{"id":97631,"date":"2025-06-18T09:16:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T07:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/?p=97631"},"modified":"2025-06-18T13:54:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T11:54:13","slug":"libanon-verloor-alle-hoop-told-by-my-mother-maakt-dat-voelbaar-in-het-holland-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/2025\/06\/libanon-verloor-alle-hoop-told-by-my-mother-maakt-dat-voelbaar-in-het-holland-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"Lebanon lost all hope. 'Told by my Mother' makes that palpable at the Holland Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Perhaps the worst thing about missing persons is the outside world, which does not understand why those left behind by missing persons refuse to be called next of kin. As long as no tangible and therefore irrefutable proof of the missing person's death has been provided, they hold out hope. Not against their better judgement, because knowing better is something for outsiders. The performers\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The performers of 'Told By My Mother' very soberly still consider at every concert that Fatmeh's missing son, who disappeared in Syria in 2012, suddenly turns out to be in the audience. And that that would be comfort for Fatmeh, who has been dead for a couple of years. Explain that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To explain that, Lebanese theatre-maker Ali Chahrour takes just under five quarters of an hour and that thick hour hits like a bomb. Not with everyone, I noticed around me. There were people who felt misled because the performance was categorised as 'dance'. Because 'dance', it is not quite that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Mugshot<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>What it is, though? A concert that starts with a mugshot and a prayer, after which the whole story is unfolded by a calm narrator. She tells everything, right to the end, so we don't have to worry during the rest of the performance whether we understand every detail of the text.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The ensemble consists of two musicians plus the narrator, who sings beautifully, a dancer, the choreographer's aunt and her son who did return alive from fighting in Syria. The two play themselves. By no means an uncharged company. But therefore not an unscathed company either.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Open-mindedness lost<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The people of Lebanon have lost the open-mindedness that had been gently recovered there at the beginning of this century. The country has a rich art tradition, unique because of the mixing of ethnic groups in the capital Beirut. I saw Rabih Mrou\u00e9's (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wijbrandschaap.nl\/2007\/09\/make-me-stop-smoking-rabih-mroue\/\">Miracle from Beirut: Make me stop smoking - Rabih Mrou\u00e9 \" Wijbrand Schaap<\/a>) and impressive dancing by Omar Rajeh (<a href=\"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/2019\/08\/indrukwekkend-minaret-laat-op-theaterfestival-boulevard-voelen-dat-kunst-rampen-overleeft-en-check-uit-wat-miet-warlop-met-derwisjen-uithaalt\/\">Impressive Minaret shows at Theatre Festival Boulevard that art survives disasters. (And check out what Miet Warlop pulls off with Dervishes)<\/a>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That may have been a high point, because in 2024, earlier optimism gave way to despair: <a href=\"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/2024\/08\/boulevard-dagboek-3-basilicum-verbindt-de-wereld\/\">Boulevard diary #3: basil connects the world - Culture Press<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Beyond despair<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Told By My Mother, now showing at the Holland Festival, is beyond that despair. So that makes for beautiful theatre, more ritual than dance, more prayer than music, more doom than hope. No light shines in this performance, but how insanely beautiful is that music. With no more than a percussionist and a saz player, a <em>wall of sound<\/em> which rocked the entire Rabo Hall at ITA. Something they achieve with effects pedals and a good mixing desk. They suddenly give the Arabic music the bass feel of better death metal, and it feels very fitting. At some point, the repetitive sound is hypnotic.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The performance may be heavy, but it is also restrained. That austerity makes it bearable. At least for us. Anyone missing someone, and hundreds of those people are added every day in all the battlegrounds that rogue soldiers organise for each other, sees confirmed how unbearable it is. .\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>No one gets to mourn anymore. That is perhaps the greatest trauma the world will be saddled with in the coming decades. That's what that mother told me in the Rabo Hall.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"su-note\"  style=\"border-color:#e5e54c;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\"><div class=\"su-note-inner su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\" style=\"background-color:#FFFF66;border-color:#ffffff;color:#333333;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\">Seen: Told by my mother by Ali Charour. at Rabo Hall ITA. Still there until 19 June: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollandfestival.nl\/nl\/told-by-my-mother\">Told by My Mother - Holland Festival<\/a><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Het ergste aan vermissing is misschien wel de buitenwacht, die niet begrijpt dat achterblijvers\u00a0van vermisten weigeren zich nabestaande te laten noemen. Zolang er geen tastbaar en dus onomstotelijk bewijs is geleverd van de dood van de vermiste houden ze hoop. Niet tegen beter weten in, want beter weten, dat is iets voor buitenstaanders.