fortification

Spirit World demo

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

Round House Song Sessions
July 23rd, 2016
Millerton, NY

recorded by: Aly Halpert, Shelby Handler, Beck Gross, Batya Levine & Margot Seigle

lyrics:
I am grateful for the unknown blessings already on their way 
I am grateful for the unknown blessings already on their way 

I will not 
Look back in anger
Or forward in fear
But around in awareness

The Haudenosaunee believe that words of gratitude come before all else that should be said in a conversation, and the initial words of this song are credited to them.  Sarah Thompson learned this song, which expands on that concept, while doing ecological social justice work with Joanna Macy. Batya heard it from Sarah while they sat in the red tent during Passover in the Desert with Wilderness Torah.  The version recorded here is Batya's crafting.

original words:
We give thanks 
for the unknown blessings
already on their way (2x)

We will not
look back in anger
or forward in fear
but around in awareness...

We give thanks

AV - I Am Grateful

by Aly Halpert

chorus and bridge from an Arundhati Roy quote.

recorded by Aly Halpert (voice & guitar) & Margot Seigle (backup vocie)
November 9th, 2016

lyrics:
the policemen have thrown away their guns
they kiss their sons and their daughters and their souls are at peace
no more black boys black girls trans women dying
no more reasons that could ever justify their loss 
and mothers send their teens out at night 
to breathe the sweet summer air and exhale on the ground
the earth was made for them
the earth is made for them
she is on her way
and no one can be silent anymore
every death is a death that my family mourns 
we've traded in our numbness and all of our fear
to fight for the lives we now hold dear
and everyone has come to greet the reckoning
the place where our hearts got smaller and smaller 
now grows to hold the pain
the brokenness that leads to pain
she is on her way
another world's not only possible
on a quiet day I can hear her breathing
and when the world we're dreaming is ours
we'll be tall inside
there will be no more question
as we pray and sing
that we have each other and what that means
we'll finally get to be together
stare with our hearts at what has been
and find some place of home
she is on her way"

She is On Her Way

by Batya Levine with creative collaboration from Noam Lerman

recorded by Batya Levine & Noam Lerman
November 13, 2016

We Rise

Inspired by nomadic years, the wisdom of the body and nervous system, change, Somatic Reality: Bodily Experience and Emotional Truth by Stanley Kelemen, the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess community, and the Judaism of my ancestors. Received to the tune of Avinu Malkeinu, a traditional Jewish High Holidays prayer.

Deep gratitude to my teachers, community and bright and well ancestors: Taya Shere, Rabbi Jill Hammer, Ibrahim Baba, my parents, Zaide, Grandpa, the Romanian women, Kohenet and so many more. Thank you.

Lyrics:
Slow down, child, slow down
Slow down and listen to the wind
All comes together; all falls apart
Forming anew your beating heart

Slow down, child, slow down
Slow down and draw yourself near
The rocks are your keepers
Tell them your stories
Now it is safe to be here

A river flows from within you to where you will go
The current carries you home
Let your life unfold

Slow down, child, slow down
Slow down and you will receive
Life wants to meet you where you are
Not where you think you should be

A river flows from within you to where you will go
The current carries you home
Let your life unfold

Slow down, child, slow down
Slow down and you will be shown
The love that was always lifting you up
You are never alone

A river flows from within you to where you will go
The current carries you home
Let your life unfold

Slow down child, slow down (x4)

Slow down, child, slow down
Slow down and listen to the wind
All comes together; all falls apart
Forming anew your beating heart

Slow Down / The Mother's Response (Preview)

chochmot bachutz tarona
ba'richovot ti'teyn kola

oh wisdom, oh wisdom cries out in the streets
our voices fill the air

Written by Noam & Batya
Vocals - Noam Lerman, Batya Levine, Ilana Lerman, Mónica Gomery & Margot Seigel (core team of Let My People Sing!)

Tarona - Noam Lerman & Batya Levine

Vocals - Batya Levine
Percussion - Simcha Halpert-Hanson

I'm Gonna Get Through  - Batya Levine

Vocals - Batya Levine
Percussion - Simcha Halpert Hanson

Nechama - Batya Levine

Yismechu v'malchuscha shomrei shabbos v'korei oneg

They will delight in your all empowering sovereignty - those who tend and care for shabbos and call it a joyous celebration
(translation by batya)

Vocals - Batya Levine
Percussion - Simcha Halpert-Hanson

Yismechu - Batya Levine

Art by Brandon Boyd in Support of Standing Rock

Voice Memos

May I Be Empty/Full

Tu B'shvat Nign

Tu Bshvat Nign (akon) [with B part]

we are good.
we are flawed.
we are the breath of an imperfect god.

returning to self. returning to source.
god is change. god is growth. the process, in all it's beauty and all it's mess, is god.

collage art by Chani Nicholas

we are good we are flawed

Song/prayer/meditation to heal personal and societal grief. For ordinary grief, extraordinary grief, the unbearable kind and the unseen kind and the enduring kind, in service of exhales and letting go of what is ours and not ours, of compassion, lightness, & becoming who we are after and through it all.

Aly Halpert's Album

Loosen Loosen

Written on a summer morning at Eden Village Camp, sung by Aly Halpert, Anat Hochberg, Ilan Korman, & Leah Shoshana Cowen, recorded on an iphone voice memo.

original text:
modah/modeh ani l'fanecha, ruach chai v'kayam 
(I am grateful before you, eternal living spirit)

additional english lyrics:
I was made for this morning
I was made to be here
All the life inside me is a gift
so we may heal

I was made for this morning
I was made to be here
All the life around me is a gift
so I may heal

Modah Ani (Voice Memo Recording)

written from the words of adrienne marie brown out of emergent strategy "change is coming, what do we need to imagine to be prepared?" an imagination exercise that she proposes we do to prepare for a world post and/or amidst capitalism. what can we imagine??

change is coming

Tree Nigun by Noam Lerman, used at many Let My People Sing! gatherings.

Tree  Nigun - Noam Lerman

Tehom Nigun, a grieving song by Mónica Gomery sung at Let My People Sing! 2018.

LMPS 2018

Tehom Nigun - Mónica Gomery - LMPS 2018

Daily praise song that celebrates all who live in the home of the divine (our sacred planet). Words from tradition, music by Aly Halpert. Creative consultation from Batya Levine.

Written for Linke Fligl, a queer Jewish chicken farm and cultural project in Millerton, NY, for their Sukkot gathering, 5779. (linkefligl.com)

Lyrics 
Hebrew(from traditional Jewish services)
Ashrei yoshvei veitecha, od y'hallelucha, selah!

English (by Aly Halpert)
I sing for you
I sing for what is holy and is true
I sing for all creation, for life and liberation
Everyday anew

fortification

jay