underground: a song circle and ceremony with shireen amini & ahlay blakely

A QUEER AND POC-LED SONG CIRCLE AND CEREMONY (OPEN TO ALL!)

with Shireen Amini and Alexandra "ahlay" Blakely

DESCRIPTION: 
We invite you to sink into the edge of winter in song with us. In this eco-political climate, we need this way of being together more than ever. We trust in the wisdom of going underground and preparing for emergence. We trust in song to strengthen our way through. It is our intention to hold complexity and hope in this candlelit community singing experience that will include elements of ritual. 

Experience the power of song as medicine, as a tool for liberation, as a source of joy and connection. We believe singing is a birthright and welcome all levels of experience. We will teach songs on-the-spot, usually through call and echo, that are sourced from the modern community singing movement or have come through the song leaders themselves. Bring the wholeness of who you are to this embodied experience of singing with full permission to be in movement, grief, laughter and more.

We aim to create an integrated space rooted in understandings of our historical context and current social realities. No matter your race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, or abilities you are welcome and wanted here. 

Join these powerful PNW song and medicine carriers hailing from Portland and Seattle. Shireen, who resided in Bend for 15 years, is honored to return to this long-time home community. 

THE VENUE:

This event will take place at HERITAGE HALL in the First Presbyterian Church of Bend.

Park in the parking lot. 

ACCESSIBILITY:

The building is ADA accessible.

Please note: our community sounding will be generally unrestrained. There may be clapping, snapping, screaming, wailing, or big laughter. If you have a particular sensitivity to sound, please consider this upon joining the space. We would still love for you to join us, if it seems manageable for you, and encourage you to find ways to take care of yourself amidst this environment. 

EVENT DETAILS:

6:30-7pm arrival, we will sing from 7-9pm

All ages welcome

$22-66 sliding scale 

Pay what you can / No one turned away Ticket: $0-$21 >> enter Access Code: CARETICKET

BIPOC Comped Tickets Available >> enter Access Code: BIPOC

REGISTER ONLINE IN ADVANCE. 

REGARDING COVID-19:

If you are not feeling well, please stay home. Masking is not required for this event. We encourage you to mask and distance to your own comfort level and will hold a culture of respect for the choices everyone makes to take care of themselves. In the case of having to stay home because of feeling ill, contact host before the event starts to receive a full refund. 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT & TITHING:

We acknowledge that the land upon which we will sing is the traditional territory of the Warm Springs, Wasco, and Paiute people.

A portion of donations will go to the Warm Springs Water Coalition to fund water purchase for Tribal Emergency Management to give residents on Warm Springs Reservation amidst their ongoing process to restore access and infrastructure for clean water.

WHAT WILL BE PROVIDED:

Altar space

Chairs

Restroom facilities

WHAT TO BRING:

Altar items (for support and resource, for what you are dreaming, ALL ITEMS will go back home with you)

A water bottle

A notebook, if you like to jot down inspiration or song information

Your voice, heart, and whole truth

YOUR HOSTS AND SONG LEADERS:

Shireen Amini (non-binary using she/her in English, elle in Spanish) is a queer, Puerto Rican-Iranian American, Earth-loving singer-songwriter, percussionist, and song leader based in unceded indigenous territory known as Portland, Oregon. While holding transformational space, Shireen leads infectious, soulful, and groove-based community songs, often engaging her participants in rhythm, because she believes strongly in music’s power to propel cultural revolution. She also teaches drumming, leads workshops, and facilitates grief ritual as part of her community-based music empowerment project Shireen Amini Music Medicine.

alexandra “ahlay” blakely is a descendent of Ashkenazi, Scandinavian and British folk. She is an artist, singer-songwriter, communal grief tender, community organizer, facilitator and ceramicist walking the path of ancestral healing and the reclaiming of lost cultural memories. Her community singing album, Spells from the Unknown encapsulates songs for the community to transform, ask questions, and seek to lead lives in service to the future ones. Her newest community singing album, WAILS: Songs for Grief was recorded with a choir of 200 voices. The album is completely dedicated to grief, inspired by the Whales of the Sea, the wails of our times, and Francis Weller’s book The Wild Edge of Sorrow and more specifically “the five gates of grief.”