When I close my eyes, I dream of peace
for mixed choir in many languages
Duration 10 min
Part 1 – 4 min
Part 2 – 6 min
The lyrics in this piece is just one sentence long, said by an eleven
year old Croatian boy during the Yugoslav Wars:
When I close my eyes, I dream of peace
No name were to be found where I found this text.
Part 1 Just in English is a tunelike mixture of English and onomato-
poetic syllables.
Part 2 In twelve tongues is sung in different languages
where each language has its own melody and character. I have
in many cases used scales and rhythms from the corresponding
language: In Arabic there is a beautiful Arabic scale, in Swahili the
lyrics are sung in a rhythmic, groovy way, in Russian the melody
sounds deep and emotional through a male choir, in Swedish the
danceble tune is sung in 3/4 metre, and so on.
This piece is a peace project, so feel free to use it with variation
and in a suitable way for your choir. There is a short version available that consists of
the second part only, but with an additional introduction.
19 January 2016
Karin Rehnqvist