Activist Songbook honors organizers and organizing through collective music-making. Material emerges from interviews with individual organizers to engage communities. Activist Songbook Virtual Choirs, made up of musicians and non-musicians, record songs from the songbook repertoire and perform together from the safety of their own homes. With a single Zoom rehearsal under their belts, performers use guide tracks to record their parts separately, singing along and improvising.
This piece, SURVIVAL IS RESISTANCE, springs from the words of Philadelphia-based Hmong artist and activist Kao Kue, with additional inspiration from Boone Nguyen and Carol Zou. Their work speaks of the infinitely creative ways individuals, families and peoples survive in the face of oppression, and how culture--especially song--carries life and resistance through generations.
To support leaders of color mobilizing mutual aid in the New Haven area, check out: CT CORE Organize Now http://www.ctcore-organizenow.org/
To learn about the Folk Arts Cultural Treasures Charter School where Kao teaches in Philadelphia's Chinatown, go to: https://www.factschool.org/en/about/
