Video Information

• Choir: The Girl Choir of South Florida
• Piece: Songs of the Lights
• Composer:  Imant Raminsh
• Conductor:  Wallis Peterson
• Voices:  SSAA
• Genres: Classical
• "Songs of the Lights" by Imant Raminsh. Text Algonquin and Navajo. Algonquin text translated by Nellie Barnes. Navajo text translated by Eda Lou Walton.
  
  Performed by the Concert Choir ensemble of The Girl Choir of South Florida on May 18, 2...  more"Songs of the Lights" by Imant Raminsh. Text Algonquin and Navajo. Algonquin text translated by Nellie Barnes. Navajo text translated by Eda Lou Walton.
  
  Performed by the Concert Choir ensemble of The Girl Choir of South Florida on May 18, 2012, at All Saints Episcopal Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Artistic Director: Wallis Peterson, Accompanist: Gayle Giese.
  
  
  1. Song of the Stars (Algonquin)
  
  We sing with our light.
  We are the birds of fire.
  We fly o'er the sky.
  
  Our light is a voice.
  We make a road for the spirits to pass over.
  
  Among us are three Hunters who chase a bear.
  There never was a time when they were not hunting.
  
  We are the stars which sing.
  We sing with our light.
  We look down on the mountains.
  This is the song of stars.
  
  [The Hunters are three stars in the constellation Ursa Major (The Great Bear). They form the handle of the highly visible formation commonly called The Big Dipper. As the Earth travels around the Sun, the three Hunters appear to pursue the Great Bear across the sky.]
  
  
  2. The Sower (Navajo)
  
  I hold pollen of dawn in my hand
  With it I sow the night...
  Over the mountain
  Spring the first pale blades of the day
  I hold pollen of dawn
  
  
  3. The Sun Is a Luminous Shield (Navajo)
  
  The sun is a luminous shield
  Borne up the blue path by a God.
  The moon is the torch of an old man
  Who stumbles over stars.
  
  
  4. Daybreak Song (Navajo)
  
  All night the gods were with us,
  Now the night is gone.
  Silence the rattle,
  Sing the daybreak song.
  
  For in the dawn Bluebird calls
  With voice melodious.
  And out from his blankets of tumbled grey
  The sun comes, combing his hair for the day.
  
  We are the stars which sing,
  We sing wi...    less