Shida Shahabi

Celebrated composer Shida Shahabi is set to release a score album this autumn titled “Sylph (Original Score).” Self-released on her own label Still Light on September 13, 2024, the album will feature the enchanting music composed for the avant-garde Cullberg dance production, "Sylph," offering listeners a chance to experience the mystique and beauty of the performance in their own environments.

Inspired by Michel Fokine's 1909 ballet, Les Sylphides, "Sylph" is a modern reinterpretation created by Halla Ólafsdóttir in collaboration with the dancers of Cullberg, set/light designer Chrisander Brun, costume designer Hanna Kisch and composer Shida Shahabi, and is a performance that examines what happens choreographically when dance, set design, lights, costume and sound have an equal role. 

“The process of making music for Sylph,” says Shahabi, “was something that was formed alongside Halla’s process of shaping the choreography in the black box together with the performers, Chrisander’s process with the room and light, and Hanna’s work with costume. Our ongoing dialogue as a group about who Sylph is as a character, together with rehearsals, was what gave birth to the ASMR-inspired long-form music, unpredictable dark house, and dramatic and dark phrases that drew inspiration from the world of ballet.”

Sylphs, the mythical beings at the heart of the production, are shape-shifting entities, with airy voices and multifaceted forms, who glide through the dance's cryptic forest, whispering secrets and embracing the air. Shahabi’s score perfectly encapsulates the sylphs’ essence—dancing, rustling, and lending an otherworldly ambience to the performance. “Sylphs became unpredictable, sensory, queer characters that also resemble the sprawling and diverse sound of the score,” she says.

The artistic genius of Shida Shahabi, known for her evocative and atmospheric compositions, underscores the mystical and invites audiences to immerse themselves in a sensory journey.