Naji is a piece for cello and piano composed by Issa Boulos in 1996. It premiered the same year at Columbia College Chicago and Northwestern University as part of the Young Composers Festival. It is dedicated to Naji al-Ali, a Palestinian cartoonist.
Naji / 1st Movement (Rust, Dust, Pink, and Roses) When Naji al-'Ali was ten years old, he and his family were forcefully expelled from al-Shajara, a village located between Tiberias and Nazareth. They ended up in refugee camps in Lebanon. In his early twenties, he started publishing his cartoons focusing on Palestinian and Arab issues, which got him tangled with every country in the region, leading to several arrests. Dust, Rust, Pink and Roses explores the realities in Naji’s life, rusty and dusty, and his ability to remain faithful to mirroring what Palestinians go through. His drawings are all in black and white, yet he always projected colors expressing resilience and hope, as well as pink and roses.
Naji / 2nd Movement (Against the Wall) In ‘Against the Wall,’ the piece is my interpretation or translation of Naji’s life passing through his mind while in a coma at the hospital. He was shot on July 22, 1987, and died on August 29, 1987.
Music by Issa Boulos (1996)
The performance was by Ben Holcomb, who played the cello, and Ron Stabinsky, who played the piano. This performance took place at the University of Delaware in April 2024.
The purchase price includes all parts and the score.
Naji (for piano and cello)
Composer: Issa Boulos
Genre/Style: Western Classical
Difficulty: 4
Instrumentation: Cello and Piano.
Publisher: Aria Music Publications
Region: Middle East
Country: Palestine