Songs of Lamentation and Hope: Tsunami Benefit Concerts

2005 Benefit Concert

Program Notes

February, 2005

Our world changed on December 26th, 2004. Landscapes were drastically altered, the seas had no boundaries, and where towns once thrived, muddy devastation now exists. Beyond the physical changes, our neighbors in a dozen countries saw their livelihoods, families, and sense of peace destroyed in a single moment. We grieve these losses. We lament the death of so many, many people.

Sadly, we know that the devastation continues. Despicable stories of on-going victimization are heard: children orphaned by the tsunami being abused as child prostitutes; local governments refusing to give aid to religious and ethnic minorities; scam artists exploiting the gullible.

And so we gather as musicians to do what we know heals: we make music. We sing our songs of lamentation, but we also sing our songs of hope-because we hear those hopeful stories too: neighbors helping each other when they have nothing more to give; children selling Christmas presents and sending the money overseas; medical personnel taking leaves of absences to assist in the relief efforts; a father being reunited with his child weeks after the wave hit.

The people you see sharing their music with you today are as diverse as the people we want to help. We come from all over the world - from Korea, Armenia, Taiwan, Germany, Japan. We come from all over the Twin Cities - from Blaine, Stillwater, Burnsville, Richfield, White Bear Lake. We come from many different religious backgrounds - many different ways of expressing our grief and our hope. We sing songs that speak of the loss, and we sing songs of assurance. We sing to heal; we sing to make a difference.

Program highlights