Commission Story: Safe Harbor
Radical collaboration is core to who we are at Resonance Ensemble. This year marks 15 seasons, made possible in part by the deep partnerships we’ve cultivated with living artists across a variety of disciplines. Leading up to our season finale concert (MISSION 15), we go beyond the music to share the stories that brought this work to the concert stage.
Today, we dive deeper into Safe Harbor by vocalist, violinist, and composer Joe Kye
Composer Joe Kye and conductor Katherine FitzGibbon embrace following the premiere of Safe Harbor in 2020 | photo from video by Alan Niven
What is an American?
Immigration and asylum are ever-present in current political and public debate in the United States. In 2020, Resonance Ensemble presented the concert program, Safe Harbor, where we explored varying experiences of coming to the U.S.—including experiences of immigration, asylum, and exile.
Familiar with Joe Kye for his whimsical and loop-based compositions, Resonance Ensemble was ecstatic to have the opportunity to work with Kye—who integrated folk music from his native Korea alongside American folk music and improvisation. The work also featured original text, which was used to weave full choral textures, background vocals, solo voice features, and speaking throughout the piece.
Joe Kye | photo by Ben Seller
Joe shared in 2020 a bit about the piece and its inspiration:
Inspired by my journey as an immigrant as well as the current humanitarian crisis at our southern border, Safe Harbor is my personal exploration of movement and migration.
The piece starts where we all do—with our mothers. My first memory is auditory; I remember being carried by my mother, my ear pressed between her shoulder blades. I could hear her singing softly, the sweet folk lullaby muffled by the sound of her heart and body as I drifted off to sleep. This lullaby, the sound of a cuckoo bird, and the distinct rhythm that accompanies the lullaby as it begins to expand represent my childhood in Korea.
My parents told me we would move to America when I was six, and I remember the fear, sadness and anxiety as the move neared. Even today, the narrative surrounding migrants entering America rarely mentions the emotionally fraught decision to leave home. We like to think of America as a miracle land—of course everyone wants to come here—without considering the grief and inner conflict of leaving your world behind.
I try to capture this in Safe Harbor, especially from the viewpoint of my parents, who left Korea at age 33 with their two young children in search of opportunity. They left their families, dear friends, language, food, and all that they had accomplished in order to build upon their hopes for the future.
A young Joe Kye takes up the mic | photo provided by Joe Kye
And yet, America proved to be far harsher than the dreamland we had built in our minds. The next portion of the piece tries to capture the reality of being a person of color and immigrant in this country. From unfair media representations to aloof cashiers, jokes that highlight my Otherness to micro-aggressions, it’s been a constant struggle to settle into my identity as an Asian-American and to truly feel like I belong in this country. Furthermore, my parents, who moved back to Korea in 2008, struggle to connect more deeply with their children, who grew into members of a culture they could never fully access. My sister and I, on the other hand, had to live two identities—a Korean at home, yearning to be more like our American friends, and an American in the world-at-large, yearning to bring our full selves into the public realm without fear of xenophobic reprisal.
There are three such quotes that interrupt the piece—all distinct moments in my life in which I felt unwelcome in this country. They range from direct bigotry to a subtler Othering, but all jarred me from feeling secure in my own body. These are the types of comments that we need to abolish from our lexicon if we are to create a more just, welcoming, and equitable world.
The final part of the piece is a meditation of sorts, a personal mantra for moving from disembodiment and unbelonging to rooted self-empowerment and the communal building of a more compassionate collective consciousness: “Breathe. Be. Build. We. Home. Sea. Sail. Me.” I offer myself space; encourage myself to create the world I want to live in; forgive myself for having a nontraditional sense of home, and instead celebrate the very nature of my fluid identity.
As all the voice parts slowly join in this chorus, I hope that we can also join together in building an America that lifts up the voices of those unheard and unsupported, that we may see their suffering as ours—and that, together, we can envision and build a land that is greater than the one we inhabit now.
Cue the cuckoo birds.
Joe Kye performs as part of his new project “Joe Kye & the Givers” with songs inspired by Kye’s immigrant upbringing | photo provided by the artist
WHAT STILL RESONATES
The work was the last live performance Resonance Ensemble gave before quarantine restrictions moved our mission online during the pandemic. Since then, Joe Kye has become a standout force in our community for celebrating Asian-American culture, sharing stories of displacement and immigration, as well as fostering an environment of joyful inclusion through his music.
“We are proud not only to share this moving piece with our live audiences on June 8th, but are also releasing an album of Resonance-commissioned works with the title Safe Harbor.” says Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon. “Joe Kye, his work, and this piece encapsulate so much of Resonance Ensemble’s mission to foster meaningful social change through music and share the stories most dear to the artists we work with. We couldn’t be more honored to collaborate with such an insightful, compassionate, and community-focused artist.”
HEAR JOE LIVE AT MISSION 15!
Saturday, June 8th | 7:30pm @Winningstad Theatre
Hear Joe Kye revive this work—along with an evening of other pieces from across our 15 year history—in-person at the Winningstad Theatre on June 8th. This one-night only event is packed with meaningful music, powerful stories, and exciting in-person appearances by the artists we love.
The music of tomorrow is being written by the voices of today.
Dinah Dodds
Find out more about how you can help us support living artists in our community & beyond
The Dinah Dodds Fund for the Creation of New Art memorializes Dinah Dodds, President of the Board of Directors of Resonance Ensemble, who served on the board from 2014 until her death in 2019. Under Dinah’s devoted leadership, the organization developed its social justice focus and commissioned multiple major new choral works.
In tribute to Dinah, contributions to this fund shall support the creation of new art (music, visual art, and poetry), as prioritized by the artistic leadership of Resonance Ensemble. “Creation of New Art” can include commissioning and co-commissioning, premiering, and/or professionally recording (audio/video) works by living artists.