"We are One"

Pat Humphries & Sandy Opatow promote unity through song

BY MITCHELL TROPIN

Folk singers Pat Humphries and Sandy Opatow make social activism an integral part of their music. Touring the country in their gasoline-electric hybrid car, they have gained a strong following without the benefit of a hit record or a major record label.

The two women met 12 years ago through a mutual friend, who showed Opatow some of Humphries’s music. Soon thereafter they traveled together as part of a tour of women folksingers. Three years ago they became partners and started performing full-time together. They are preparing to release their first CD as a duo.

Humphries and Opatow, based in Mount Rainier, discovered last summer how far their music has spread. The duo’s song about unifying North and South Korea, "We are One," reached the organizers of a Washington festival for Korean reunification. The organizers were quite taken by the song and searched the internet to find the song’s composers, finally contacting Humphries and Opatow and inviting them to perform.

"When we arrived at the festival on June first, we were surprised to learn that the song had been chosen as the theme of the conference, and even more surprised to be invited to come to South Korea to perform the song at peace and reunification events," Humphries said.

The trip to Korea had a Takoma Park connection. Wanting to sing the song in Korea, they prevailed on Mark Choe of Mark’s Kitchen to translate the song.

"He spoke the words into the tape recorder. You can hear the pot and plates in the background," Opatow said.

Humphries and Opatow flew to Seoul in June 2003, taking part in a peace festival that commemorated the third anniversary of the historic meeting of the leaders of North and South Korea in June 2000.

The duo’s interest in social activism grew out of their own lives. For Humphries, a pivotal event was the killing of four students at Kent State in the spring of 1970. The shootings took place outside the dormitory where one of her six sisters was living.

"We lived 35 miles from Kent State, and my sisters and our friend–we all went to Kent State University," Humphries said. "I was 10 years old, and it felt like it happened to me; to us. We all took it personally."

Because of that experience, she was deeply affected by Neil Young’s "Ohio," written about the Kent State shootings, and soon after, she discovered the activist spirit of Pete Seeger’s music.

"I saw that music could become a compelling and powerful tool," she said. "I wanted to be engaged and be a responsible part of the country I live in."

Humphries was touring and performing nationally by the time she was a teen, but her turning point into full-time music came when she was in college. She was offered a comfortable, full-time position as an arts interpreter for the Ohio parks system, but her love of performing prevented her from committing to it.

"I thought of the decisions my mom made. She always went for secure, sure thing," she said. "My mom was a remarkable talent and an individual who never really got a chance to express herself. She was raised in an era where women were not allowed to pursue things."

Humphries took inspiration from her mother’s life, and her older sister’s later decision to become an artist, for one of her best-known songs, "Keep on Moving Forward (Never Turning Back)," which is on her first solo CD, Same Rain.

A Long Island, N.Y., native, Opatow honed her songwriting and performing skills while living in Manhattan and London, developing a strong interest in renaissance music and learning the lute while in England. In college she was a biological researcher, until she heard that some of the substances she used in her lab were carcinogenic. She switched to music history.

"I figured musical instruments wouldn’t give me cancer," she said.

While living in London she wrote a song, "Time Off for Women," in connection with an exhibit sponsored by the International Wages for Housework Campaign. Opatow was invited to perform the song and discovered the joys of performing for an audience.

"I was fascinated by how children loved to participate, and discovered that adults feel the same way," she said. "Audience participation has become a key part of our performance. It is great to have people play tambourine on stage or clap along. Why shouldn’t we have more fun as adults?"

When asked if there is room in their music for both social activism music and more traditional subjects, such as relationships, Humphries says she believes there is little separation between the two.

"Relations are as political as anything else," she said. "We explore more personal kinds of issues, but still within the context of social issues."

What bothers Humphries is that music today tends to limit what can be said about relationships. "The only acceptable things we can discuss about relationships are sexuality or that people split up and get hurt. That does relationships an injustice."

"You have to go really deep to build a successful relationship, and you must be willing to go pretty deep to communicate that to the next generation–or anybody in general," she adds. "How do you go about making a relationship succeed unless you are willing to explore it in its entirety; going below the surface."

It is not hard to find musicians who speak fondly of Humphries and Opatow’s contributions. Takoma Park’s own Greg Artzner and Terry Leonino, better known as Magpie, have grown to love Humphries and Opatow’s music.

"Terry and I have been singing Pat’s songs for many years, and we’re very selective about the songs by other writers that we sing," said Artzner. "She has long been widely regarded as one of the best writers in our genre, composing some of the most powerful, beautiful, and timeless anthems we have. Sandy is a fine songwriter as well, and together their music is an unyielding call to conscience and an inspiration to action to make this a better and more just world."

Leonino put it this way: "They are two dear friends dedicated to social justice, environmental justice, and their music and lives reflect this and so much more for all of us who are inspired by the music and message they have to offer. These women speak out for us in a time when we most need to be reminded about the importance and power of ‘community.’"

Another big supporter of the duo is Pete Seeger, who has been a friend of Humphries for many years. They first met when she was taking part in a song circle and started playing "Keep on Moving Forward." After she finished the song, she looked over her shoulder and there was Seeger asking, "Is this how it goes?" She saw that he had written the notation and words for the song just by listening. Seeger has said that it’s one of the best songs he has ever heard.

Later Humphries would work with Seeger in New York’s Hudson Valley on his Clearwater environmental project, spending eight years in the area. Humphries’ connection with Seeger also had led to her participation in Seeds: The Songs of Pete Seeger and Friends, Volume 3, a Seeger tribute album which has been nominated for a Grammy award this year.

Humphries and Opatow received national acclaim in 2003 when they won the grand prize in the folk music division of the John Lennon Foundation Songwriting Contest for their song about the September 11 terrorist attacks, "If I Give Your Name." The song is written from the rarely-heard perspective of family members of undocumented workers lost at the World Trade Center.

The events of September 11, 2001 produced another of the duo’s best loved songs, "Peace Salaam Shalom." The duo was living in New York at the time, and in the aftermath of the destruction, they wanted to respond with something other than "urging retaliation and more bombing."

"Clearly work had to be done in the wake of the bombing," Humphries said. "There was a need for a mutual understanding of what peace means–that’s at the heart of the work that we do."

Humphries has recorded several CDs as a solo artist, such as "Hands." The two women are putting the final touches on their first CD as a duo, One x One Million = Change, which should be available in the coming months. The CD includes "If I Give Your Name," "Peace Salaam Shalom," and " We Are One." More information on the CD is available from the their web site, www.pathumphries.com.