Last Night a Woman Saved My Life

Last Night a Woman Saved My Life is a mesmerising journey into the space between Western minimalism and Middle Eastern lyricism. The project started in 2020 as an art installation in Paris by French sound artist Dominique Dalcan (aka Snooze). The immersive multimedia installation invited spectators to wander, listening to Lebanese women weaving their personal histories into a patchwork of Oriental sounds composed by Dalcan as a contemplation on space and territory.

As an aural extension of the project, Dalcan gathers together some of the most prominent female voices of the Arab world to explore his own ‘personal folklore’ – he was born in Beirut in 1967 but grew up in Paris. ‘One always tries to know when [sic] one comes from, but when in exile, instability remains because home is nowhere to be found. And when returning to the native land, nothing is the same,’ he writes in the press release.

The resulting album is hypnotic and enchanting; Dalcan’s electronic textures are complemented by more traditional sounds and instruments like the oud and qanun. Opener ‘Loin de Ma Terre’ (Far from My Land) features Algeria’s Souad Massi and was first recorded for the installation. The song muses on exile and Massi’s melancholic vocals perfectly capture a mood of longing supported by gently plodding electronic soundscapes, sounding almost like reluctant footsteps away from ‘home.’

Feelings of saudade and nostalgia are weaved throughout, supported by the incredible talent of the guests. Egypt’s Dina El Wedidi adds her voice to ‘Un Lien Entre Nous’ (A Link Between Us), singer and oud player Sulafa Elyas offers Sudanese pop on ‘Le Trésors que J’ai en Moi’ (The Treasures Inside Me), and Tunisian singer and qanun player Hend Zouari accompanies Dalcan on ‘Mon Cœur est Solitaire’, a tribute to Mohammed Abdel Wahab.

The album is a celebration of Arab women as a tribute to the maternal – both literally, as a tribute to Dalcan’s adoptive mother, and metaphorically, to a ‘mother’ country. It’s a mediation on belonging, home and roots. “When you know where you come from,” Dalcan says, “you have the fundamentals of your tradition, your roots. This is the foundation on which you will build your life. Without this, as in my case, you have to invent everything! This is what I call a personal, imaginative folklore, full of choices and desires that are not transmitted. This is also the role of art in an absolute sense.”