Voices 21C
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"Bridging and Breaking"

with Truth and Onyx White

Concert Program

Introduction & Land Acknowledgement
Adinu
arr. Shireen Abu-Khader & André de Quadros

Rock-a My Soul
arr. Stacey Gibbs

Improvised Spoken Word
Onyx White

Say Her Name
Alysia Lee

Komm Süsser Tod
Knut Nystedt


Purgatory's Score
2rüTh7


Dos Cuerpos
Julio Morales

Would You Harbor Me? 
Ysaye M. Barnwell


Como La Cigarra
María Elena Walsh

Virgin Lovechild of the 13th Amendment
2rüTh7


Ella's Song
Bernice Johnson Reagon


Standing Stone
Melanie DeMore

Spring Performance Dates:

3/26/23 - University of Rhode Island
URI Fine Arts Center
Tickets $10-$15 through URI Music
co-sponsored by URI Center for the Humanities

4/1/23 - Assumption University
Curtis Performance Hall, Worcester MA
Free Admission

4/2/23 - Bunker Hill Community College​
A300 Lobby, Boston MA
​Free Admission

Performance Note

This performance interrogates our understanding of race and the prison industrial complex in the United States through music and spoken word reflecting on our country, our voices in it, lived experiences of several incarcerated and formerly incarcerated artists, and how we can build stronger relationships on a path towards justice.

Each Bridging and Breaking performance will conclude with a talk back to reflect on what the audience has experienced, and hear from our artists regarding their artistic process and personal experience.

These performances deal with sensitive topics and issues, including the subjects of race and mass incarceration in the United
States.


During Say Her Name we 'put these names in the air' to honor and remember them, their lives, and their stories:

Ahmaud Arbery
Remy Fennell
George Floyd
Rita Hester
Atatiana Jefferson
Amir Locke
Duvall Princess
Trayvon Martin
Breonna Taylor
​
We invite you to add the names of others who have been killed by gun violence, specifically those black bodies killed by police actions.

​Through this link
you can learn about each of these individuals and many others. For a more complete list of names and the stories of their lives, visit this online space developed by Stanford University. ​
Dos Cuerpos
Dos cuerpos frente a frente

son a veces dos olas
y la noche es océano.
 
Dos cuerpos frente a frente
son a veces dos piedras
y la noche es desierto.
 
Dos cuerpos frente a frente
son a veces raíces
en la noche enlazadas.
 
Dos cuerpos frente a frente
son a veces navajas
y la noche relámpago.
 
Dos cuerpos frente a frente
son dos astros que caen
en un cielo vacío.
Two Bodies
​
Two bodies face to face
Are at times two waves
And the night is an ocean.
 
Two bodies face to face
Are sometimes two stones
And the night a desert.
 
Two bodies face to face
Are at times two roots
laced into the night.
 
Two bodies face to face
Are sometimes two knives
And night strikes sparks.
 
Two bodies face to face
Are two stars falling
In an empty sky.
During Ella's Song we add the following verse contributed by Truth:
Forgiveness is often used
as a cheap substitute for the cure;
Nibbling on the crumbs of justice,
​they call us greedy when we want more. 

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Onyx White
Boston-based Singer and Rapper
"My work is raw, real, spoken fro the heart and reflects my past, present, future, and the maze of my brain through smooth fast paced word and melodies." YouTube: @ONYX_WHITE3

Picture

Truth (2rüTh7)

​Spoken Word Artist, Writer, & Transformative Justice Advocate
IG: @EXPLANATIONSFROMEXILE
Images on this page courtesy of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston. Photos by Steve Osemwenkhae. All rights reserved.

Resources and Inspirations for this Program

Transformation Prison Project - This organization was founded in 2013 from inside the Norfolk State Men's Prison, MA to explore the meaning of restorative justice. Eric Anderson, today's collaborator, was one of those founders.

Say Her Name - Read more about the powerful work of artist Alysia Lee and the responses to this original song. 

BU Race, Prison, Justice Gallery - Explore this collection of newly created art developed with current and formerly incarcerated artists and members of the Boston University Community. 

Common Ground Voices / La Frontera - This organization, co-led by Emilie Amrein and André de Quadros, served as the inspiration for the original motivation and staging for Dos Cuerpos. You can learn more about their work at the U.S. - Mexico Border Wall through the link. 
​
This program was based on the work of the race and incarceration portion of our full concert at ACDA Rochester in 2020. Complete resources on that program are available here. 

Other Resources and Inspirations
Equal Justice Initiative - https://eji.org/
The Marshall Project - https://www.themarshallproject.org/
Prison Policy Initiative - https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2020.html
Poor Peoples Campaign - https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/
Common Ground Voices - https://www.commongroundvoices.com/
Common Ground Voices La Frontera - https://www.cgvlafrontera.org/english
ACLU - HRCA - 
https://www.aclu.org/other/human-rights-council-resolution-ahrc30l16-human-rights-administration-justice-including
​We are a 501c3 and contributions are tax deductible.
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  • Home
  • ABOUT
    • Singers
  • PROJECTS
    • 2023 Bridging and Breaking — Collegiate Performances
    • 2022 ACDA Conference (Boston)
    • 2020 ACDA Conference
    • 2019 Choralies Festival
    • 2018 Mexico City
    • 2017 Here I Am
    • 2016 Pain & Promise
  • V21C Pedagogy and Empowering Song
  • 2022-23 Singers Portal
  • Testimonials