so so so beautiful, dear heart. thank you for bringing this through.

Now available on 
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/6wEGu8eYVGW5WJig24lrT5?si=ee938433a81043f4 
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGK-vw479k0
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/jewish-nigun-meditation-medley-how-can-i-mah-tovu-washougal/1618998865?uo=4
Amazon Music: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09Y8WC274

This is an arrangement of three separate nigunim with added accompaniment. The individual tracks are:

Batya Levine - How Can I: https://soundcloud.com/batyalevine/how-can-i
Sol Yael Weiss - Mah Tovu: https://soundcloud.com/sol-yael/mah-tovu
Ary Solomon - Washougal Nigun: https://soundcloud.com/ary-solomon/washougal-nigun

Please check out and support these artists! In addition to SoundCloud:

- Batya Levine has a website here: www.batyalevine.com, a Bandcamp here: batyalevine.bandcamp.com/album/karov, and is on streaming services such as Spotify
- Sol Yael Weiss has a website here: www.solyaelweiss.com

Jewish Meditation Nigun Medley with Batya Levine, Sol Yael Weiss, and Ary Solomon (now on Spotify!)

GRIEF SONG - feat. WREN PEOPLE
This song came through me as I lit a candle at my altar praying for a song to hold our communities in our deepest grief - from pre-covid unmetabolized sorrow to the compacted grief we have been holding in isolation over the past year. 
I can feel my Jewish ancestors on my tongue in these sounds and melody. I sent this song to one of my Jewish mentors asking him about what came through me and to tell me more cause it felt very Jewish. This is what he told me: “Ahlay! This song is a “nigun” (in Hebrew) translated as a “wordless melody.” They are very common in Ashkenazi tradition (which is my lineage) although there are wordless melodies from Jewish traditions all around the world. These songs come from a time in Jewish history when a lot of the people were lacking institutional knowledge and didn’t know the prayers and didn’t speak Hebrew because the institutions had been destroyed in the Cossack uprisings in the 17th century. It was at this time in Poland (where my ancestors are from) when a mystic healer came forward, Baal Shem Tov (the master of the good name) - and taught that the melody of the heart is more potent and more appreciated by spirit than any formal prayers or specific blessings that someone could learn in an institution.” I sat with my mouth wide open in awe for entire moments at everything he had just told me. 
SIDENOTE: In the Nigerian religion Yoruba, Oya is the orisha of winds, lightning, violent storms, death and rebirth - when I listen to this recording I can hear her name. 
And what is grief if not all of the above? Just whoa. 
 
phonetic sounds:
oh ayo
da-da-day-daiya-ya-ya | da-da-day-daiya-ya-ya
ohya
da-da-day-daiya-ya-ya | da-da-day-daiya-ya-ya
Ohya ohya
da-da-day-daiya-ya-ya | da-da-day-daiya-ya-ya

to hear more community songs by ahlay, visit: https://www.alexandrablakely.com/songlibrary

Grief Song

I am of this Earth, I am of this sky
And the seasons turn, and so do I
I am made to change, I am made to bend
I am made to break and to grow again

Of This Earth

Ceremony Oct23

Vuela Golondrina

Rest Your Weary Bones

Part 1: 
May this body be a bridge for the healing of this land
May the river flow through us cleansing greed from our hands

May this body be a bridge for the healing of this land
May the river flow through us cleansing grief from our hands

Part 2:
We are, we are born from the water
We are, we are made from the land

Teach us, teach us, oh Great Mother
To bring, to bring peace to this land

Lyrics: Part one is inspired by Said Abdallah; part 2 by Theresa Martin
Melody: Theresa Martin

May This Body Be A Bridge

A simple, wonderful song of empowerment that begs everyone to sing along, from Sarah Nutting of MaMuse. NOTE: This recording has been updated as of mid-June 2018 with personally corrected parts by Sarah and a new arrangement for Wholehearted Chorus. In this arrangement, the chorus splits in two parts (low and high), and within each section singers split up to take turns holding the ongoing bass lines or responding to the caller.

Recording by Lisa G. Littlebird for Wholehearted Chorus. Song composed and copyright Sarah Nutting. Be Whatcha Gonna Be is included in this song library with permission for the purposes of oral tradition singing and teaching. If singing this song for performance or recording for profit, you must get permission from and pay royalties to the composer.

For lyrics and individual part tracks, visit: http://thebirdsings.com/be-whatcha-gonna-be/ ‎

Be Whatcha Gonna Be by Sarah Nutting of MaMuse

A song for these uncertain times. Inspired by one of Joanna Macy's talks at a Bioneers Conference.

© Heather Houston
All rights reserved

To learn the individual parts to this song, please visit my Public Song Library:
https://heatherhoustonmusic.com/sisters-in-harmony-song-library/

Lyrics:
And we will care for each other
As the world around us unravels
And we will tend to the spark
of hope that lives within our grieving hearts
And we are here now, in this present moment
Lifting our voices and hearts
And we are here now, we have come together
We are tending the spark hope
Oh may it grow
And we will care for each other

Tending the Spark by Heather Houston

Artist: Meredith Buck
I learned from Marion of Sing Portland.

The story goes that Meredith Buck was at a retreat in the woods. The participants were led somewhere on the grounds, were then blindfolded, and had to find their way back by listening to the sound of drums being played. Part of the journey back was crossing the Eel River, and it was when Meredith was wading across that this song came to her.

Sung at a song circle on August 18, 2019 on Chinook land/Portland, OR.

Part 1:
Listen (x4)

Part 2:
Lay yourself down on the rocks now
Let your body down in the river
Listen for the drumming on the other side
Lose yourself in the meantime

Part 3:
Listen
Let your body be your guide
Let the water decide
Lose yourself in the meantime

Eel River Chant / Listen (Meredith Buck)

This Fire

The ethereal voices of Yala Lati meet the colorful voice of Heather Houston for a rainbow of sonic delight! Calling you home to the sacred circle of sisterhood, this album is a symphony for the innermost tendrils of the heart. 

We are sisters of the moon 
And daughters of the sun
We are mothers of the world
Our voices they are one
We are lovers of the earth 
and guardians of the land
We are weavers of the dream 
Together we are standing

For parts to these songs, please visit Heather's public song library at:
https://heatherhoustonmusic.com/sisters-in-harmony-song-library/

11 - Divine Mystery

Alexandra “ahlay” Blakely is a descendent of Ashkenazi, Scandinavian and British folk. She is a singer-songwriter, grief tender, community organizer, facilitator and ceramicist walking the path of ancestral healing and the reclaiming of lost cultural memories. Her community singing album, Spells from the Unknown encapsulates songs for the community to transform, ask questions, and seek to lead lives that might make us ancestors worth honoring. Her upcoming 2024 community singing album, WAILS: Songs for Grief was recorded in July 2023 with a choir of 200 voices. The album is completely dedicated to grief, inspired by the Whales and Frances Weller’s “the five gates of grief.”

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJiuxVf4FhGSkYT4K0zpGyA/videos?view=0&sort=p&flow=grid
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexandra_blakely/
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/alexandrablakely
Website: https://www.healingattheroots.com

Grief Song

Alexandra Blakely

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