Orshina – Requiem for “NOVA”: Turning Grief Into a Message the World Must Hear
Certain losses cause us to look for the right words, and others leave us with a single statement: that we shall never forget.
The album Requiem for “NOVA”, which was released on October 7, 2026, arose out of deep sorrow and the desire to remember. For Orshina, this is not simply a musical project; it is a personal way of responding to a frightening incident that cost the lives of their beloved sister and a number of close friends. The sorrow associated with the project cannot be separated from its aim. By means of this album, Orshina is attempting to find comfort, hope and at least some kind of meaning in an experience that has left them severely affected. The message is clear and strong: “WE WILL NEVER FORGET”. All aspects of the project are directed towards remembrance, giving the album the significance of a memorial and the urgency of a personal appeal for healing.
The six tracks on the album—“Graveyard Blues”, “Bread & Circus”, “Hell In Paradise”, “Rest In Music”, “Dressed up for the Devil” and “Holocausts and Slavery”—indicate that it is an album which faces up to pain, darkness, and difficult realities rather than avoiding them. The titles paint a clear picture, shifting from images of loss and difficult circumstances to those of rest and the more sinister aspects of human history. Although each song has its individual title, they all serve the main aim of the album, which is to express feelings that ordinary language might not be able to convey. Orshina describes the central appeal of the project as “Help me heal the world”. This is a simple statement, yet it reflects the underlying tension of this release: the artist is coping with personal devastation while at the same time reaching out, hoping that the music can provide some kind of help to others who are also having difficulty making sense of suffering. A striking characteristic of *Requiem for “NOVA”* is its musical richness. Orshina has combined a variety of instruments and collaborators in order to give the project a wider emotional range. She has had the violinist Maianne Tur, drummer Roey Brosh and the vocalists Idit Eshel and Shiran Tzfira take part in the album. Almost all the material was produced in Orshina’s own professional studio, the drum recordings and mixing being done at Leon Sound Pro. The end product is a collective effort guided by a very personal vision. Orshina is inspired by artists and projects such as Carbon Based Lifeforms, Pink Floyd, Infected Mushroom, Miktek, Shpongle and Entheogenic, showing a interest in experimental electronic music and broad musical concepts. The influence of these artists and projects provides background for the project’s development, while the experience involved in making the album gives it a distinct character.
The recording process was by no means easy; Orshina calls it a psychological experience characterised by crying, emotional breakdowns, and exhaustion. This description shows the personal price of producing a work so closely tied to loss. The album was not merely an effort to record one’s grief but a means of going through it and looking for something beyond it. There is no idea that music can erase what took place; on the contrary, Orshina employs the creative process in order to move towards comfort and hope, even if those emotions might be hard to find. ‘Requiem for “NOVA”‘ is a tribute to the people who have died and a plea to remember them; its aim extends well beyond the creation of music since it urges listeners to acknowledge suffering, keep alive the memory of their loved ones, and realize the value of compassion in a broken world. Orshina does not offer easy solutions; although the album arises from a place of heartbreak, its message is directed towards healing. Because of its collaborative instrumentation, the incorporation of experimental elements, and its deeply personal origins, this recording becomes an expression of grief that does not allow remembrance to fade.
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