Four Winds News - April 2005
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Four Winds News: 17 April 2005
Tsumani Benefit | Peace Wave Drum Circle | Native Chant & Drum Workshop | Four Winds' FutureI know this update is more than a bit overdue. However now that the taxman is dealt with, here is some news about our recent and potential upcoming activities.
Our Tsunami Benefit at the The Metropolitan Community Church of NYC on March 16, 2005 was sparsely attended, the weekday date and the short lead time, mostly contributing to the limited turnout. But the event itself was spectacular. After an very moving service and sermon by the Reverend Franc Perry, he turned the pulpit over to us and we opened with our first set which served to introduce the evening’s theme of redemption for the Ocean Mother.
This theme was further expanded by an invocation with a brief honoring of the elements, presided over by The NYC Pagan Pride Project, culminating in Christopher Hatton’s “Ocean of Love” chorus. We were then very blessed to have an absolutely stunning set by Blue Knight. Who somehow, sight unseen other than the event outline, managed to plug into the theme perfectly. Their set was characterized by awed grinning silence from the small audience and enthusiastic applause.
You can check out Blue Knight at the Share The Light Productions web site. Look for them at Pagan Pride Day this Fall. Their folk/rock flavor was very evocative and a perfect fit.
We also had one of the singers from the Community Church Choir Singers perform a roof-raising solo hymn. Spectacular!
And we then closed with our final set. Then the entire congregation, performers and guests joined in Amazing Grace to put a fine finish on the evening. The church also hosted us in their community kitchen for a brief reception and social time while we grounded a major spirit buzz.
My personal thanks to The Metropolitan Community Church of NYC and Father Frank Perry, James Gilchrist and Blue Knight, Pagan Pride NYC, Four Winds Members—Elsbeth, Paula, Dion, Jezibell, a small team this time, but worked hard on the playlist and did a good job, and of course the small gathering of our guests. The few, the proud, the ones who really meant to be there.
This small assembly, with a few outside donations sent in, we raised just over $160 dollars. Yes, it is a modest amount but respectable compared to the size of the gathering. This is being sent to the International Red Cross, as Doctors Without Frontiers are overwhelmed, being a considerably smaller organization. We certainly can’t complain that most of their people are actually out in the field instead of administration! It also indicates the high regard that people around the world have for them.
There are many organizations doing exemplary Tsunami Relief work and which are deserving of our support. Among the many organizations:
UNICEF - United Nations Children's Fund
(212) 326-7000
www.unicef.orgThe Red Cross International Response Fund
Tel. (800) HELP NOW
www.redcross.orgDoctors Without Borders
(888) 392-0392
www.doctorswithoutborders.orgIf you were not able make the concert, think of these excellent organizations. You can make your gift on-line at any of these websites. Please keep these people in your hearts and prayers, reconstruction and healing shall take many years.
This is the note I composed to email to the Drums For Peace group on Yahoo Groups. Sums up the event nicely. I am particularly gratified to the Members who had never done long term ceremonial drumming and came out for the event. Very sacred!
Peace Wave Drum Circle - New York City
Our circle gathered in New York City today in a music studio. My intuition to go indoors paid off as it was a cold gray wet day in New York. We had about 10 people from Four Winds, an interfaith chorus. All drumming with a couple of other guests and My two sons. Surprisingly the younger one is the more able and interested drummer. I was a little disappointed at the turnout. Some folk who had emailed and phoned me were no-shows, apparently enthusiasm dampened by the weather. But that meant that the people gathered were committed to a being there in a strong manner.
As the lead off time zone, felt a little pressure to open in a very sacred manner. Offered tobacco to the directions, since the site has smoke alarms, so no smudging. Then at about 11:50 we sang two deeply ceremonial songs, a metis circle opening song followed by a Lakota Spirit Calling song. Then after reading Jerry’s statement and a prayer, at noon began the heartbeat.
