“when the waves close over me, I dive down to fish for pearls”

Album’s Story – Introduction

Due to civil wars and the associated mortal danger, political persecution, and starvation, the number of people looking for security is increasing day by day. The political situation concerning the immigrants in Europe is tense. There is often discussion about whether refugees are more of an opportunity for Europe or more of a threat to European culture and society. In Germany, the question arises as to how the refugees can be successfully integrated.

The core story is about a refugee family of five members, which could be of any origin. In doing so KATRE aims to abstract from more concrete instances and present the refugee issue as a general systemic problem.

The story as such, as well as the construction of songs also tries to focus on the different phases of refuging, which are presented below:

  1. The times before the war or the events that cause leaving the country
  2. Start of the events causing migration, the decision to leave
  3. The escape route (for this project = over the sea)
  4. Drowning of the two kids (for this project = the story of Aylan & Galip Kurdi)
  5. Reaching Europe
  6. The feeling of being unwanted (for instance, the story of Osama Abdul Mohsen & Zaid Mohsen)
  7. Trying to adapt to the new “life”
  8. Helplessness although resilience

Each phase will be further detailed in the following songs.

So was the Life

It is the opening track of the album and concerns the daily life of the family before the refuging, eruption of war. The storyteller thinks of the past years and with that song, he takes us to those times. Therefore, the first track depicts the past via flashback. The swells in the second part of the song tend to reflect the aforementioned flashback feeling.

“A secure place for a kid is where he can play with joy and happiness” is the focal phrase for the song and KATRE uses the sounds of kids playing together; singing in different languages, having fun by bouncing rocks, and playing ball, accordingly in the song.

The Decision

The emerging reason -whatever it might have been- that forces the family to refuge sets in the song. To underline the eruption of chaos, KATRE includes militant drums and sound effects of war. Also, the sounds of breaking news narrating the occurrence of war and related speeches are used in the background, after the main riff.

The two parents in the story monitor the situation with anxiety, as they entertain the idea of leaving the country. It is a difficult situation to hit the road of escape under these difficult circumstances and leave all your roots, custom, and all you love behind.

After a state of uncertainty, the family arrives at a decision and concludes to leave their country. KATRE reflects this moment of clarity with a modulation in the song, which is followed by an epic guitar melody.

The Route

The family sets off with five members. Even though having high risks, The Mediterranean sea is the selected route for refuging, since it is the fastest way to reach Europa without an entry permit [1]. The deal is made with a shipowner and the journey begins full of anxiety. The boat is overfilled because the shipowner takes 35 passengers into the boat – way above the limit of 25 people. (The following is based on a true story). They can’t wear life-vests since all of them were thrown into the sea to make space for more people. Being overloaded, at some point, the boat starts to take on water. Everyone on the boat gets soaked through their feet and starts panicking. The boat sinks slowly, screams are tangled. The father, who struggles to be a lifeguard for his children within the chaos, cannot resist the force of water. Two children slip away from the father’s hand and vanish in the open sea.

The Mermaid

This song is dedicated to the ones who drowned while refuging by seas, such as Aylan and Galip Kurdi.

Continuing from the prior song, the kids are drowned and their bodies are washed ashore. KATRE uses various sound effects in the song with the depiction of struggling for holding consciousness, kids sinking to the bottom, and washing up on the shore.

Now on the Continent

The remainder of the family arrives in Europe. In spite of having a terrifying journey and being worn out, they have many things to do for their much-needed new life. They walk miles with other refugees, sometimes cross borders by train with an emotional wreck on their souls. Every border tries their patience. They witness how their human pride is swallowed every day. They get jammed into compartments like animals and dragged into somewhere they do not have a clue about.

KATRE integrates statements from politicians, such as Angela Merkel, Viktor Orban, Donald Trump and includes sounds and speeches from anti or pro-refugee demonstrations, interviews, and voice recordings in this song.

The Run

The Run is a follow-up topic of the previous song, dedicated to the ones who have to run away from their countries within incredibly difficult circumstances. Many refugees talk about violence and abuse as well as hunger, thirst, bad hygiene conditions, and lack of sleep during their escape, as well as the feel of permanent insecurity and constant internal tension, alertness. It is a known fact that their body and soul are in a survival mode, allowing them to endure distress and suffer [2]

In the song, KATRE describes the story of Osama Abdul Mohsen (father) who was tripped up by a Hungarian camerawoman while pasting police near the border, with his son Zaid Mohsen carried in his arm [3, 4].

Looking for the Pearls

The family is housed in a refugee camp where diverse people of different backgrounds live. The days are passing by, the refugees get to know each other. Many observations take place. The scars are the common denominators. They hold onto, strengthen and comfort each other.  They share their stories, speak of how they buried friends, had to endure the death of close friends and family members, talk about the illnesses they or others got on the road.

Making a new life is harder than expected with (or considering) what has been experienced; all the things left behind, struggles, and lost ones. After completing their refuge action by arriving at a secure place, they realize that the burden of the past is lifelong and will always have to be carried. For instance, moms hear voices of their gone kids in their ears, memories are refreshed. Fathers and brothers wake up from their sleep suddenly, have difficulties falling asleep. KATRE integrates sound effects and voice recordings into the song to picture this condition. Their life is more secure compared to before however psychological breakdown causes time to flow backward. Old identities clash with new life and get entangled.

Behind the Resilience

KATRE characterizes both parents subject to the story as resilient. Resilience is the ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change. These people, even though being pushed around, can confront difficulties and eke out an existence with learning outcomes from challenges. In Anatolia, the Middle East, and other areas with war, violence, poverty, political persecution, starvation, etc., you may find many examples of resilient people. As novelist Yasar Kemal says, “they learn how to lose by being oppressed all the time like a rock under the sea and shine.” Stated

differently, being defeated day after day, they come to know how to defeat by surviving, Similarly, Mascha Kaléko, a German poet, whose books were banned as “harmful and unwanted writings” by the National Socialists and emigrated to the United States in 1938, states “when the waves beat over me, I dive deeper to search for pearls”, which is a perfect expression of what resilience is (see Track Nr. 7).

Although the protagonists are from the bottom up resilient people, KATRE wants to show in this song and the whole album consciously that after the escape this vital ability can no longer exist. As such, and in contrast to KATRE’s first album, Encounters, which is also a conceptual work and is about Existence & Existing, this music album is dark, gloomy, and pessimistic at its core. After all, what can be more difficult than taking the ability to survive from one person and still keeping it alive?

Footnotes

[1] The Mediterranean is considered one of the busiest routes in the world. No other body of water is monitored so completely. Nevertheless, boats are sinking in the middle, overloaded with people hoping for a better future in Europe (https://www.planet-wissen.de/geschichte/menschenrechte/fluechtlinge/festung-europa-fluchtwege-100.html, Last access 28.12.17)

[2] Ulrike Imm-Bazlen, Anne-Kathrin Schmieg: Begleitung von Flüchtlingen mit traumatischen Erfahrungen. Springer (Wiesbaden) 2016, S.11

[3] https://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/ausland/europa/Der-Fehltritt/story/31086037, Last access 30.12.17

[4] Petra László sorgte im für Empörung, als sie nach Flüchtlingskindern trat (http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/ungarn-tretende-kamerafrau-erhaelt-bewaehrungsstrafe-a-1129762.html, Last access 30.12.17)