\u00a0 De performers [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":97632,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federated","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[38,8843,3059,4759,11687],"tags":[15778,16401,8441,58],"class_list":["post-97631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holland-festival","category-podiumkunst","category-specials","category-theater-podiumkunst-2","category-donatie-gevraagd","tag-15778","tag-beiroet","tag-libanon","tag-recensie"],"views":223,"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Told-by-My-Mother-scaled.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":66304,"url":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/2020\/08\/pierre-jarawan-in-libanon-vult-men-de-gaten-in-de-samenleving-op-met-verhalen\/","url_meta":{"origin":97631,"position":0},"title":"Pierre Jarawan: 'In Lebanon, people fill the gaps in society with stories'","author":"A Quattro Mani","date":"7 August 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"This week, a massive explosion of 2,700 tonnes of poorly preserved ammonium nitrate destroyed most of the Lebanese capital Beirut. For German-Lebanese writer Pierre Jarawan, who lives in Munich, the disaster is yet another black page in the history of Lebanon, which he himself has only just come to know.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Alleen voor leden&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Alleen voor leden","link":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/genre\/service\/members-only\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Pierre-Jarawan-8-Print-Foto-Marvin-Ruppert-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Pierre-Jarawan-8-Print-Foto-Marvin-Ruppert-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Pierre-Jarawan-8-Print-Foto-Marvin-Ruppert-1.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Pierre-Jarawan-8-Print-Foto-Marvin-Ruppert-1.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Pierre-Jarawan-8-Print-Foto-Marvin-Ruppert-1.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":100832,"url":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/2026\/03\/echt-luisteren-empathie-en-veranderende-perspectieven-in-het-79e-holland-festival\/","url_meta":{"origin":97631,"position":1},"title":"True listening, empathy and changing perspectives in 79th Holland Festival","author":"een van onze leden","date":"4 March 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The Holland Festival opens on 3 June with City of Floating Sounds by Huang Ruo, a concert in two parts. The first part is a musical walk to Carr\u00e9, with visitors using an app to sound an orchestral work through the city. In the auditorium, the full composition is then...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;beleid&quot;","block_context":{"text":"beleid","link":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/genre\/beleid\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/Jba1BC32zE4\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":33615,"url":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/2016\/05\/audio-is-nieuwe-video-ii-tanya-el-khoury-laat-syrische-doden-spreken\/","url_meta":{"origin":97631,"position":2},"title":"Audio, the new video (II): Syrian dead speak at Gardens Speak (HF16)","author":"Wijbrand Schaap","date":"18 May 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"'This regime also rules over you after you die. The regime steals your story. They use you to tell their own story. Relatives are forced to sign statements that the dead were killed by the opposition. The regime uses the dead to oppress the living.' The Lebanese...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;ACTUEEL&quot;","block_context":{"text":"ACTUEEL","link":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/genre\/nieuws\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Holland Festival 2016 Gardens-Speak-\u00a9-Jesse-Hunniford-1-","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Gardens-Speak-%C2%A9-Jesse-Hunniford-1-.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Gardens-Speak-%C2%A9-Jesse-Hunniford-1-.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Gardens-Speak-%C2%A9-Jesse-Hunniford-1-.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Gardens-Speak-%C2%A9-Jesse-Hunniford-1-.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Gardens-Speak-%C2%A9-Jesse-Hunniford-1-.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":97558,"url":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/2025\/06\/78e-holland-festival-feestelijk-geopend-in-aanwezigheid-van-de-koning\/","url_meta":{"origin":97631,"position":3},"title":"78th Holland Festival festively opened in the presence of the king.\u00a0","author":"een van onze leden","date":"12 June 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"On 11 June, in the Muziekgebouw, in the presence of His Majesty the King, the 78th edition of the Holland Festival festively opened with the European premiere of Cyber Subin. 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