This song is about the beauty within life, within each other, and within ourselves. It's dedicated to the people of Palestine, and to all people whose beauty is obscured by the deceitful narratives of those in power.
The story following is from a new friend of mine in Los Angeles. Please read - it's so beautiful.
"Gaza helped me believe in miracles, I witnessed the power of love in one of the most “hopeless” places on earth.
I got to work on entrepreneurship projects in Palestine between 2016-2019 with AngelHack. When I was prepping to visit Gaza, someone who lived 20 minutes away from its border told me I would likely be “brutally murdered” there because of my Jewish ancestry. What happened was the opposite, to me Palestinians are our ancient cousins and they treated me royally as many people fleeing oppression have experienced. There is an old saying in the region "every bloodline will have both royalty and refugees, so remember to have mercy when it's your turn to have power." Soon after entering through Erez crossing and a kilometer long cage surrounded by weaponry and snipers, I had a feeling of energetic suffocation knowing I was closed in on all sides by cages, walls and high-tech death machines. Inside, I saw mostly teens and children. I started feeling angry that none of the people I saw could leave this tiny crowded strip in their entire lifetimes, yet Gazans had a strange calmness and sweetness, and with all their brushes close to death treated each day like a miracle as we all should but forget to. When speaking of any future possibilities I noticed they prefaced it with “If I’m alive…”. We forget most there never really resist the horrible life conditions they’re handed and quietly hold their great suffering all their lives in a way Westerners couldn’t imagine. Yet we’re all fresh with judgments when misery from these lands disturbs Western “peace” that is built on the suffering of millions across the planet.
Coming from the land of moral apathy and riches, the “gated community of the world” where our city streets are spotted with our unhoused citizens, I noticed after a few days I hadn’t seen a single homeless person in Gaza even though they have a youth unemployment rate of over 70% and regular displacements from policies of collective punishment. I asked why and was gently told in Gaza people would never allow that, communities are so integrated and constantly checking on each other. So whenever it was discovered someone didn’t have food or a place to sleep everyone would collaborate until a solution was found, and this happened very often. One man in his 20s was given a rare opportunity to leave for a year to England and that was one of his biggest shocks. He told me “I can’t believe a country so much richer than us had people abandoned and hungry on the freezing streets… I just don’t understand.” That’s just one glimpse of the deep community and self-sacrificial love I saw throughout Gaza that could help us in the “first world” evolve. To love so deeply in conditions like that means they have something we still haven’t figured out. And it did create many "small" miracles as real love always does.
One of my Persian cultures most famous poems by Saadi says “Humanity is one interconnected body. Whoever doesn’t feel the pain of one limb, is not fit to be called a human being.” In a world where divisions are constantly amplified and used for political purposes, we are also disconnected from our true selves, our hearts and our evolution potential. Othered humans are our great mirror. Until we see ourselves in the “other” we haven’t truly seen ourselves. We should remember our deep ultimate interdependence between all our “limbs”, and that what we allow in one place reverberates into the collective hearts and minds across this universe. Thank you Gaza for showing me how asleep the collective unconscious has been and also our potential strength, our potential great love encoded in all humanity."
~ Christina Lila Wilson
lyrics
you make my heart go quiet
that's my favorite thing about you
one look at you and i'm silent
there's nothing else i can do
cuz your beauty
it's like the wind when it's cold
i can't stand it
fuck everything that i know
and i'll leave here
the moment you call out to me
oh, this is what they try to call god
and i know it, cuz it awakened my heart
i won't name it such a dangerous thing
cuz the point is not to say anything
cuz your beauty
is like the wind when it's cold
i can't stand it
fuck everything that i know
and i'll leave here
the moment you call out my name
i won't say anything
Hannah is a community organizer, musician, and soul committed to deep listening.
She curates
community thru oasis house show & online (Patreon) + believes in building the revolution thru healing our inner & outer worlds.
Championing the everyday misfit, Hannah has special fondness for fellow queers. She stands for building individual & collective power thru an exploration of vulnerability....more
i'm drawn to the poeticism of the soundscape in this music... also digging the florence + the machine vibe. thick sultry vocals on point. xx Hannah Rooth of Wild Hum
I love the simplicity of this music. Her lyrics, voice, and the composition combine to create a soothing atmosphere, perfect to work to or fall asleep to. Hannah Rooth of Wild Hum
This Calgary group makes goth-y post-punk attired in the brightly colorful arrangements of bleep-boop synthesized psychedelia. Bandcamp New & Notable Feb 3, 2024
