Poetry Despite/Music Despite

ETERNAL WAR REQUIEM

Poetry Despite/Music Despite (Eternal War Requiem) connects artists across time and place, from World War I to the “Global War on Terror,” from the UK to Iraq. These connections acknowledge the recurring traumas of war and, conversely, the human connections that happen despite the pain.

The project emerged out of my personal reflections on Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem (originally written for the 1962 consecration of the new Coventry Cathedral), the nine poems by World War I poet Wilfred Owen featured in the War Requiem, and maestro Karim Wasfi’s “spontaneous compositions,” solo cello performances held at sites of recent bombings in Iraq. These works, along with my own memories of being a U.S. soldier in Iraq in 2003-2004, resonate with each other. They facilitate connections between our current state of endless war and its historical antecedents. Aptly, Wasfi has said of his cello performances: “I was connecting everything: death, spirits, bodies, life.” I was inspired to do something similar.

Building off these connections, Poetry Despite/Music Despite (Eternal War Requiem) is comprised of four core elements. The first includes nine large-scale woodblock prints that visualize the relationship between the horrors of World War I and the ongoing “Global War on Terror.” The prints respond to Owen’s nine poems in the War Requiem, while exploring current issues, including state-sanctioned extrajudicial killing, torture and detention, the refugee crisis, the rise of extremism, and the failure of states.

The second element of the project reimagines each of Owen’s War Requiem poems, placing this historic work into a contemporary context. These reimagined works of poetry and hip-hop were performed live at the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, UK in February 2019. Each poetry performance was accompanied by a solo cello performance by maestro Wasfi and presented within the structure of the traditional Latin Mass for the Dead, the same structure Britten used for the War Requiem.

Working with sound artist Nate Sandburg, recordings from these live performances were then mixed, edited, and mastered into the third element of the project, the Poetry Despite/Music Despite (Eternal War Requiem) limited edition double vinyl record. This new composition includes an original sound design and samples from Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem, performed at Coventry Cathedral on May 30, 1962 by the London Symphony Orchestra, Melos Ensemble, The Bach Choir and London Symphony Chorus, Highgate School Choir, Simon Preston on organ, and soloists Galina Vishnevskaya, Peter Pears, and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.

The fourth and final element reflects on the music and poetry created by those most impacted by war. In a humble gesture of reparation for the destruction and instability that has resulted from the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, I donated my artist fee from the BALTIC Artists’ Award to maestro Wasfi. I then invited members of the public—especially those from countries that supported the invasion of Iraq—to join me in supporting Iraqi musicians who play on, despite. The double vinyl record was offered as a gift to those who made a contribution to support Karim Wasfi’s work with young musicians in Iraq from 2019 - 2021.

—Aaron Hughes, 2019

Poetry Despite/Music Despite
ETERNAL WAR REQUIEM

Conceived & Organized by AARON HUGHES

Improvised Cello Performances by KARIM WASFI

Hip-Hop by THE SYRIAN KINGS (Ahmed & Hussein with contributions from Jowan, Ali and Mohammad; supported by GemArts music leaders Izzy Finch and Pawel Jedrzejewski)

Poetry by AARON HUGHES, CARLOS SIRAH, DUNYA MIKHAIL, & KEVIN BASL

Sound Design by NATE SANDBURG

Woodblock Prints by AARON HUGHES with support from Master Printer Paul Mullowney and printers Paul Kjelland, Kanani Miyamoto, Harry Schneider, Schuyler DeMarinis, Lauren Goding, and Russell Wood.