Thakla III

The word ?thakla? in Arabic refers to a mother's grief over the loss of her child. The word, which has no English equivalent, has appeared in classical Arabic for over 1,500 years and probably predates Islam, according to Mohamed-Salah Omri, a professor of modern Arabic literature at Oxford University. When the original Thakla for two cellos was composed in March, 2024, over 14,000 children had been killed in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This piece is about grief, violence, and memory. This is a cello and piano version of the original Thakla for two cellos. Bruce Adolphe has also composed a Thakla for string octet, which is an entirely different work, using only one phrase from the original Thakla for two cellos.