For years, I was taught that my voice had one job:
to be beautiful, to be controlled, and to fit in.
My voice was trained, shaped, refined, and domesticated.
But something in me was starving for an expression beyond "beautiful."
For me, wailing has been that practice of re-wilding the voice.
The path back to the primal voice I was born with and the
ancestral voice that can never be severed.
WHY WAILING?
Throughout cultures all around the world, wailing was once a sacred profession that belonged to women. Wailing women were skilled mourners deeply attuned to the raw, felt experience of life. They were called upon because they knew how to do something essential: transform private anguish into collective sound. Turn the unspeakable into the undeniable. This lineage of wailing women lives closely within many of our bloodlines.
From the keeners of Ireland to the threnos rituals of Ancient Greece. From the zaghrouta of the Middle East and North Africa to the lamento tradition of Southern Italy. From la llorona “the weeping woman” of Latin America, the tanadt indigenous Moroccan wailing traditions, and more. This tradition is as old and as common as loss itself. And yet this practice was systematically removed from us. Forbidden, forgotten, and almost lost. This workshop is a reclamation of that practice.
RE-WILDING THE VOICE
This workshop was born from my own hunger. Having been trained within the standards of western singing, I was taught that the voice had one job: to be beautiful. To be controlled. To fit in. To stay within the established boundaries of tone, pitch, and acceptability. So for years, I stayed within those lines. My voice had been trained. Shaped. Domesticated.
And yet something in me was starving. I found myself desiring an expression that was more than just "beautiful." That hunger led me to explore different vocal techniques that eventually led me to wailing. I believe this practice is held in collective memory and lives in the body. I believe it's the path back to the primal voice we were born with and the ancestral voice we can never be severed from.
Wailing is how we find our way back to the wild nature of our voices.
Together, we’ll explore this vocal tradition and build healthy habits to add more flavors and more truth to your vocal repertoire.
THE DETAILS
Date: March 7th, 2025 Time: 11AM–2PM PST (3 hours)
Where: Online via Zoom (link sent upon registration)
Investment: $35–70 sliding scale | Accessible Tickets Available | No one turned away
What to bring:
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Water and/or tea
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A journal (optional)
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Comfortable clothes
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A private space where you can make sound freely
No vocal experience needed. Designed for the times.
Held in solidarity with women everywhere ❤️🔥