Blending sacred choral tradition with experimental electronic music, the electro-acoustic work BETHLEHEM was created and broadcast during Christmas 2023, when Bethlehem’s Greek Orthodox Church of the Nativity chose to cancel all festive celebrations in response to the era-defining ethnic cleansing taking place in Palestine.
In this context, Wonder Cabinet commissioned a new piece that brought together tenor Lawrence Sammour—also head of the Church of the Nativity’s choir for over fifty years—with two artists deeply rooted in Beirut’s experimental and underground music scenes: electronic musician, sound designer and producer Sary Moussa and composer Abed Kobeissy. Now Constellation Records announces the album BETHLEHEM, out October 16, anticipated by the single Mylāduka ʾayyuha-l-masyḥ.
The project is an encounter between distinct musical practices grounded in mutual respect and careful listening. Sacred chant and contemporary composition coexist without hierarchy, creating a work that speaks to grief without spectacle, to resilience without sentimentality, irreducible to a political statement or an exercise in cultural preservation.
In 2024, BETHLEHEM was able to mount its first live concert at Le Guess Who?. Marking the first in-person meeting of Sammour with Moussa and Kobeissy, the exquisite ceremonial restraint and emotional power of this performance prompted an extended ovation. In 2025 the musicians expanded upon their original composition during a residency at the Beirut & Beyond International Music Festival, yielding additional studio and live recordings, joined by double bassist Makram Aboul Hosn. The collection of recordings spanning 2023-2025 was then integrated and mixed by Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (Jerusalem In My Heart, Matana Roberts, Suuns) to produce an album-length document.
Photography by Tess Janssen
BETHLEHEM is presented by Radio Alhara & Wonder Cabinet, and by the collaborative project TIMES (The Independent Movement for Electronic Scenes) and is co-financed by the EU.
BETHLEHEM will be performed at Le Guess Who? on Saturday, 7 November. Also part of the program are a.o. Radwan Ghazi Moumneh & Frédéric D. Oberland, Low Jack presents Lacrimosa with Ensemble vocal Voix des Outre-Mer, ęmí: freedomsong by Rohan Ayinde and Tayo Rapoport, and more.
