“I want to sing”

(Y. & Mostafa)

A lullaby is, among other things, a love song. The melodic expression of parental love. A musical vehicle through which emotions travel from parents to children. An original lullaby, as the ones that participants of the Lullaby Project compose for their little ones, is the ultimate form of that expression. Because what is being created in the process is an original lullaby. Inspired by a parent’s personal experience and powered by the special, individual bond, between a specific parent to her or his children.

Such is the case with Y. who, in writing a lullaby for his daughters, he channeled his life story, his shared experience with them, his aspirations for them, and his hopes for a tomorrow filled with light through music, through melodies, and through beautiful imagery. And created their own, original lullaby, a love song to be shared with them and the world.

This is one of the characteristics of the process that Mostafa points out, and possibly one of those attributes of the Lullaby Project that makes it equally enriching for the participant composers: the creative task to “write feelings” and, in this case, to “write somebody else’s feelings”. To be able to connect with the other, to sense their ideas at a deeper level, as to be able to help them transfer those in the musical universe of lullaby writing. In order to do so, one needs to be able to also connect with the ultimate attribute of a lullaby, which is the attribute that provides it with universality: love. 

Love and its driving power create the thread that brings together the parents’ ideas with the composers’ creativity, the finished lullaby with the children, all the lullabies together, and all the lullabies with parents and children around the globe. In this way, love and its driving power dressed with the light of lullabies, become the soundtrack with which we can sing our way to a better world.

Artist collaborating with mother: Mostafa Ismail

Lullaby Supported by: European University  

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“Adorable Child”

(Dioh & Andreas)

Dioh and Andreas have collaborated to bring to life a beautiful lullaby for Dioh’s little treasures. A loving mother with much strength and tenderness in her heart, and a professional composer who acted as a “lever”, helping her translate this strength and tenderness into a heart-warming song, to be shared with her children and the world. 

This contact that takes place during the process of the Lullaby Project is indicative of one of the main messages of the project itself, which accentuates the role of music as one of the most powerful social tools and a vehicle that strengthens the human bond. 

The social power of music is something that Andreas also emphasizes when he speaks about his experience with the Lullaby Project. And, indeed, when one considers the many and varied backgrounds from which the participants of the Lullaby Project come from, be it the parents, the composers, and many other team members, and the way music in general and lullabies in particular becomes their unifying element, their common purpose, this becomes even more evident. 

Lullabies carry within them a universality that is felt and understood by all. Existent from the ancient years and within every civilization, and still strongly relevant today, they are one of those cultural forms that show a deeper connection to what is human at its core level. The love of parents (or caregivers) for their children, the passing on of songs through oral tradition, the will to soothe babies to sleep with beautiful images of stars, and moons, and light, and hope… is something that can be felt across the globe and throughout time.

And the way, through the Lullaby Project, parents have the experience of creating their unique lullaby, for their unique connection for their babies, and share this with other parents and children around the world adds up to that experience of universality, by emphasizing that each individual is – and should be – equal part of the whole. Through the project, each parent is given a voice. And each voice becomes significant for all. 

So, when Dioh sings to her little ones the lullaby she and Andreas composed, she at the same time becomes a significant figure, a universal voice, that shares her experience and tenderness with everyone in this world. 

Watch Andreas’ interview about his experience here. 

Artist collaborating with mother: Andreas Michalopoulos

Lullaby Supported by: Frederick University  

Follow Sistema Cyprus’ social media platforms on Facebook and Instagram to experience the journey of Lullaby creation.

“The majestic beauty of genuine love”

(Louise & Yiorgos)

A composer’s work can be a lonely process – even at its most creative and fruitful, it often takes place in the confinement of one’s own mind and behind closed “doors”. For the Lullaby Project, composers have to step out of their creative confinement and collaborate with parents, becoming guides and vehicles for musically materializing the love songs they want to write for their children.

The different approach required for the Lullaby Project might at first appear as challenging, but, as Yiorgos says, it is an experience filled with beauty. To closely collaborate with a parent who sets out to creatively express the pure, genuine sentiments that come with parental love opens up new creative windows, through which emotional contact, empathy, and human communication at the most fundamental level can enter. 

The apparent simplicity that characterizes lullabies as musical forms, leaves ample room for this purity of emotions to shine; to reach the baby, lull it to sleep, and open the door to beautiful dreams where safety, hope, and love prevail. 

This is what happens every time Louise sings to her little boy the lullaby she wrote for him with the guidance of Yiorgos; a new creative experience that was revealing for both the composer and her. An experience that produced another unique expression of the majestic beauty of genuine love to be shared with her baby and the whole world. 

Artist collaborating with mother: Yiorgos Christofi 

Lullaby Supported by: EY Cyprus 

Follow Sistema Cyprus’ social media platforms on Facebook and Instagram to experience the journey of Lullaby creation.