The Blacknificent 7 | Welcome!

Text by Jasmine Barnes

Oh the fall, Oh my Lordy,
Oh the fall, Oh my Lord,

Now let’s go way back to the beginning of time
when God made Adam, Eve, the Land and the Skies.

God gave Adam everything that He made, He said,
“You can have it all, it’s all your to take!
You can have the animals on land and in the sea and
You can have the water, everything that you see!”
God told Adam and Eve this last thing, He said
“You can have it all, but you can’t have the tree!”

Oh, the serpent, Ah the Serpent.
Oh now the Serpent,
the Serpent was much wiser than you think,
he told poor Eve, “Don’t worry ‘bout what God said ‘bout that tree!”

“But God said, (“Don’t you worry ‘bout it)
If we (Just eat from the tree)
eat this, (come on now and try it)
we’ll die!” (Just one little bite!”)

“If you eat from this tree,
then much wiser you will be!”
(Oh the Fall, Oh my Lord)

Adam, Oh Adam, 
Adam had dominion over everything,
But when it came to Eve,
He lost dominion of this thing.

“Oh Adam, won’t you eat from this tree?
I was just walking in the garden and then a Serpent told me:
If You choose to eat from this tree,
then You won’t surely die! 
Even though God forbade it, give it a try!”

“Oh Eve, Why would you eat from the tree
that was forbidden in the garden
Death is what we will see!
But if you just ate from this tree,
and you have not died…then why is it forbidden?
I’ll take a bite!”

(Oh the Fall, Oh my Lord)

Adam and Eve have chosen Our fate,
They listened to the event serpent and
now they can truly see!
God meant, Yes, He meant what He said,
And now He’s drawing nigh,
You better be ready, and this is why!

Story of the fall of Man.

Text by Tupac Shakur

Sometimes when I’m alone, 
I cry because I’m on my own.

The tears I cry R bitter and warm.
They flow with life but take no form.
I cry because my heart is torn
and I find it difficult 2 carry on.

If I had an ear 2 confide in,
I would cry among my treasured friends.
But who do u know that stops that long
to help another carry on?
Who do you know?
that stops that long to help?
to help u?

The world is fast
and it would rather pass u by
than stop 2 c what makes you cry
it’s painful and sad and sometimes I cry 
and no one cares
about why

Sometimes I cry.

The scripture says that “Power and life are in the tongue.” (Proverbs 18:21) Simply put, we are what we believe and speak about ourselves. The text that I chose for this piece are affirmations that I recite daily. Declaring these words about myself has impacted my life and mental well-being greatly. So when I received this commission, there was no question as to what text I would use. My hope is that those who hear the work will be encouraged to speak well of themselves and to believe the best about who they are.  

-Carlos Simon, 2023

I AM…

I am well, I am strong, I am cheerful.

I am willing to let go of any thoughts of negativity.
I love and approve of myself; I am at peace with myself.
I am free from all pain, illness, and suffer,
I am free from thoughts of guilt, shame; hate and deceit.

I am FREE

I love and approve of myself; I am at peace with myself.
I welcome the experience of joy in my life.
I move forward with confidence and grace.
I welcome the experience of happiness in my life.
I am willing to release any hatred I am holding.
I am willing to release any judgements I am holding.
I take responsibility for my own emotions.
I am willing to release the desire to examine the faults of others.
I am willing to release any hatred I am holding.
I am willing to release any judgements I am holding

text by Bimbo Rivas (1974)

Lower East Side
I love you.

You’re my lady fair.
No matter where I am,
I think of you!

The mountains and the
valleys cannot compare,
my love to you

Loisaida, I love you.

I dig the way you talk,
I dig the way you look.

Me vacila tu cantar
y yo me las juego
fria pa’ que vivas
para siempre.

En mi mente, mi amada,
yo te llamo Loisaida

Cuando estoy lejo de ti
se me acaba mi esperanza
En tu calles yo me
Siento muy feliz
y saludable Loisaida,
yo te quiero!

Increible
una mezcla, la perfecta
una gente bien decente
de to ‘as rasas
que estiman
que te adoran
que no saben explicar
lo que le pasa
cuando ausente de
tus calles peligrosas
si te aman

A ti, mi hermosa Loisaida

O what a town…..
even with your drug-infested
pocket parks, playgrounds
where our young bloods
hang around
waiting, hoping that
one day when they too
get well and smile again
your love is all
they need to come around.

Loisaida, I love you.
Your buildings are
burning up
that we got to stop.

Loisaida, my love,
Te amo.

— Bimbo Rivas

Text by Jacqueline Woodson

Even the silence has a story to tell you.

Just listen.

Listen.

I. Thank You, Lord, for This Day (Ethan Freeman | Age 11)

Thank you, Lord for this day
Thank you for the family and friends you’ve given me.
Thank you for the sports you let me play
And a voice to sing and pray.

Thank you, Lord, for keeping us away from gun violence in our school.
And please keep all the homeless kids safe from all the bad things of the world.

