Music for Heroines

In November of 2005 I received an e-mail from Jila Nikpay, who wanted music for her book, Heroines: Transformation in the Face of Breast Cancer, a collection of her photographs of breast cancer survivors. The photographs are accompanied by poetic descriptions of each woman, written by Jila herself. I thought, “Nice project, but I’m too busy.” Rather reluctantly, I agreed to meet with her, and went armed with a list of other women composers who would be perfect for the job. But when I saw the remarkably expressive photographs and read the poetry, I began to hear music, and to imagine how the poems might be set… The result is Music for Heroines, a cycle of five songs on Jila’s poems. It was premiered April 8, 2006, at the Open Book in Minneapolis, MN, by Janet Gottschall-Fried, soprano, and Judy Kogan, harp.

My culture has forgotten:
The mind and the body
The body and the spirit
And the spirit and the mind
Are One.
To remember,
I walk through
The maze of inner self
In search of healing.
*****
I’ve always been
A seeker.
Grieved as I was
Lying on the hospital bed
Severed
Like
Saint Agatha
I was filled with light
I sense the Light
It fills me
From time to time
*****

I was the invisible child.
Knotted
Wanting
To know the heart.
Through illness
I was mothered
By many.
Felling no separation,
I entered into the circle of love
Free and strong.
*****
Suddenly I was stripped
Breastless
Bald
Sick
I became awake-To perceive
Suffering behind faces.
To see
Even the eclipsed Moon
Caught in the shadow play of sky
Is blessed with the the Sun’s beauty
Forever.
*****
I’m not afraid of death
But to sort through my life
Before I am gone
I tirelessly bead
Making jewels
To give away
And delight.
I am not afraid of death
I know I am strong
I’ll walk through heaven’s gates
With laughter.

–Jila Nikpay
from Heroines: Transformation in the Face of Breast Cancer