Tratar de Transformar (2019)
Duration: 4m59s
Music: Shara Nova
Text: Shara Nova, with Spanish text from the mission statements common to several Guatemalan churches
Available versions:
SATB + percussion
SATB + mezzo-soprano soloist, guitar, and percussion
PROGRAM NOTE:
"TRY / Tratar de Transformar" is a musical piece that combines the ambient vocals of Cantus Domus, an SATB choir from Germany, with the soaring voices of Gaby Moreno, a Grammy-winning Guatemalan singer-songwriter, and Shara Nova (My Brightest Diamond), an American multi-instrumentalist and the piece's composer. The song is a response to families separated from each other and being held in detention centers at the US border. The visual accompaniment, a sketch-based animation by artist Tim Fite, heightens the emotional impact of the piece. The illustrations of families grappling with an overbearing police state present a chilling and accessible message of strength in community amid societal terrors.
PURCHASE SHEET MUSIC:
SATB + mezzo-soprano soloist, guitar, and percussion
$50
SATB + Percussion
$40
If you need financial assistance to purchase sheet music, please send us an email.
TEXT/LYRICS:
Oh, these troubled days
are these in cages
pressed upon all sides
confined and separated
the child invisible
longing to go home
Oh, these troubled days
i keep repeating it over and over again
my grandmother’s mission
try try try
tratar de transformar
las estructuras injustas de la sociedad
enfrentar la violencia
de toda indole
y buscar la paz
y la reconciliacion