Ensemble Singers, Moira Smiley
Body Percussion: Rob Graham, G. Phillip Shoultz, III, Patty Kramer, Skylar Bandelin

Sometime, anytime you wanna bellow at the sky
Call on me, we’ll unzip the horizon with our voices
You ask me why I sing softer now.
And did the world beat me down?
‘Cause back then I sang hard, I sang proud, but where are the
edges now?
Ukrainian Summer, before the revolution.
I sat at the knees of the grandmother, her daughter told me
We could lift the veil between the worlds by singing.
And we were sat outside in the dawn light of the midsummer feast,
and the short night.
Singing to the dead so they bless the crop, bless the young,
bless the year
This is the way we call the unknown and lift the veil to the other side.
We’re singing to break the walls down, throwing the gate open wide.
Every breath I take has been taken before, every note’s been sung.
Who can I sing them all again for?
Please don’t give up
Please don’t lose that sound
So many people fought to gain that ground.
Please don’t give up
Please don’t hide your voice
So many people did not have that choice.
She told me the power of song was in the unison
She gathered her friends all around her and they pierced the sky
with a call
One melody from many voices
And from then ‘til now I remember when the year is fat and
full of shadows
I’m singing to the dead so they’ll bless the crop, bless the young,
bless the year
—Moira Smiley