Presenting our spring concert Grounded in Song; A Tribute to Women and the Land

Directed by J. Michele Edwards and accompanied by Sarah Lockwood, this concert focuses on celebrating the land and especially women who tend the soil.

SONGS SONGS SONGS !
We've included songs about the earth that recognize the nourishment it provides or that speak metaphorically about the land. We will sing some delightfully light-hearted tributes to farmers: Punching the Dough by Alice Parker and The Anti-Garden Song, which parodies The Garden Song as sung by Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie. Soul searching, heart wrenching reflections on the struggles of the family farm and women farmers will be heard in Joan Szymko's arrangement of Pastures of Plenty by Woody Guthrie and Diane Benjamin's arrangement of Farmer by Kristin Lems, for women's chorus and hammered dulcimer.

Women's songs from Pakistan and "waulking songs" about the ancient Scottish method of processing cloth inspired Chant for a Long Day by Stephen Hatfield. In Love the Earth Nick Page adapts texts from the Lakota language, a Navaho prayer, and the familiar song "Home on the Range." By combining texts from Native American and European settler traditions, Page hopes to celebrate their common love for the sacred Earth and all of life. We will offer varied perspectives on land in the Middle East with two Israeli pioneer songs and a Palestinian song. In Day Break, Stephen Paulus, an internationally known composer living in St. Paul, sets an anonymous Mudbara text from northern Australia that celebrates the sun's life-giving warmth on the land as she rises. Thelma Largent's poem, A Prairie Woman Sings, explores the other end of the day as evening settles on the land.

I Will Be Earth by poet May Swenson and composer Gwyneth Walker explores the passion of human relationship with metaphorical language drawn from the land and its fertility. The African American spiritual Keep Your Hand on the Plow, Hold on draws on very different symbolism. Here the land and white landowners are a source of suffering for slaves and the impetus for perseverance. Yet, in the midst of their anguish, the song also sings of strength and the "Promised Land."

HMONG DANCERS
We will host a group of youthful performers from Patrick Henry High School, many of them Hmong, performing traditional cultural songs. This group is planning and fundraising for a future trip to Japan, and we are delighted to have them join us. The Twin Cities metro area, especially the city of St. Paul, is now home to one of the largest populations of Hmong in the United States. The Hmong, whose name literally means "blooming fertile," were an agrarian people primarily from Laos.

PHOTO EXHIBIT
We also plan to hang a traveling photo exhibit entitled Getting Down to Earth: Images of Women Farmers , to be on display at Macalester from May 11-16. Funded by the Minnesota Institute of Sustainable Agriculture at the U of M, this exhibit was created by WISA (Women in Sustainable Agriculture) a collaborative, support network of women farmers in South Central Minnesota. It features photographs by Mary Ellen Frame and Julie Michael-Widmer, accompanied by quotes. The exhibition raises awareness of women's expanded roles in farming and celebrates the importance of their contributions. It is accompanied by a video with music by Paul Kraus which will be on sale at the concert with a percentage being contributed to Calliope.

The concert experience will also include a silent auction fundraiser and the chance to purchase plants remaining from Calliope's third annual plant sale wihich takes place the previous weekend.

TICKETS
Tickets for "Grounded in Song" on Saturday, May 12th and Sunday May 13th Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center are available at a sliding scale price of $15 - $25. Children's tickets (aged 12 and under) are $5.. All seating is general admission. The concert will be ASL interpreted and Braille programs will be available at the door. Patrons are requested to attend fragrance free. Tickets are available at A Brother's Touch, Amazon Bookstore, Amy Kristine's, MN Women's Press Book Shop, Ruminators Books and from Calliope members. For more information or to reserve tickets, call Calliope at (612) 285-5835. Contact CalliopeWC@aol.com or www.calliopewomenschorus.org for further information.