Today, in the midst of his enormous “Us + Them” tour, Roger Waters has unveiled his powerful new video for “Wait for Her,” a song off the former Pink Floyd bassist’s new LP Is This the Life We Really Want?
Check Out Spectacular Photos And Fan-Shot Videos From Roger Waters’ Georgia Show
The video features footage Waters and his band performing the song in the studio interspersed with moving footage of a scarred flamenco dancer haunted by her memories as she prepares for a performance in her dressing room. Actress/dance Azzura, who also starred in the moody visual for Waters’ previous single, “The Last Refugee.
“Wait For Her”‘s lyrics and the music video both drew influence from the late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish‘s “Lessons From The Kama Sutra (Wait For Her).” According to Waters’ Film and Creative Director Sean Evans in a statement to Rolling Stone. “”When Roger wrote this song, his adaptation of the poem took on a sensual yet melancholy tone, and the video needed to represent that,” Evans said. “It needed to show femininity and sexuality but also needed to have an air of loss and pain, and longing for a time that was. We met Azzura, the actress/dancer, while doing a casting for the part in ‘The Last Refugee.’ That part called for a woman who was an experienced flamenco dancer and who could convincingly have a mother/daughter interaction with a child actress. Azzura was perfect: she’s a trained dancer and when not dancing, she works with kids. She did such a fantastic job during the filming of ‘The Last Refugee,’ that Roger and I wanted to include her in ‘Wait for Her.’ The song has a yearning that we felt a band performance alone wouldn’t quite address.”
Evans also explained the dancer’s noticeable scar in the video: “That mark was important to the video – it is a symbol of the physical torment refugees endure.” He also referred to “Wait For Her” and “The Last Refugee” as companion pieces, saying that they were intentionally made with similar approaches “but are not mean to live in linear time with each other. Both were intentionally created that way and are meant to be open to interpretation.” He also hinted that he and Waters have further ideas for subsequent chapters in this “story.”
You can watch the new video for “Wait for Her,” as well as the video for its companion piece, “The Last Refugee,” below via Roger Waters VEVO:
“Wait For Her”
“The Last Refugee”
You can catch Roger Waters on the road throughout this year on his “Us + Them” 2017 tour. For a full list of upcoming tour dates, head to his website.
[Cover photo via Carol Spagnuola]
[h/t – Rolling Stone]