A Song of Protest

Composed: 2019
Duration: 4.5 minutes
Instrumentation: SATB
Lyrics and music by Margaret Brouwer

The citizens gather together. We the citizens, we come together. We find common ground. We the citizens concerned.
It was little more than a year ago that many of us including citizens from around the region, elected officials and environmental groups, came together for a public hearing of our concerns, calling for new laws of environmentally friendly materials to be used in our lake. New laws for the health of our lake. Pass new laws to protect our lake. Our lake is the primary source of drinking water for more than eleven million people. Permitting the disposal of additional toxins into the lake would halt the wheels of progress and undermine decades of achievement in water quality improvement. Don’t halt the wheels of progress or halt the decades of achievement in water quality. We the citizens come together to voice our concern! We the citizens come together.

NOTES

A Song of Protest is a choral call for environmental action. In the composer’s vernacular language, the choir calls for new laws to be passed to save the lakes around the world that are being polluted by the run-off from mega farms’ fertilizer and insecticides as well as dumped toxins and PCBs from industries. The altos, tenors and basses become a rhythm section, repeating single words in a strong rhythmic pattern while the sopranos tell the story.