Thank you, Lord, for this day.
Thank you, Lord, for this day.

II. I Ask for Bravery (Nikymba Warren - “Kymmie” | Age 24)

I ask for bravery,
yet I do not know what I’ll receive -
tools, or opportunities?

Be brave
despite what is gained;
One step closer,
No matter how far.

Come high tide…or waters low
Be brave.

Be brave.

III. Yo le pido a Dios… (Rev. Francisco Garcia | Age 44)

Yo le pido a Dios que toda la humanidad luché por un mundo justo
con más amor, paz, justicia,
misericordia, y dignidad.

IV. Gracious and Loving God… (Rev. Becca Stevens | Age 62)

Gracious and Loving God,
in whom our journeys begin and end,
ground us in community
that walks a path of justice,
towards the places of healing
Until our last step.

V. We Are the Land (Joe Cantrell | Age “70-Something”)

We are the land, and we are water,
And they are us, they are us
For we have come from land and water,
And to them we shall return.

VI. I Thank You, God (Grace Ragland | Age “80-Something”)

I thank you, God
for blessings down through the years.
For you have brought us over
Many mountains high and valleys low.
In the midst of it all, I give you all the praise.

Down through the years,
God’s grace and mercy
Has brought us through many trials,
Mighty tribulations,
And I wouldn’t take nothing
for my journey now.

VII. Benediction (Dave Ragland | Age 46)

God who keeps, hold us.
God who heals, mend us.
God who knows, teach us.
Be our guide.

God who hears, listen.
God who forgives, show us compassion.
God who sees, watch over us.
Be our strength.

God who dwells, linger.
God who loves, teach us to love ourselves as we love others.
Be our hope.

Amen.

traditional song of faith and hope

Deep river, my home is over Jordan.
Deep river, Lord, I want to cross over into campground.
Oh, don’t you want to go to that gospel feast?
That promised land, where all is peace?

Deep river, Lord, I want to cross over into campground.
Walk into heaven and take a seat, and cast my crown at Jesus’ feet.
Deep river, Lord, I want to cross over into campground.

— Traditional

Based on text from Langston Hughes’ poem “Danse Africaine”

The low beating of the tom-toms,
The slow beating of the tom-toms,
Low . . . slow
Slow . . . low —
Stirs your blood.
Dance!

A night-veiled girl
Whirls softly into a
Circle of light.
Whirls softly . . . slowly,

Like a wisp of smoke around the fire —
And the tom-toms beat,
And the tom-toms beat,

And the low beating of the tom-toms
Stirs your blood.

—Adapted from “Danse Africaine” by Langston Hughes

I. FEAR (Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen | J.S. Bach - BWV 12; Text by Salomo Franck & Megan Levad)

Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen,
Weeping, lamentation, worry, despair,
Angst und Not, fear and need
Sind der Christen Tränenbrot,
Are the Christain’s bread of tears,
Die das Zeichen Jesu tragen.
Who carry the sign of Jesus.
First we sought to tame the fire, the flood,
the mountain and its bear.
We worshiped where we walked,
and praised each day.
We learned: look everywhere
for danger –
poison berry, poison charm;
sudden precipice. The stranger.

For we are born to trouble,
we are built for trouble.
We seek, we seek,
we seek and reach.
All our cares become shadows
on a long day.
All our cares become sorrows
as the sparks fly.
We seek to tame the fire, the flood,
the mountain and its bear,
the poison, the precipice. The stranger.

Look everywhere: the deepest stars,
your innermost,
the farthest cry,
the closest breath.
All our cares become sorrows
as the sparks fly.
All our cares become shadows
on a long day.
For we are born to trouble,
for we are made for trouble –
we are made to seek,
and try, and dream.

II. THE PRAYER (I Want Jesus to Walk with Me | Traditional African American Spiritual)

I want Jesus to walk with me.
All along my pilgrim journey,
Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me.
In my trials, Lord, please walk with me.
When my heart is almost breaking,
Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me.

III. BREATHE (Text by A. Mimi Sei)

With effortless, simple repetitions,
No complex expectations shrouded by worry,
No disappointments imagined,
Just breathe.
Then interruptions,
Devastations leaving the world feeling sorry,
Questions, uncertainty emerge,
Now we don’t know how to breathe.
Standing in confidence of our decisions.
Shaken, with little hope to carry,
Movement halted, emotions stirred,
We must continue to breathe.
Go back to the parts of you that house ambitions.
Where you’ll find your glory,
The drive to endure.
Learn again to just breathe.

IV. THE RESOLVE (There’s a Balm in Gilead/By and By | Traditional African American Spirituals)

There is a balm in Gilead,
To make the wounded whole.
There is a balm in Gilead,
To heal the sin-sick soul.

Sometimes I feel discouraged,
And think my work’s in vain.
But then the Holy Spirit,
Revives my soul again.

There is a balm in Gilead,
To make the wounded whole.
There is a balm in Gilead,
To heal the sin-sick soul.

