Tim Sarsany
Santa Barbara Music Publishing WTC1007
Wyndreth Berginsdottir
Commissioned arrangement by Dr. Elaine Ross
Zephyr Council, Sara Hinton, Scarlett Stone, soloists
“Savage Daughter” is the piece that catapulted the idea of this entire program. We heard Sarah Hester Ross’s recording of the piece, and it sparked a thought process we wanted to explore through music. What does it mean to be wild? Free? What does it feel like to feel in our bones the stories of our mothers, grandmothers, and beyond? The pain? The grief? The happiness? The magic? Connecting “Friendship Dance” and “Savage Daughter” ties the image of a sisterhood of collective, connective experience that beats in every daughter’s wild, savage heart.
I am my mother's savage daughter
The one who runs barefoot cursing sharp stones
I am my mother's savage daughter
I will not cut my hair, I will not lower my voice
My mother's child is a savage
She looks for her omens in the colors of stones
In the faces of cats, in the falling of feathers
In the dancing of fire, in the curve of old bones
My mother's child dances in darkness
She sings heathen songs by the light of the moon
And watches the stars and renames the planets
And dreams she can reach them with a song and a broom
We are all brought forth out of darkness
Into this world, through blood and through pain
And deep in our bones, the old songs are waking
So sing them with voices of thunder and rain
We are our mother's savage daughters
The ones who run barefoot cursing sharp stones
We are our mother's savage daughters
We will not cut our hair, we will not lower our voice