{"id":8868,"date":"2018-09-06T11:31:55","date_gmt":"2018-09-06T15:31:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/?p=8868"},"modified":"2019-11-01T14:18:12","modified_gmt":"2019-11-01T18:18:12","slug":"wozo-duo-crafts-performances-exploring-trauma-and-healing-themes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/2018\/09\/wozo-duo-crafts-performances-exploring-trauma-and-healing-themes\/","title":{"rendered":"WOZO: Duo crafts performances exploring trauma and healing themes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A Haitian reed \u2013 wozo \u2013 inspires the music and themes of Pennsylvania-based Sopa Sol.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

THE DESTRUCTIVE FORCES OF WIND<\/strong>, flood or machete do not defeat the resilient Haitian reed wozo<\/em>. Instead, they only make way for it to grow back stronger. There\u2019s even a proverb that Daryl Snider MA \u201812 learned in his years of service in Haiti: \u201cWe are wozo.<\/em> We bend, but we do not break.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also what Snider and Frances Crowhill Miller GC \u201811<\/strong> call their music- and story-based performances that explore grief and loss, trauma healing, resilience, restorative justice, structural justice and the legacy of colonialism. They first performed Wozo<\/em>: Songs for Resilience<\/em> in 2014, and released a CD with that title in 2015.<\/p>\n

The Pennsylvania duo perform as Sopa Sol \u2013 they both sing, and Miller plays hang and violin and Snider guitar, sax, oboe and akogo \u2013 but Wozo<\/em> specifically grew out their time together at CJP and studies in the Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience program.<\/p>\n

In 2013, after Miller relocated near Snider in Lancaster County, the duo began collaborating to further incorporate their training with music. They realized that their songs fit onto STAR\u2019s \u201csnail model\u201d \u2013 a spiral that shows various stops on the journey of breaking cycles of violence and building resilience.<\/p>\n

STAR lead trainer Katie Mansfield<\/strong> also sees music as having that potential \u201cto touch the specific and universal in our life experiences, and to integrate people\u2019s embodied experience, emotions and stories,\u201d she said. \u201cIt invites community and connection around both our traumas and our resilience, just as STAR promotes the integration of our experiences into our emerging identity as individuals and collectives.\u201d<\/p>\n

The album and program include songs such as \u201cHole in Her Heart,\u201d about Snider\u2019s widowed mother\u2019s grief: \u201cNot even the love of ten thousand good friends \/ eases pain she now feels just may never end.\u201d Other songs \u2013 such as \u201cWe Are Wozo,\u201d from a poem by a Haitian man \u2013 tell other\u2019s stories.<\/p>\n

Not all focus on brokenness and trauma; some are about reconnecting to community and finding joy. The heartening yet bittersweet \u201cGlimmer of Sun\u201d proclaims, \u201cOne of these mornings we shall rise \/ and the clouds will have broken\u2026 \/ Kiss the morning sunlight \/ and this path you have chosen.\u201d<\/p>\n

While not all Sopa Sol performances are specifically Wozo<\/em>, many of their 40 events in the last several years contained elements of the project. As artists, they are \u201cconcerned about the musical elements, for sure,\u201d Miller said, but the nature of their music means they also have to think about whether they are inviting listeners into a helpful experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe music is more than just entertainment,\u201d Snider said. \u201cIt\u2019s important for us to take care of our audience. We want to be sure to bring people along in a careful way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miller and Snider tailor each live performance to their audiences. A recent gig for a STAR course meant they could get into the \u201cthe harder stuff,\u201d Miller said, while in more general settings, they stick with songs of resilience and \u201cletting the music do more of the work.\u201d She said it felt like two of her songs had been \u201cwritten for\u201d one particular sexual assault prevention event; at a hospice event, a simple group ritual that the duo incorporated felt \u201cespecially poignant.\u201d<\/p>\n

On their part, it takes trust and hope, they said \u2013 that the perspectives, stories and emotions woven into their performances will offer \u201creassurance of healing and life after brokenness,\u201d Miller said. \u201cThere\u2019s this balance of analyzing what we are presenting, but then at the same time there\u2019s letting go and letting music do its thing beyond what you could ever plan or imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n

That can be difficult \u2013 \u201cor perhaps impossible\u201d \u2013 to measure, said Snider. \u201cChanges that occur within people at such a visceral level may take years and other experiences to grow, and folks may never point to our music as the catalyst or seed. Our music may be only a small part of that change, that awakening.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wozo\u2019s<\/em> ongoing development is balanced with the rest of their lives \u2013 they both perform individually or with other ensembles, too, and Miller has a micro-dairy and two young children \u2013 but they see Wozo<\/em> as a potential resource for many different groups, such as veterans and people who are incarcerated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE DESTRUCTIVE FORCES OF WIND, flood or machete do not defeat the resilient Haitian reed wozo. Instead, they only make way for it to grow… Read more about WOZO: Duo crafts performances exploring trauma and healing themes<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8924,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1073],"tags":[1558,1557],"issues":[1508],"class_list":["post-8868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-magazine","tag-daryl-snider","tag-frances-crowhill-miller","issues-2018-19"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8868"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8965,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8868\/revisions\/8965"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8868"},{"taxonomy":"issues","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issues?post=8868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}