Don’t ever feel discouraged.
Just lean on your friend.
And if you lack for knowledge,
They’ll never refuse to lend.

There is a balm in Gilead,
To make the wounded whole.
There is a balm in Gilead,
To heal the sin-sick soul.

By and by, when the morning comes.
All of us are here together as one.
And we will tell the story of how we’ve overcome.
And we will understand it better by and by.

There is a balm in Gilead.

V. HOPE (“Continuities” | Text by Walt Whitman)

[From a talk I had lately with a German spiritualist.]

Nothing is ever really lost, or can be lost, / No
birth, identity, form—no object of the world. / Nor
life, nor force, nor any visible thing; / Appearance
must not foil, nor shifted sphere confuse thy brain.
/ Ample are time and space—ample the fields
of Nature. / The body, sluggish, aged, cold—the
embers left from earlier fires, / The light in the
eye grown dim, shall duly flame again; / The sun
now low in the west rises for mornings and for
noons continual; / To frozen clods ever the spring’s
invisible law returns, / With grass and flowers and
summer fruits and corn.

Jasmine Arielle Barnes (September 28, 1991) is an Emmy award winning composer and acclaimed vocalist who has performed and has had

her music performed worldwide. Her music has been described as “precisely imagined” by the Washington Post, “refreshing…engaging…exciting” by San Francisco Classical Voice, "memorable" by Houston Press, and “the best possible blend of Billie Holiday and Claude Debussy” by Boston Globe. She is a multifaceted composer who embraces any writing style of music using a variety of instrumentation and specializes in writing for the voice.

Learn more about Jasmine and her work here!

Damien Geter is an acclaimed American composer who infuses classical music with various styles from the Black diaspora to create music that furthers the cause for social justice, as well as a celebrated bass-baritone whose varied credits include performances from the operatic stage to the television screen. He is Richmond Symphony’s Composer-in-Residence through 2026 and serves as Interim Music Director & Artistic Advisor at Portland Opera.

Read more about Damien and his work here!

Jessie Montgomery, Musical America’s 2023 Composer of the Year, is a GRAMMY-winning, acclaimed composer, violinist, and educator whose music interweaves classical music with elements of vernacular music, improvisation, poetry, and social consciousness, making her an acute interpreter of twenty-first century American sound and experience. Her profoundly felt works have been described as “turbulent, wildly colorful and exploding with life” (The Washington Post) and are performed regularly by leading orchestras and ensembles around the world. In July 2021, she began a three-year appointment as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Mead Composer-in-Residence.

Learn more about Jessie and her work here!

GRAMMY®-nominated for his latest solo album "Lord, How Come Me Here?"—a collection of reimagined Negro spirituals—and named one of the 2023 Musical America Top 30 Professionals of the Year, Nigerian-American composer Shawn E. Okpebholo's music resonates globally, earning widespread acclaim from critics and audiences alike. The press has described his music as "devastatingly beautiful" and "fresh and new and fearless" (Washington Post), "affecting" (New York Times), "lyrical, complex, singular" (The Guardian), "searing" (Chicago Tribune), "dreamy, sensual" (Boston Globe), and "powerful" (BBC Music Magazine). Okpebholo has garnered numerous accolades, including awards from The Academy of Arts and Letters, the American Prize in Composition, the Music Publishers Association, ASCAP, and was awarded the Inaugural honoree of the Leslie Adams-Robert Owens Composition Award.

Learn more about Shawn and his work here!

Dave Ragland is a four-time EMMY nominated composer, vocalist, pianist, and conductor. Hailed as “über-talented” by The Nashville Scene, Ragland was named the First Place Winner of The Atlanta Opera’s 96-Hour Opera Composition Competition. He also received the 2022 Adams-Owens Composition Award by the African-American Art Song Alliance. Ragland has received the 2021 American Prize in Composition, two Telly Awards, and two Midsouth Regional EMMY nominations for his work as composer and audio engineer of Nashville Opera’s ONE VOTE WON -an opera commemorating the centennial of Women's Suffrage.

Learn more about Dave and his work here!

Carlos Simon is a native of Atlanta, Georgia, whose music ranges from concert music for large and small ensembles to film scores with influences of jazz, gospel, and neo-romanticism. Simon is the Composer-in-Residence for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the inaugural Boston Symphony Orchestra Composer Chair, and was nominated for a 2023 GRAMMY award for his album Requiem for the Enslaved.

Learn more about Carlos and his work here!

Joel Thompson is a composer, conductor, pianist, and educator whose works aim to prioritize community and facilitate connection, while creating music that is “alive and inquisitive, in constant dialogue” (Arts ATL) and “one of the most attractive things one has heard” (New York Classical Review). His work is both powerful and incisive in centering the concerns and desires of the voiceless and historically marginalized. Thompson currently serves as Houston Grand Opera’s first ever full-time Composer-in-Residence, holding a five-year residency that commenced in 2022.

Learn more about Joel and his work here!