La Passion selon les enfants

“The history of Christianity has left us a number of writings recounting the life of Jesus and his path to the Cross, notably through the four gospels of John, Matthew, Mark and Luke, but also several apocrypha including the gospel of Maria Magdalena, Joseph, Thomas and many others. Never has there been a gospel telling the point of view of children! Yet, little girls and boys roamed and played in the streets of Jerusalem as we wandered and had fun as children in our streets. They saw Jesus often pass that way, alone, with his disciples or with the crowd, they saw his miracles, saw Peter make a path before betraying him, they followed the procession that took him to the Cross… What was their perception toward this: Cruel? Sarcastic? Innocent? Tender? Loving? This is what this unique passion that will resonate in the Aramaic language offers today in the history of our Christianity, in a particular way in the face of a world torn by conflicts and devastated by hatred and cruelty.” Zad Moultaka 

“The project of “La Passion selon les enfants” is a game of rhythm and polyphony, a musical meditation on what connects (as we could consider Jesus – rabbi from the Jewish world that became Messiah for Christians and prophet for Muslims), an imploration in the face of what is heartbreaking without ever worrying about the children who are carrying the future. It is a scream of injustice, an essential anger, an immense sorrow to be relieved just as much as a message of love and peace to the beautiful and crazy and singular music of Zad Moultaka, from here and there, between earth and sky, a hop…” Bruno Messina 

“Had no one ever imagined telling the Passion story at the level of children? Visual artist and composer, Zad Moultaka draws from his French-Lebanese culture, a musical universe cradled by his childhood nursery rhymes and deeply marked by the music of Bach. At once, an echo of the chaos of today’s world, a moving evocation of the injustice of which the youngest are powerless witnesses and a message of peace and love, the music of this Passion, served by the fine writing of Bruno Messina, is both serious and spirited, like children passing from intense joy to deep tears.” Maîtrise de Radio France