Nanny's Niggun is an ode to the incredible resiliency of my grandmother, "Nanny" Dorothy. A Holocaust survivor, she endured unimaginable horror and summoned untold strength and endurance to survive four different concentration camps over the course of 18 months as a Hungarian Jewish teenager. 

I caught the initial threads of this niggun (Hebrew for a "wordless melody") while singing with/to her about a year before her passing. It's my attempt to honor her story in all of its pain and profound triumph while reminding me to remain committed to ending oppression for all - no matter the creed, gender, sexual orientation, or color. 

"Nanny's Niggun" was one of the last songs I sang to my grandmother at her bedside before she drew her final breaths in mid-October 2019. This is a recording of me teaching it to a group of about thirty-five community singers in the rotunda of the Texas State Capitol on 11.18.2019, a one month after her burial. 

This song is yours to carry if it helps you connect to your own resiliency and your own commitment to fighting the grave injustices of our time.

To read a more in-depth backstory of this song, become a Patron: https://www.patreon.com/posts/35685709

Nanny's Niggun (Joshua Blaine) - Live in the Rotunda

Finding Our Voice is a project created and tended by Joshua Blaine (@joshuahblaine), a community song leader and organizer currently living on Narraganset land along the Atlantic Ocean. His songs are inspired by some of his favorite teachings and landscapes, from John O'Donohue to the Grand Canyon to mystical Jewish wisdom. Pre-COVID, he lead regularly community sings in the glorious domed rotunda of the Texas State Capitol in Austin, TX, where he lived for 8 years. Now, he continues to write and lead song in the virtual realm in service of collective liberation and systemic transformational justice and peace. You can support and follow his work more closely by becoming a patron at http://www.patreon.com/findingourvox and stay in the loop about his virtual song circles and other offerings on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/findingourvoiceproject/ or by joining his newsletter at http://findingourvoice.net

PNW folk roots -> electronic music production -> community songleading

Rob Tobias is a singer/songwriter, audio-video producer, and interview host of the TRAIN OF THOUGHT podcast.   The podcast features talk on music and culture.  Rob Tobias and the Northwest Express play a blend of folk-pop, blues, reggae and jazz.