For soloists and mixed choir<\/p>\n
Text: Inuit poems<\/p>\n
duration 14 minutes<\/p>\n
1. Do not wait for the dawn \u2013 V\u00e4nta aldrig p\u00e5 gryningen<\/em> Without words. In unison. This piece starts so. A slowly spun melody develops into harmony. Gradually the words become:<\/p>\n The time is now. If you yearn, do not wait for the dawn.<\/p>\n It is sung in Swedish and English. The original language is actually something else. This is arctic poetry, created by people who belong to indigenous populations on Greenland and in Canada. In their directness, the poems are enormously inspiring. It concerns life, what it means to be human.<\/p>\n The texts in the two last movements are recited by Simigaq. She was the oldest woman at the settlement Ulugssat when explorer Knut Rasmussen met her in the beginning of the 20th century. She shared her experiences from a long life in the far North.<\/p>\n I have now interpreted these texts to music in my way, for choir.<\/p>\n A choir is a group of people. One can sing with and against each other. One can stand a bit away from each other or close together. The most important thing is that those who sing and dance together are not at war.<\/p>\n Karin Rehnqvist Songs from the Northwas composed for Sacred and Profane, A Chamber Chorus in celebration of their 40th anniversary season; and Rebecca Seeman, Artistic Director.First performance at St Mark\u2019s Episcopal, Berkeley 11\/5 2018<\/p>\n Texts:<\/em><\/p>\n 1. Do not wait for the dawn \u2013 V\u00e4nta aldrig p\u00e5 gryningen<\/em><\/p>\n The time is now. If you yearn, do not wait for the dawn.<\/p>\n V\u00e4nta aldrig p\u00e5 gryningen d\u00e5 du l\u00e4ngtar.<\/em><\/p>\n \u2013 Anonymous<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 2. But when I heard of the people murdered, fleeing<\/p>\n But when I heard<\/p>\n of people murdered, fleeing<\/p>\n the ground became a precipice<\/p>\n and I stood atop it swaying<\/p>\n \u2013 Ulv\u00fanuaq (Netsilik people; Pelly Bay, Canada); excerpt<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 3. We understand so little of the majesty around us<\/p>\n We understand so little of the majesty around us,<\/p>\n even when we come to the places where one is alone with the world in silence.<\/p>\n \u2013 Simigaq (Ulugssat, Greenland)<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 4. The day rises \u2013 Dagen reser sig<\/em><\/p>\n Dagen reser sig ur sin dvala<\/em> The day rises from its sleep<\/p>\n Dagen vaknar med gryningen<\/em> The day wakes with the dawn<\/p>\n Ocks\u00e5 du skall resa dig<\/em> You too shall rise<\/p>\n ocks\u00e5 du skall vakna<\/em> you too shall wake<\/p>\n med dagen<\/em> with the day<\/p>\n \u2013 Simigaq (Ulugssat, Greenland)<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Poems collected and translated to Swedish by Ann Smith. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For soloists and mixed choir Text: Inuit poems duration 14 minutes 1. Do not wait for the dawn \u2013 V\u00e4nta aldrig p\u00e5 gryningen 2. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-programme-notes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p79arM-rh","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1691"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1691\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1698,"href":"https:\/\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1691\/revisions\/1698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n2. But when I heard of people murdered, fleeing
\n3. We understand so little of the majesty around us
\n4. The day rises \u2013 Dagen reser sig<\/em><\/p>\n
\n<\/em>English translation by Rebecca Seeman<\/em><\/p>\n
\n
\nEnglish translations by Robin Blanton<\/p>\n