMIERE PERFORMERS Silk Road Ensemble
OTHER NOTABLE PERFORMANCES December 7, 2014 at Barbès, Brooklyn — with Ljova and the Kontraband, Johnny Gandelsman & Kinan Azmeh

June 9, 2023 at Pierre Boulez Saal, Berlin – with Brooklyn Rider, Kinan Azmeh and Mathias Künzli

RECORDING Recorded by Brooklyn Rider, Kinan Azmeh and Mathias Künzli — listen and see pre-order link above!
SCORE AVAILABILITY All arrangements are available for sale via PDF or mail delivery; arrangements for combinations not listed above may be commissioned on request. [contact for more info]

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