Sangre (digital download)

8:00

Soprano
Double bass
Piano

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Sangre is a musical investigation into my bicultural identity. My mom is from Mazatlán, Mexico and my dad is from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. As a kid, to me this was a boring fact. It’s just my mom and dad, big deal. However, I didn’t yet realize how confusing this was for other people, especially my classmates. I found once I told my classmates my heritage, a flicker of skepticism appeared in their eyes and they focused their gaze on my white skin. I could always tell. As I grew up, the skepticism remained. When they asked “where’s your family from?” and I told them, I could almost feel the next question “Are you sure?”

Some didn’t believe me, and it bothered me. I wanted to shout at them and admonish them. Why would I lie? My heritage was and still is something I’m very proud of. As I grew up, I realized that other bicultural individuals share the same story. We don’t fit easily into categories and we don’t conform well to generally accepted ideas of race and ethnicity, but we’re here.

Writing Sangre was a challenge and also a relief. It’s my way of saying “Yes, we are here and we are who we are”. Some of my frustration and anger I wanted to represent in the music. Harmonies from different modes collide with each other being forced to resemble some sort of progression to a cadence. But I also wanted to embody a collaborative relationship of modes that are distinctly unrelated. One resolution may be the suspension to resolve in the next phrase. At other times, modes are singular and free from each other with no interaction.

To me, this harmonic ambiguity mimics the complexity of my identity. Am I Mexican, Mexican-American, or something else entirely?

Yo soy parte de la sangre dentro de mi piel.
Con mi sangre, me levantaré,
me levantaré con mi sangre.

Mi sangre está separada, mezclada,
mezclado y separado,
Mi identidad conoce dos mundos.

Mis historias son mis piernas,
y mis piernas llevan mis historias,
y mis manos esculpen el silencio en mis sueños,

y con mi sangre, me levantaré.

–

I am part of the blood inside my skin.
With my blood, I will rise,
I will rise with my blood.

My blood is parted, blended,
blended and parted,
My identity knows two worlds.

My stories are my legs,
and my legs carry my stories,
and my hands sculpt the silence in my dreams,

and with my blood, I will rise.

Poetry and translation by J. A. J. Sedarski

2023

Musa Hellenica Festival

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