It was a deeply focused as opposed to tranced out fifteen minutes. Then we began to weave in embellishments, then add poly and counter rhythms into the beat. Different flavors slid in and out as African, Native, Latin, Folk, Celtic, Asian, Middle Eastern and Worldbeat sounds surfaced and then sank to be replaced by others. At one point we were even able to overlay an energetic 6-beat onto the heartbeat’s four. It was all very magical. At 1:00, we pulled back to the heartbeat and very consciously tried to pass the energy to the west.
And in the last fifteen minutes, we added chants and songs as the spirit called for it. It was very sweet and powerful. Once we were winding down at 1:15, I felt some closing was called for. And for some reason, “The Flesh Failures” came up... (don’t argue with the spirits ) and finished the rhythm with the chorus “Let the Sun Shine, Let the Sun Shine In!”
Then as a final finisher, to honor the spring we sang as a chorus, “The Ballad of John Barleycorn” followed by a Sioux Honor Song to honor all the warriors serving in harm's way everywhere. It felt deeply right to do this. And I am deeply honored by my teachers to have this strong song to offer the people in a good way. Aho!
With some time in the space left, four ourselves we ended up adding a “Song to Rhea ( Drum Prayer Song) and then the VERY trance inducing “Om Namah Shivaya” to end our circle,with the knowledge that the Peace Wave was traveling westward with the setting sun. We returned to the everyday world from sacred space subtly altered, knowing that we changed, in however small a way, the vibration of the world. My the ripples of sound and prayer spread into the society and the dialogue.
I am eagerly awaiting to read the dispatches from all over Turtle Island and around the world.
Lela wakan. Hechetu aloh. Washite aloh.
Blessings. Mitaquye Oyasin.
Kurt Griffith / Talking Stone
Choral DirectorWe had such a good time at our last workshop that we are planning another, this time concentrating on our Native American Material- The Bardic Path: Drum & Chant-Songs of Turtle Island, we have not offered this material in some time. We had hoped too present this for the Fall of 2004, but it was very much postponed by the Director's family situation. Gods only know when we can do this—but we have not forgotten about it. so we are looking to try to schedule it sometime in the coming spring or summer.
Four Winds maintains a set of E-Lists to send out information about our activities. Not on a list? Email Us.
A Note from the Director:
And finally...
The future of the Chorus is, despite the bittersweet pleasure in recent events, in some flux. Despite the two above well run and well performed events, I sense enthusiasm for the Chorus waning as recruitment has dwindled to a trickle, events are poorly attended, and Members are one by one overtaken by "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune", or in other words, our busy busy lives.
I, of course, am no exception. Career, an essentially struggling home business since my post-9/11 dismissal from corporate art & design, and the demands of family life, have me constantly reconsidering how much time and effort I can devote to the Chorus. I do know that for the Chorus to succeed in a more robust fashion, it requires more work than I have been able to spare the past two years. And I am rather loath to turn over the reigns to anyone less enthusiastic than me and absolutely on the same page as me on the spiritual vision I have for this organization that has been so close to my heart for so many years of joyous noise. And quite frankly, I have received as much criticism, some of it rather negative and at times hostile, of the Chorus and my leadership as I have good reviews in the past few years, against a background of family crisis.
The fact that there has been very limited interest or follow through on the question of either celebrating or ceremonially marking our just passed 11th Year Anniversary is somewhat telling. As last year, all plans for a 10th Year Project evaporated utterly under the pressure of worldly concerns.
Obviously, I shall have to do personal ceremony on this question. But no fear for the moment, I have made no decisions for the present time. But the topic shall be meditated on, prayed with, reviewed and revisited in the days and weeks to come. But as ever, I offer my heartfelt thanks to every Member, past and present, active or retired, and all our friends, fans, allies, hosts, and supporters for their many many and very sacred contributions over the years.
Pilamaye.
Mitakuye Oyasin * Blessed Be * Ashe * Shalom * A Salaam * Amen * Om
Kurt Griffith/Talking Stone
Choral Director
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