The Rotterdam-based quintet Mamar follow their debut single “Torrential” with “Ismuka”, a hushed invocation of loss and longing sung in Arabic. Its title, meaning “Your Name,” frames the song as an intimate address, where voice, oud, clarinet, double bass, piano, and drums unfold in a slow 10/8 semai cycle.

Formed by musicians from Syria, Turkey, the United States, Cyprus, and the Netherlands, Mamar began at Codarts Conservatory, where each member graduated with distinction. The ensemble’s acoustic framework positions Arabic maqam within jazz-influenced harmonic settings, shaping compositions that move between ritual intensity and contemplative silence. On “Ismuka”, Leah Reina Uijterlinde’s voice hovers above Talal Fayad’s oud, with piano, bass, and percussion grounding the phrasing in a patient, spacious rhythm.

The lyrics, sung in Arabic, carry the weight of intimacy fractured: “Do you hear me, my love? In the dark, I chant your name like a secret prayer, after we have no faith left.” That textual starkness, paired with the ensemble’s restrained pulse, gives “Ismuka” its meditative character: a song that lingers in the suspended moment after rupture.

Earlier this year, Mamar introduced “Ismuka” live at the opening night of the 30th Writers Unlimited International Literature Festival in The Hague, where the theme of freedom of speech framed the evening. The track now appears as the second prelude to their forthcoming self-titled debut on AudioMaze, an album structured around the stages of grief.

Stream and listen to the single HERE