Faraway is Close: a podcast from Shebana Coelho

In this episode (recorded October 18, 2021)

• Creativity beyond the page and the stage
• Arriving at the end of the world one October 12 a long time ago
• how to react when someone calls it “civilizing, not colonizing”
• discovering voice and song
• a guided meditation into sovereign space

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https://www.shebanacoelho.com/blogcast/i-have-to-believe
I have to believe
by Shebana Coelhi
I have to believe
that

the rain will rain

and then stop

that it will flail at windows

down the trees

and stop

that the leaves will bend this way

and that

the green will become brown

and the brown will become green

I have to believe

the earth will move

us into a time

when we heal it

that

the silence will become song

even as

a weary wind kills us down

and we made it

from refusing to breathe

from refusing to see

from saying

Chup

to all the women in the lineage

be quiet

We kill children in

each other’s names

and laud

the power that makes

men blind

to their own abyss

how to sing them down

into humility

I have to believe

that you do what you can

love who you love

sing what wants to sing you

and that will make some dot

of difference

I have to believe

it matters to

sit and breathe

and think

of your friend who is breaking

in Ramallah

the boy

you met one day in Gaza

and the peace activist

in Israel whose brother said at his own funeral

even as he was murdered

he would not want

another

Palestinian life taken in his name

the uprising is in you

refuse to live

a silent life

refuse to ignore

your passion

refuse to ignore

what is in

the way of that passion

rise up and love yourself

enough

to live what you love

that passion is safety

that safety is passion

the revolution

begins with you

living

and

yes

i am going there

now

let me wade into these waters

in conversations

people have said

meaning to be kind

middle east...
READ MORE

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This is Part Two of the Abyss, Days 9 to 13.
This is up there as one of my favorite episodes.
Because it sounds good, because it's the end of a good story. In my humble opinion. Recorded in a studio in Plaza de Pelicano by Ernesto Ojeda.
Music by Carlos Merino, Ernesto Ojeda, Coral de los Reyes, Urtaa Gantulga, Gerry Carthy
ABOUT THE ABYSS BEHIND ME SERIES
Inspired by this quote:
Women have always had to start from scratch because they've not had the testimony of women before them. And that's a terrible disgrace. Because culture is a palimpsest. We all build on what was built before. So if you always have an abyss behind you...~ the writer, Rosa Montero, translated from Spanish, quoted in the documentary, A las mujeres de España. María Lejárraga
The quote moved me into starting a 13 day blog series: 13 Days of the Abyss Behind me. 13 because I've always liked that number, especially as an age. Read the text at shebanacoelho.com/blogcast.
LINKS
https://www.rosamontero.es/
https://www.filmaffinity.com/es/film444391.html

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On this episode, the voice unadorned speaking of the abyss behind me, inspired by two powerful Spanish documentaries, Pico Reja and A Las Mujeres de España, and a quote from one of them by a writer named Rosa Montero who said:
Women have always had to start from scratch because they've not had the testimony of women before them. And that's a terrible disgrace. Because culture is a palimpsest. We all build on what was built before. So if you always have an abyss behind you...~ Rosa Montero, translated from Spanish, quoted in A las mujeres de España. María Lejárraga
The quote moved me into starting a 13 day blog series: 13 Days of the Abyss Behind me. 13 because I've always liked that number, especially as an age. Read the text at shebanacoelho.com/blogcast.
This is Part one of the Abyss, Days One to Eight. My hope is that one story inspires another, that the abyss, being spoken, becomes a bridge, a way to connect.​

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"For me success as a musician is to play what I hear and that has been my goal for my whole life....You sit down and you try to hear what's in the air and reproduce."~ Robby Parker.
On this episode, a new segment of What Arises in Encounter featuring guest story-travelers and their creative journeys, In this third segment, an encounter with musician Robby Parker who created lovely oud compositions for my documentary, Nasario remembers the Río Puerco (nasarioremembers.com, available on Vimeo on Demand) and with whom I collaborated on a poem set to music, Clay.

About Robby:
Robby Parker secretly wanted to be a rock star. Since he couldn’t admit it, life made him a world music vagabond. His deep fascination with culture, language, people’s spiritual beliefs, and plucked instruments has led him to study and perform throughout the Middle East, Europe and North America. He loves wearing sandals, long robes, walking with animals in the streets and drinking fresh 50 cent mango smoothies.

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