(crowd chanting)
- I think it's very important to bring dignity
to the lives of these people
who we lost to police violence.
These are people who not only lost their lives,
but also lost some of their dignity in the process.
You know, it wasn't enough
that Mike Brown was killed in the street
but his body was left in the street for over four hours.
Breonna Taylor lost her life, obviously,
and it wasn't just that she was killed
but that she was killed while sleeping in her own home.
And George Floyd.
George Floyd was somebody who lost his life
but also lost it in particularly horrific fashion
in that he had someone kneel on his neck
for almost nine minutes
in the street in front of people who knew and loved him.
And considering that,
I think that it's important
for us to give some of that dignity back
to those individuals and their families.
(soft upbeat music)
(footsteps approaching)
- Hello, my name is Brittany Boykin
and I go by B.E Boykin
in the composer world and I'm a composer on the project.
I love working with Brittny, she's my librettist.
And I asked her to collaborate with me on this piece
and she's just such a phenomenal writer.
So when I got the text,
I thought that it really embodied Rayshard Brooks
and his story.
And I wanted to kind of work through,
I guess, memorializing him and humanizing him
in a way that would just kind of bring his story to light,
bring his life to light.
And that's kind of a little bit
of what I was working through.
- You know, I must say it's been a very harrowing
and humbling experience to work on this piece.
The focus of this specific work is Rayshard Brooks
and the poem is written from his perspective.
- And I had a lot of projects last year,
specifically focused on Black Lives Matter
or other instances of social injustice
within the Black community.
And it's not easy as a creative
or as a composer to kind of internalize that.
But I think at the end of the day,
I just try to go as deep as I can within myself
and just try to figure out,
well, what do I want the music to say?
What do I want the story to be?
And I think that has to be the focus
as I continue to go forward,
but it does have its challenges,
because it is very emotional,
it's very traumatic.
You try to just work around that
so that the music can still speak.
- Sort of having to sing from his mind
and from his voice
is something that has been not only a challenge
in terms of being able to go to the place necessary
to sort of represent this person
who died in such horrific fashion,
but also to do justice to him.
I mean, this was a real person who can't speak for himself.
The poet uses phrases and words
that sort of have a double meaning,
which is very compelling.
For example, I mean, the first line is,
"For you I leave a dream."
Dream was the name of one of Rayshard Brook's daughters.
The next line is, "Blessings to hold
to keep in the wake of my absence."
Blessing is the name of another one of his daughters.
"Hear my voice come back to you like a memory."
And already that's a very evocative phrase in itself
but then you learn that
his third daughter is named Memory
and then it's even more meaningful.
So in this poem, of course,
there are these very beautiful phrases
that capture the essence of mourning
that we've all felt in our lives.
So it's very universal in that sense,
but at the same time,
it's also very personal to Rayshard Brooks
and his life and his story.
It's very compelling, this piece.
And very moving.
I think just about to anyone
who has the pleasure of listening to it.
♪ For you I leave a dream ♪
♪ Blessings to hold ♪
♪ To keep in the wake of my absence ♪
♪ I'm wading now ♪
♪ Floating beneath a swell of peach trees ♪
♪ Unheld ♪
♪ I'm dancing ♪
♪ Still swaying to the beat ♪
♪ I'm dancing ♪
♪ Still swaying to the beat of your pulse ♪
♪ I'm dancing ♪
♪ Where love is ♪
♪ An echo ♪
♪ Unfurled ♪
♪ Hear my voice call back to you ♪
♪ Like a memory ♪
♪ Where sorrow is ♪
♪ A crown shyness closing ♪
♪ I reach ♪
♪ I bridge for you ♪
♪ My love ♪
♪ The journey is never too far to reach from here ♪
♪ Your face ♪
♪ Bathed in son-lit ♪
♪ Son-lit ♪
♪ In son-lit ♪
♪ Mo(u)rning ♪
(soft upbeat music)