Best Music Score 2019 Winner

Nocturne for Pit Orchestra

‘Nocturne for Pit Orchestra’ is a film documenting the process of creation of a live performance conceived for The Bahrain National Quarry, involving the site’s laborers as performers. It is a project by visual artist Ilaria Lupo in collaboration with Lebanese composer and musician Rabih Beaini. The project digs into dynamics of music-making in the frame of labor while aiming to explore the intermingled layers connecting the quarry’s identity with the socio-economic shifts in 20th century Bahrain and the Gulf Region. The Fidjeri (pearl divers songs) embodies a pivotal history of migrant labor in the Gulf containing blends and fusions from the Levantine, Persian, East African and South Asian basins. The pearl divers traditionally performed publicly in the Dar music houses. The stone quarry is a landmark site which has witnessed the transition between two economic eras and the consequent changes in the system of labor. It came at a time of acceleration, accompanying the radical reconfiguration of the urban landscape. It is a site of Modernity while the project attempts to question this ‘modern’ identity and its ties with the past, still reverberating today. Beaini involved the site’s crew of laborers in a process where an array of influences were explored and combined. They rehearsed vocal droning, looping, amplifications, polyphonies, solo and choir. The final performance unfolded as a process navigating between dissonance and harmony. It took place at the quarry - still operating - opened to the public for the very first time.