About Us (short)
We are two poets and a singer who have been creating, performing, recording and publishing original poetry and song in the Philadelphia area and beyond since 1991. Our work is a lively and inventive blend of the spoken and sung word. Honoring each woman's strong solo voice, we revel in the many ways to combine our voices. With no instruments but voice and gesture, our performances and recordings are journeys of the soul dedicated to fostering peace within and among us. Drawing on personal memory, the cycles of nature, and the current social and political climate, we create experiences that heal and celebrate. Our work is deeply feminist. We offer our music and poetry in the service of creating a kinder, more just, more joyous culture.
About Us (long)
In the spring of 1991 poet Susan Windle, with a growing hunger for artistic collaboration and a new-found love of ensemble work, invited three friends and sister artists - poet Ellen Ford Mason, singers Annie Geheb, and Barbara Solarz - to form a group. Within the first two meetings in Susan's living room, our group found a name, taken from the title of one of Susan's signature poems, and created our first poem-song, a piece that served also as a kind of mission statement:
We come to sing
of together
of the many voices in one
and the one voice
running through us.
- from "We Come To Sing," Unimagined Possibilities, 1994
That first piece had all the elements that we were to grow into and expand in future work: original poetry, with music intertwined in and through the words, the play of two poetic voices, the play of the spoken and the sung word, the love of nature and human relationship.
We began weaving poetry and song together publicly in the spring of 1992 in a performance at Ashland Nature Center in Hockessin, Delaware. In the early days, each performance was a patchwork of Ellen's and Susan's poetry and songs selected by Annie and Barbara - all arranged thematically and in relationship to the season of the year and the particular audience. We performed in a wide variety of venues and audiences both indoors and out - for women's groups, peace organizations and art lovers of all kinds - in bookstores, libraries, cafes, conferences, and schools. As time went on, we began to play more freely with combining our voices in the poems. In 1996, however, Barbara moved on. The three of us mourned the loss of her bright soprano voice and her musical creativity, but losing Barbara as a group member clarified our vision. As two poets and one very expressive singer, we focused more on expressing the poetry clearly and elegantly through song as well as through the spoken voice. Though not giving up her role as consummate song stylist, Annie began to write more original music through which to deliver the words of the poetry. As the poetry and song melded, we became less concerned with balancing the two forms.
Over the years, we have performed an average of six times a year - work and family commitments generally keep us close to home. In addition to the more public conferences, churches, and coffeehouses, we have enjoyed the intimacy of many living room concerts. Our venues are sometimes unusual ones for poetry, and we are committed to bringing the healing and transforming power of poetry into the lives of people of all kinds.
We come to sing
of together
of the many voices in one
and the one voice
running through us.
- from "We Come To Sing," Unimagined Possibilities, 1994
That first piece had all the elements that we were to grow into and expand in future work: original poetry, with music intertwined in and through the words, the play of two poetic voices, the play of the spoken and the sung word, the love of nature and human relationship.
We began weaving poetry and song together publicly in the spring of 1992 in a performance at Ashland Nature Center in Hockessin, Delaware. In the early days, each performance was a patchwork of Ellen's and Susan's poetry and songs selected by Annie and Barbara - all arranged thematically and in relationship to the season of the year and the particular audience. We performed in a wide variety of venues and audiences both indoors and out - for women's groups, peace organizations and art lovers of all kinds - in bookstores, libraries, cafes, conferences, and schools. As time went on, we began to play more freely with combining our voices in the poems. In 1996, however, Barbara moved on. The three of us mourned the loss of her bright soprano voice and her musical creativity, but losing Barbara as a group member clarified our vision. As two poets and one very expressive singer, we focused more on expressing the poetry clearly and elegantly through song as well as through the spoken voice. Though not giving up her role as consummate song stylist, Annie began to write more original music through which to deliver the words of the poetry. As the poetry and song melded, we became less concerned with balancing the two forms.
Over the years, we have performed an average of six times a year - work and family commitments generally keep us close to home. In addition to the more public conferences, churches, and coffeehouses, we have enjoyed the intimacy of many living room concerts. Our venues are sometimes unusual ones for poetry, and we are committed to bringing the healing and transforming power of poetry into the lives of people of all kinds.