In these times of trouble: what do you need to know, what needs to be in your pocket in order to survive? We need many things, but one of them is the songs of your people that will hold you close to them." —Toshi Reagon

For eleven nights this Fall, Toshi Reagon and Friends will present Songs of the Living, and share space with audiences across NYC, teaching songs rooted in organizing, protest, resilience, and community.  

The Songs of the Living series includes an evening at Flushing Town Hall, A Sonic Coming Together, that will join the New York Arabic Chorus with Toshi Reagon and her band BIGLovely. In this interactive event, audience members are invited to listen and to participate, learning songs of joy and resilience that we sing together. 

ABOUT SONGS OF THE LIVING 
 
A multi-venue, multi-neighborhood series, Songs of the Living, offers audiences a thematically distinct musical collaborations and conversations. Performances across NYC’s boroughs will celebrate the role of song and music in community, in congregation, in movement building, in survival and inspiration. The series invites audiences to reconnect with an oral practice that feels ever more tenuously a part of our daily lives and to participate in an act of community forging as we prepare for tumultuous times. Songs of the Living is presented with Soho Rep and the final evening of the series will bring all eleven acts together into one powerful evening in November.  
 
ABOUT THE ARTISTS 

New York Arabic Chorus  
 
The New York Arabic Chorus showcases the beauty and depth of Arabic music in a harmonious blend of traditional and contemporary sounds. Under the direction of Mona Miari, the choir brings together voices from diverse backgrounds to create an unforgettable experience that bridges cultures and celebrates unity through music. 
 
The New York Arabic Chorus is a community initiative by Brooklyn Maqam, a nonprofit organization dedicated to celebrating, preserving, and supporting new community-rooted Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) musical traditions by uniting both established and emerging musicians, music learners, and audiences through affordable and high-quality concerts, informal jams, workshops, classes and innovative musical projects. 
 
Mona Miari is an internationally renowned Palestinian-American artist, singer, and songwriter known for her profound artistry and dedication to elevating Arabic music globally. Based in New York City, she seamlessly blends Palestinian and Levantine heritage with diverse influences, captivating audiences worldwide.    

Toshi Reagon & BIGLovely  

Toshi Reagon is a singer, composer, musician, curator, and producer engaged in a decades long practice of activating community through song. Notable examples of Toshi’s powerful ability to merge art, fellowship and activism include the congregational opera, Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower, which she created with her mother—activist, scholar, curator, composer, and singer—Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon. Alongside the Opera, Toshi created the Parable Path, an enduring community co-creation with organizations, scholars and activists that galvanized intergenerational community and shone a light on local issues in each place the Opera was produced. Similarly, Toshi started Word*Rock*Sword, an artist-led festival of community events and actions in response to growing attacks on our human rights after the 2010 midterm elections.  Always collaborative, Toshi has worked with many musicians, choreographers, film and theater makers, including Nona Hendryx , Lizz Wright, Dorrance Dance, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Meshell Ndegeocello, and her band BIGLovely.  Toshi has received numerous awards and fellowships, including the APAP Award for Merit in the Performing Arts, the United States Artist Fellowship, and an Andrew W. Melon Creative Futures Fellowship Carolina Performing Arts. Toshi received an honorary doctorate from Emerson College in 2022. More info and music can be found on her website: wisereagonarts.com