Jamala presents QIRIM with the BBC Philharmonic

From mysterious mountains and lifeless steppes to lively seaside villages, Jamala invites the audience on a journey across the Ukrainian peninsula Crimea, shining a spotlight on a culture and language we know little about. QIRIM includes 14 ancient songs, each representing a part of Crimea.

Jamala has gathered songs from across her homeland for decades – over 80 Crimean musicians joined the album’s creation, to preserve the peninsula’s history. The people who inspired and created them now live under a grave threat to their existence. “But is it possible to erase the memory of the monumental beauty of the music that was passed across generations?” she asks.