Jamala has unveiled a new music video for her song ARAFAT DAĞINDAN from the album QIRIM, which features traditional Crimean Tatar folk songs and was released in May last year. The album, honored with the Shevchenko Prize, highlights the importance of cultural heritage.
"QIRIM proves that our legacy is much older than we think, and we must treasure these riches," the singer remarked about the album.
"ARAFAT DAĞINDAN is the song that uplifts. My grandmother and father used to sing it. I often heard it from fellow villagers during gatherings to remember and grieve on holidays or memorial days. It’s a song of remembrance, a prayer, a mantra, and it feels like it transports you 300 years back in time. Working on it made me cry often. It was difficult because this song is so mystical—it’s not just about a sacred mountain but about what you must achieve when you have a dream and faith in your heart. The summit, the difficult path, the disappointments, and finally, the elevation. I knew I wanted it to be part of QIRIM and to make a video for it, even though I realized it would break all the molds. This composition doesn’t have a fixed rhythm, it's played on analog instruments with a symphonic sound on a philosophical theme."
The music video was directed by Ukrainian filmmaker Herman Nenov, who served as the creative director for Eurovision 2023 in Liverpool. According to him, creating the video for ARAFAT DAĞINDAN was a personal challenge. The six-minute-long video is rich in symbolism. For instance, scenes featuring the artist and dancers in the desert symbolize a pilgrimage to the mountain in a literal sense, but they also represent the Crimean Tatar people, who continue to search for their place after being displaced from their homeland. The video also contains references to Jamala's personal story and her famous song "1944."
"The tree stumps symbolize a destroyed generation of Crimean Tatars, who were forced to emigrate, both during the deportation in 1944 and now, as history repeats itself. The shadows sprouting from the stumps through visual effects represent the trees that could have grown but never will. In this video, Jamala appears as a monumental figure, holding onto her roots and carrying the memory of her people like a warrior," Nenov emphasized.
In her latest music video for ARAFAT DAĞINDAN, Jamala for the first time reveals personal archive footage from Crimea, sharing memories of her family home and time spent with loved ones. Reflecting on what the peninsula means to her, the singer says: “It’s the sea, mountains, grape leaves, accordion, singing, pilaf, heat, joy, cypress trees, and a sense of happiness.” Jamala emphasizes that the theme of preserving memory and ancient cultural codes is embodied in every detail of the video, from the motif of climbing the mountain to the reminder of the ongoing fight for freedom.
The costumes for the video were designed by stylist Yurii Zhuikov, who has previously created stage looks for the artist. For ARAFAT DAĞINDAN, he developed three distinct outfits: the first continues the aesthetics of the QIRIM album and follows its color scheme; the second features warrior-like shields, symbolizing strength; and the third, a white outfit, represents purity and dynamic movement.
Choreographer Aliona Tkachenko worked on the movements of Jamala and the dancers, bringing the video’s visual language to life. The filming of ARAFAT DAĞINDAN was supported by the USAID’s Engage program and the German Embassy in Ukraine.
