Solstice

Album: Indigo (2022)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • The singer-songwriter-composer Dana Al Fardan has an unusual and inspiring backstory. She's from Qatar, a small country in the Middle East with a history of male guardianship that prevented many women from pursuing careers in music. A symphonic musician, she released her first album, Paint, in 2013, and in 2018 became Cultural Ambassador of the Qatari Philharmonic Orchestra. If you've flown Qatar Airways, you've heard her music: it's played when passengers come on board.

    In 2022 she released Indigo, with songs performed by the orchestra. "Solstice," a track from the album, she says "represents the space we find within that allows our light to shine through. It's the light that liberates the infinite glow we all hold, 'the light that freed the sun.'"
  • The Indigo album carries a concept of how color affects our emotions. It's based on the book Theory of Colours, first published in 1810 by the German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Each song on the album is designed to convey a different mood, just as various colors do in the visual spectrum.
  • The song was arranged by the Syrian violinist MAias Al Yamani and produced by the London-based Nico Dalla Vecchia, known as SINK.
  • The music video is intentionally abstract, showing Dana Al Fardan and members of the orchestra performing the song with overlays of color and other distortions. Each single from the album comes with this kind of visual representation, which is designed to give space for personal interpretation. It was directed by Ramy Dance at Common People Films in London.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Wedding Bell Blues

Wedding Bell BluesSong Writing

When a song describes a wedding, it's rarely something to celebrate - with one big exception.

Pam Tillis

Pam TillisSongwriter Interviews

The country sweetheart opines about the demands of touring and talks about writing songs with her famous father.

Queen

QueenFact or Fiction

Scaramouch, a hoople and a superhero soundtrack - see if you can spot the real Queen stories.

Barry Dean ("Pontoon," "Diamond Rings And Old Barstools")

Barry Dean ("Pontoon," "Diamond Rings And Old Barstools")Songwriter Interviews

A top country songwriter, Barry talks about writing hits for Little Big Town, Tim McGraw and Jason Aldean.

Don Brewer of Grand Funk

Don Brewer of Grand FunkSongwriter Interviews

The drummer and one of the primary songwriters in Grand Funk talks rock stardom and Todd Rundgren.

Sending Out An SOS - Distress Signals In Songs

Sending Out An SOS - Distress Signals In SongsSong Writing

Songs where something goes horribly wrong (literally or metaphorically), and help is needed right away.