Karim Al-Zand: Music: Two Songs from The Prisoner

Two Songs from The Prisoner

for baritone & piano

These two songs for baritone and piano are drawn from a larger song cycle for voice and orchestra that tells the story of Adnan Latif, one of the first men imprisoned in the US Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp in 2002. Its text is drawn from Latif’s own letters, sent to his lawyer while in captivity, and from other literary sources, including poems of Rilke, Al-Ma‘arri, Rūmī and the Book of Psalms. Latif ultimately took his own life after languishing in prison for 10 years. The first song is a melancholic reminiscence of family and friends, drawn from a poem by Rumi. The second is a mournful lament, its final line taken from Latif’s last known letter.