Each of the composers has written a programme note to accompany their Composeher work. Read about Dee’s piece, The Alphabet of Jasmine, below.

The Alphabet of Jasmine came about through conversations with my great friend and collaborator, writer Gerda Stevenson. Gerda and I have a long history of working together. Since 2015 we have been working independently – me in Greece, with children living in protracted displacement and Gerda here in Scotland at the Scottish Refugee Council researching for a radio drama she was then writing about asylum seekers and refugees. In both situations, people want to share their journey.

These people, young and old, are cast adrift from tradition and security. Gerda writes that The Alphabet of Jasmine is ‘a triptych – in tribute to the Syrian poet, Nizar Qabbani, who died in London, but asked to be buried in Damascus. He said Damascus was “the womb that taught me poetry, taught me creativity and granted me the Alphabet of Jasmine”.’

The first song is called Nine Fathoms Deep – it is for the children who lost lives in the Mediterranean.

The second is The Alphabet of Jasmine. In it you will hear the Arabic refrain meaning ‘Alphabet of Jasmine’.

And finally, The Baker of Idlib – a blessing.

The Alphabet of Jasmine is a prayer for people living in limbo. Unable either to go forward or back, they must make their world where they find it, and quest for a better life – testament both to human frailty and human resilience. It is dedicated to Matina and Spiros Katsiveli who have devoted all their lives to supporting refugees arriving by boat on the small island of Leros in the Dodecanese, Greece.

It has been an absolute privilege to have composed this for the Glasgow School of Art Choir.