Blessings Of Light

Gentle tune to calm the brain with, inspired by late night seed planting. Tuck yourself under a blanket of soil and water thoroughly with a cup of tea.

Ford Collier & Sarah Heneghan on percussion.

sprouting

This is a compilation of snippets of 8 songs from my new songbook - Songs of Courage and Grace. 

The songbook has 11 songs for unaccompanied voices in harmony. For choirs and fires, and protests, and life celebrations. 
Available from my website. www.emilysinging.com

Songs Of Courage And Grace - 8 song snippets

This tune is a reminder and a plea. Our current economic climate doesn't make it easy for all to step outside and breathe, take notice of the small things and reliece the pressures that exist in our individual worlds. How wild swimming and standing by trees can regulate our vagus nerve, grounding us in our nervous system allowing us to connect with each other, relax. So it's a reminder, that even if accesss is hard, and housing is hard, and everything is hard, get a bit of fresh air, fresh water, when you can, find a plant, even in the most concrete of landscapes there is always a bit of life.

Opening with a variation on the Georgian folk song 'ბინდისფერია სოფელი' Bindisperia Sopeli taught to me by @nino.naneishvili
Part of the lyrics translates as -
The color of the world is twilight, and is getting darker. In an age where it is easier to imagine dystopia than a hopeful future this song really touched on some of what I was feeling whilst writing 'staring at the grain'.


Lyrics -
Slate and grass and water running fast and o’er over hill,
Over hill and to the lake here there will find the freshest fill,

Undulating mountains pasture slowly beginning to fade,
Hoping that the life clings on here even in the summer’s shade,

Our trees are arteries and our trees are arteries

Twigs and leaf and bark are witness
To the drowning of the hill
Over copse and to the vale here
We won’t find the waters still, mmm...

Beckoning the forest shelters
Axed and planed and sawn in shape
Sweep away last cherry stones
Burn humble hope in fire place

Our trees are arteries and our trees are arteries

Cos nothing cures delirium like staring at the grain the tiny knotted faces help the trees to explain about their life before the plank, the twisted beech and straightened ash

staring at the grain

to give is an exploration of the inner reaches of the chronic people-pleaser; a passage into the vulnerabilities of giving and receiving through the lens of meditative and brooding piano. this was originally written as a christmas gift when refelcting on the inadequacy of materialism to communicate through the complexity of intimacy.

this piece is for gentlethems, soft bois, and lovers returning home from work and wondering whether to answer the call; to lay side by side and bare all; a soundtrack for the lifelong work of relating to one another.

to give

"It's one of the most valuable feelings, when your ancestor, your old generation hears his own songs. And when you perform it in your variation, improvisation and when they are happy. It's I think the biggest gift a performer can feel."
Nino Naneishvili, ethnomusicologist and musical director of women's ensemble Ialoni (https://ialoni.com/en/) tells us how she collected a healing song from a tiger and adapted it into her own style. 
Voices of the Ancestors by Holly Taylor-Zuntz and Susan Thompson.
For more information, and to see the transcript of this episode, visit https://voicesoftheancestors.co.uk
Sign up for email updates to receive a link to the full episode: http://eepurl.com/hhgoOf

Support the podcast on patreon https://www.patreon.com/voicesoftheancestors
or https://www. Ko-fi.com/voicesoftheancestors

Music used:
Rachuli batonebi by Shalva Aslanishvili, collected in 1950 (http://www.alazani.ge/base/shalva_aslanishvili/Aslanishvilis_koleqcia_-_Batonebo_Racha.mp3 )
Rachuli batonebi by Ialoni
Ia Patonepi by Vepkhia Antia (recorded by Nino Razmadze)
Ia Patonepi by Ialoni (https://ialoni.bandcamp.com/)

3. Healing Songs and Circle Dances with Nino Naneishvili

These are the parts for the Apple Wassail traditionally sung on 12th night to encourage a frutiful new year.  This year due to Covid we will be marking the celebration on zoom.  For more info visit: https://www.facebook.com/groups/432904136767441/

1 Apple Wassail Main Melody(middle)

Folk music podcast transporting you to the Republic of Georgia. Bringing songs and stories from women singers. Hosted by Holly Taylor-Zuntz and Susan Thompson.

3. Healing Songs and Circle Dances with Nino Naneishvili

VoicesoftheAncestors

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