OH LAND
This song came through me as I was wanting to honor and have an embodied experience of my connection to land and the work I am committed to doing in my lifetime. You can sing the verses as an echo or you can have the group hummmmmmm for the verse and have a different person sing each verse (which is what we did). We have also just taught one verse with the chorus and sung it repeatedly. I believe the most potent verse for a land acknowledgement is "oh land, i know, the history here is painful, oh land, you know, your healing’s woven with the peoples"

lyrics:
oh land, upon which i stand - holding me 
i thank you - for all that you hold me through 
i lean back into you, rejuvenate my body anew 
oh land, upon which i stand - holding me 
i feel the gravity, where you meet my feet 
i can hear your heart beat - if i listen carefully 
oh land, upon which i stand - holding me 
oh land, i know, the history here is painful 
oh land, you know, your healing’s woven with the peoples 
oh land, upon which i stand - holding me 
oh Land, we’re here to see the grief and rage and suffering 
take these hearts as offerings, massage you with our feet as we sing 
oh land, upon which i stand - holding me

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

Oh Land (Land Acknowledgement Song)

I am the Song
I am the Sun
I am the Soil
I am the Seed
I am the Shadow
I am the Longing
I am the Darkness
I am the Need

Two or more are gathered now
and here we Be
Two or more are gathered now
and so we See

song + lyrics + vocals: Lyndsey Scott 
production, harmonies, instrumentation: Michael Linder

I Am the Song

Something deep within you is awakening
Let it wake
Let it wake

Sarah Lockwood's Album

Something Deep Within You

I wrote this song in the wake of the Nepal earthquake in 2015. I spent time travelling and teaching English in Nepal in 2011 and felt a personal connection to the people and land there.

Words & melodies by Osprey. Guitar by Rich Glauber. Produced by Geoffrey Mays at SoaringHeart Studio in Eugene, OR.

© 2015 Osprey Huffsmith

03 Grief & Praise

This one (chorus) came through in Northeast Missouri while singing with a couple people and (verses) in California outside the house I grew up in, standing at the foot of a great Monterey Cyprus tree (not a Redwood!) and watching some vines climb up the brick outside of the house.

Chorus:
Sister you are not too far holding
I need your strength to carry on

Verse 1:
Our bodies are bound like the vines on the side of a house somewhere deep in the heart of the earth

Verse 2:
Our roots intertwine like the Redwood tree somewhere deep in the soil in the soul of the earth

Sister, You Are Not Too Far for Holding

This gorgeous melody from Jennifer Levenhagen was further beautified by Annie Zylstra who added the polyphonic harmonies, making this an ethereal gem, and a bit more challenging to sing than others in current oral tradition repertoire.

Original song copyright Jennifer Levenhagen, arrangement by Annie Zylstra. Recorded here by Lisa G. Littlebird for Wholehearted Chorus.

For lyrics, individual part tracks and more, visit: http://thebirdsings.com/most-beautiful-sky

Most Beautiful Sky by Jennifer Levenhagen and Annie Zylstra

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

Let Us See the Beauty

Humbly

Oh Debbie Nargi-Brown has done it again. Sharing this song in community holds transformative powers... I find again and again Debbie's songwriting has a particular knack for validating and embracing our shadows while still luring us back into the light. This was a joy to record with Debbie and my Wholehearted Chorus in January, 2020. Enjoy!

For lyrics, and more information, visit: https://thebirdsings.com/ohgrief-ohjoy/

Oh Grief, Oh Joy by Debbie Nargi-Brown

This song was recorded live at Esalen at the first Singing on the Edge retreat in 2018. This is an orginal song by Debbie Narg-Brown. Debbie is the lead singer on this track and if you listen closely you will hear Lisa G. Littlebird and Barbara McAfee in the background singing as well as retreat participants. Glen Phillips on guitar and Emile Hassan Dyer on drums. To learn more about Debbie's music go to www.debbienargi-brown.com

Put Back Together Again/I Will Let My Heart be Broken

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

Oh Land (Land Acknowledgement Song)

Alexandra Blakely

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