RELEASE
Download this song as a gift & in the spirit of giving, if you are able, please join me in donating to ‘Now You See Me Moria’s’ FOOD DIGNITY campaign, to support asylum seekers and refugees from around the world who this song is about, stuck in Greece, without adequate access to food and nutrition.
Experimental label Spinster Sounds commissioned various artists for this ‘Measure, Pour + Mixtape’ as an auditory cookbook of songs, poems, field recordings and aural experiments, asking “What is your food hymn?”’.
For me, UNION sings a blessing over my community in Lesvos, Greece, people seeking sanctuary from war & oppression, alongside those serving practically & in prayer for justice on the Island.
Amidst lockdowns, we found life in practicing simple rhythms. Sharing the bread, and the wine for renewal. Jesus said “I am the bread of life”, so I hoped to echo that.
Collected field recordings are from my neighbours field of goat bells as well as the Aegean Sea, that takes so many lives in the crossing to Greece! Contrasted by hope-filled sounds of praise gatherings in many languages creates a context for this ode to communion. A ritual of faith & friendship, remembering our invitation into spiritual freedom, of hope despite the circumstances.
Food is identity. Food is dignity. Food is a human right.
100% of donations will be used to give food vouchers to the people in the refugee camp in Lesvos, Greece. In addition to their already dire living condition, the people forced to live in these refugee camps are not able to access decent quality food or ingredients to prepare their own meals. They had to leave their homes and thereby left the flavors of their homes behind.
Help us provide ingredients for their cooking and recreate at a small feeling of homeliness.
Food injustice in Greece last summer:
https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/06/16/greece-food-cutoff-refugees
BELLS STATEMENT:
“We all feel the importance and power of food in our own communities. This song was my opportunity to honor that from the people who invited me in, who had barely anything but a warm heart and a desire to host a stranger. A single working camp stove burner to make tea and heat the icey room.. others cooking up Halva, Ghormeh Sabzi from Iran or Kabuli Pulao from Afghanistan, delighting my pallet with the taste of their homelands. The heartbreak in helping with independent food distribution, of not having enough to supply thousands of people with the basics of rice, oil and spices to try and help restore some dignity with resources to cook their own cultures' cuisine, evoking memory, identity and joy.. almost all striped away in other areas of camp life; no hot water or electricity, but especially the food! Most people found it inedible, either past its sell by date or often causing illness. This, is an inexcusable ill. I hold precious memories of food in celebration alongside different cultural dances, entering people's houses to sing songs of praise and lament.”
BELLS & KIKAGAKU MOYO COVER ‘GYPSY DAVEY’ RELEASED ON SUB POP.
Bells’s debut release came as a collaboration with friends Kikagaku Moyo on a cover of the traditional song Gypsy Davey, released by Sub Pop. The duet came about in a serendipitous moment at the end of the band’s summer tour, where they captured a take in a brief session during their second meeting. Their first, was running through the song in soundcheck before joining them on stage at a packed gig at Studio 9294 in her hometown, Hackney Wick. Connecting over their shared love of Sandy Denny and Fotheringay’s version, the union signals a point where traditional folk meets the psychedelic renaissance. [click video]
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'WAYFINDER'
In November 2020, Kandice was invited on a 3-month Artist-Composer residency called ‘WAYFINDER’, by The Social Innovation Exchange. This experimental Symphony, composed alongside 5 collaborators from Poland, Canada, UK and Singapore, premiered to an online audience of 100+ at ‘A global concert for urgent times’.
'Sounding Together': A 25 minute symphony tracing 2020 from chaos to catharsis.“Our work is an offer of solace and solidarity in sound. The form of a Symphony (sim = together and phono = sound) means to sound together. Therefore, this piece is a demonstration of democratic collaboration and self-organised cooperation. A metaphorical journey from individualism to collectivism.”
We recommend good headphones and a comfortable, inspiring place to sit, lay down, and close your eyes.
Download the song and click the repeat button on your music player before listening.
This is a circular piece that can be listened to in one cycle (25 minutes) or for full immersion, listen to twice completing the cycle for 1 hour including time to reflect.
We would love you to share what comes up for you, receiving your reflections on our miro board. This is in the hope that we can retrieve more gold from this feed-back loop as we input your reflections back into the next phase of our collective Wayfinding journey, as a living artform organism.
CREDITS:
Kandice Holmes - Artistic Director, arrangement and co-producer; sonic actions, field recordings, gong, bells, flute, voice in ‘RE’ poem and harmonic choir concept
Eily Aurora — Co-producer, Celtic harp, Chinese (Guzheng) harp, the voice of ‘Listen’, voice in ‘RE’ poem and harmonic choir, field recordings, sonic actions
Robert Nizinski — Co-producer, writer of ‘Listen’ and ‘RE’ poems, clarinet and gongs and harmonic choir composer.
Voices in ‘RE’ poem — Orode Faka, Fié Neo, Corina Kwami and harmonic choir voice.
Philippe Nash — Mixing and mastering engineer, harmonic choir arrangement.
Amalia Zepou — “Art as a Bridge” quote.