Commissioned by
Duration
Dianto Reed Quintet
6':00"
Instrumentation
Premiered by
Oboe, English Horn, Alto Saxophone, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Bassoon
2025
Lyrics by
Ramin Amin Tafreshi
*** He always said the mountains were our only friends, that they watched over us when no one else would. And they held our home cradled in their heart. Each morning, at dawn, he climbed into the silence of the mountains, crossed the Valley of Death into the far lands of the unknown, carrying our small, bright hopes on his back. The weight of our hopes bent his back. The harsh wind cracked his skin. The rough stones tore at his hands. The steep path bruised his feet. One day, the mountains bloomed in red, And the sky wept. And the silence of the mountains broke with echoes of his buried lullaby. Ramin Amin Tafreshi - July 2025 ***
Every year, hundreds of kolbars lose their lives or suffer serious injuries, many due to direct gunfire from the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as well as Turkish and Iraqi border patrols. Others are killed or injured in accidents like drowning, falling from mountainous terrain, or landmine explosions. Kolbari (portering) has become forced labor, a result of decades of economic hardship and restrictive policies enforced by the Iranian government. In the border provinces of Kermanshah, Kurdistan, and West Azerbaijan, people aged 13 to 70 carry untaxed goods, sometimes weighing up to 75 kilos, across dangerous mountain passes, mostly from Iraqi Kurdistan into Iran, often on foot or with pack animals. In the single month of July 2025, when this piece was finished, twelve kolbars were killed. And in 2024 alone, 339 Kurdish kolbars were reported killed or injured along Iran’s borders.
Echoes of the Buried Lullaby is a remembrance, an elegy, a grieving wail for the never-ending tragedy endured by all these people. Inspired by Kurdish lullabies, the piece symbolically echoes the lullabies once sung, but are now buried in the mountains.
List of Musicians
This work has been brought to life by the following remarkable musicians.
