- by david sereda

“the birds they sang at the break of day,

start again, I heard them say” – Leonard Cohen, Anthem

Tomorrow morning (Saturday, April 29) I’ll be singing and you are welcome to join.

Later that day we’ll also write a new song (maybe more?) about local food. You are also welcome to join in that session.

Now that the pandemic is less threatening in most of our lives, more of us are comfortable with gathering indoors to sing. As someone who wanted to avoid Covid both for myself and someone I visited in long-term care, my singing in public was totally curtailed for several years then modified.

That included an activity that I love: singing with people in the same room, in real time, feeling the air and the sound of others, creating music together.

The Song Circle – where people sing by call and response – springs from a deep love of Black music from hundreds of years ago. Those songs, the Spirituals, have inspired countless songs and whole streams of popular music, including recent songs of mine. Those songs – written by a community of people, for a community but then overflowed into the general public – were effectively repurposed during the Civil Rights movement. They are welcoming songs, easy to learn, inclusive. I’ve been honoured to sing them over the past ten years at Emancipation events, with the descendants of Black settlers who came here over 150 years ago on the Underground Railroad.

I think that this is an important time to use our voices, and I know how great it is to find and feel harmony through music. Singers have known forever what science is now discovering – that singing activates and connects so many parts of your brain, with your body and breath. And that makes us feel alive and joyful.

Speaking of life and aliveness… the songwriting workshop is about an essential that many of us are only thinking about now: food. Specifically, local food. The Food of Love began as a simple idea: to learn about food and food providers in our area, and let that inspire write songs. And in the process, learn about songwriting.

In the last week, I’ve heard news articles about the impending retirement of 40% of farmers over the next ten years, advertising designed to encourage kids to eat junk food, and that food insecurity affects over 15% of Canadians.

On a local level, there was a great year for maple syrup, wild leeks are up and so is my rhubarb and garlic. But anyone who has fruit trees is wondering about the weather and a possible late, killing frost.

Any of this information could become a song, and that’s the goal of the Food of Love sessions.

I’ll invite local guests who are experts in food provision – including my first guest, Donna Mitchell of Annanvale Eggs, to talk with us about what they do. Those conversations mixed with our own interests and perspectives, become the seeds for songs.

Singing, songs and food, all integral to our lives. Without them, it’s a birthday with no song and no cake. Come, connect, and get vocal about the local together

Register by emailing david at [email protected]

david sereda is a local singer, songwriter and gardener. All are welcome to join the Song Circle and/or The Food of Love songwriting session.

Look for more workshops later this Spring.