HOMECOMING is an exploration of early African American music and sound meditation as binding and healing mediums. This sound journey will take participants through the not-so-distant past to the present juncture of time.
America has written the complete African American narrative out of history and continues to try with cries of Critical Race Theory. These songs contain a portion of the record. Several tracks are church, field and prison work, or a capella songs. They tell the stories of a people, motivate change, and help ease the struggle of surviving extreme injustice.
They record resilience, the pursuit of meaning, and the joy of living. In encountering these recordings, we honor the ancestors’ voices and reclaim the power of the first instrument, the human voice, to heal.
This offering reflects deep meditation, an encounter with early prison work songs, and contemplations on what we are learning about history. As we dive deeper into the music, we can hear the elders speaking through time, not to be discarded or ignored. This project is not the experience of all Black people in America but rather a snapshot or dream of forgotten voices made present.
“Trees make symphonies without their trunks ever moving, almost as it the stillness of their centers amplifies their sound. The tree may appear still, but if you look closer, you’ll see that each leaf flails with breath. The tree may seem alone, but plow deep and you’ll unearth its secret gnarled roots- the grotesque and the beautiful creeping in the soil, reaching toward the ancestors.” – Cole Arthur Riley
One of the paths to finding healing is to be seen and heard. The experience of HOMECOMING allows us to explore the boundaries between sound and healing. We hope to expand on the voices and experiences unacknowledged, unheard and unseen.
Space is limited. We ask that you register in advance and arrive by 12:45 pm, as we will begin to open the space to others at 1:00 pm.
