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ANNOUNCING...

 ꩜ 8/30 Ann Arbor, MI | land of the Anishinaabeg 

꩜ 8/31-9/4 Singing in Love: Tamaqua, PA | land of the Lenni-Lenape 

꩜ 9/5 North Hampton, MA  | land of the Pocumtuck, Norwottock, Woronoco, Agawam, Nipmuck, and Abenaki 

꩜ 9/6 Boston, MA | land of the Massachusett, Abenaki, Micmac, Maliseet, Narragansett, Nipmuc, Passamaquoddy, Pawtucket, Pennacook, Penobscot, Pequot, and Wampanoag 

꩜ 9/9 Brooklyn, NY | land of the Lenape 

꩜ 9/10 Philadelphia, PA | land of the Lenape 

꩜ 9/12 Washington, DC Area | land of the Nacotchtank, Piscataway, and Pamunke  

꩜ 9/13 Richmond, VA | land of the Powhatan and Monacan 

꩜ 9/14-17 Love Song: Marshall, NC | land of the Anikituwagi (Cherokee) 

꩜ 9/20 Asheville, NC | land of the Anikituwagi (Cherokee)

Song kin Shireen Amini and Lyndsey Scott merge their medicines for the first time for an East Coast song circle tour! As students of, as well as leaders in, the community singing movement, they are asking-in-motion about song’s liberatory power. Co-creating a space of authentic, playful, & deep devotion, they will forge a strong container to hold the complexities of each of our identities and histories intersecting. Through heart sharing, somatics, song, and rhythmic expression, they will invite energy to re-whole us in our individual and collective bodies: grounding, attuning, grieving, releasing, connecting, and celebrating. We’ll ask, what’s needed here now? What’s possible when we open our hearts to this aching world and dare the soulful risks it asks? May we be the world we dream, in real time, as song washes over us with grace that overflows into action.

Our tithe for this tour goes to MMIWHOISMISSING a 100% Indigenous-lead sovereign and educational voice that advocates for grassroots efforts, working directly with MMIR families, survivors, & Tribal coalitions laying the groundwork, socially and politically to protect our Indigenous Populations from further Colonial Violence.

new single and music video!

About Shireen

Shireen Amini is a queer, Puerto Rican-Iranian-American, Earth-loving musician based in Portland, Oregon. She blends rock, latin, hip hop, and roots music with socially-conscious themes and soulful stories of change. 

To contextualize her artistry, it is important to Shireen to acknowledge her relation to this land, its peoples, its history, and how her identities have shaped her. She is committed to being an agent for change.

Upcoming Events

Previous events

SONGLEADER & PANELIST at The HeART of Social Change

 —  —

The Haven, 1035 SE 9th Ave., Portland, OR

Join us for an inspiring evening of art and storytelling with local artists and organizers of The Haven. We will explore art as the heART of social change through discussion and experiences of socioculturally transformative art.

This event will feature community singing, a panel discussion, and open mic performances. There will also be a bar selling herbal elixirs and mushroom potions throughout the evening!

Bring your friends, your medicinal music and movement performances, and your open heART <3

6:00 pm - 6:30 pm Arrival and mingling - get your herbal elixirs! 6:30 pm - 7:15 pm Opening with land acknowledgement and community singing. 7:15 pm - 8:00 pm Panel discussion featuring Haven organizers & local activists 8:00 pm - 8:15 pm Intermission 8:15 pm - 10:00 pm Open mic for community to share social-change oriented performances - dance, poetry, music, freestyle, or anything else you want to share in a 7-minute slot.

If you would like to sign up to share at the open mic, please fill out this google form: https://forms.gle/p2efLUP8YFwm7hEZ8

We will do our best to integrate everyone’s offerings into the evening, as long as they are a good fit for the intentions we are gathering around the intersection of arts & social change.

~ Panel Moderator & Event Organizer: Lux Gypsum ~ Panelist & Event Organizer: Ashley Bonn ~ Panelist & Community Singing Facilitator: Shireen Amini ~ Panelist: Mic Crenshaw ~ Panelist: Danny Stevens ~ Panelist: Emily Ra ~ Herbalist at Herbal Elixir Bar: Reishi Strauss

QUESTIONS: Email Lux Gypsum at lux@healingrising.com or Ashley Bonn at bridgebuilderpdx@gmail.com

$10-$30

INDIGENOUS RECIPROCITY NOW GENERATES PSYCHEDELIC FUTURES FOR ALL 21+ Beloved Presents, Tiger Fox, and the Psychedelic Health Equity Initiative are thrilled to co-host an evening of connective celebration honoring lineage and supporting greater access in psychedelic healing. We are amplifying the mission of the Indigenous Medicine Conservation Fund, which supports the psychedelic space to become allies in strengthening and protecting Indigenous Peoples, their medicines, and knowledge, supporting Indigenous Communities to thrive for generations to come.

Forward Together was co-created last year with the purpose of centering the importance of marginalized people’s access to psychedelics, facilitator training, healing modalities, and the rights of the Indigenous peoples who originated psychedelic medicine work

READY! Honoring the IMCF - 9pm Come circle up and drop in as we honor the vision of IMCF, hear their story, and connect with their mission.

SET! Beloved Song Circle - 9pm In this revolution we gather to sing. Sing for healing, creation, grief, and renewal. We deeply rejoice to offer a time to bring all of our voices together with three phenomenal song leaders for a Beloved Song Circle with Shireen Amini, Claudia Cuentas, & Hanifa Nayo.

GO! Reciprocity Resonance - 10:30pm - Two rooms of music with Liquid Bloom, Savej, Rebelwise, and more!

$20-$30

PROTEST ‘WHO WILL OWN THE FOREST?’ CONFERENCE SEPTEMBER 27 12pm Wednesday, September 27 at the World Forestry Center (4033 SW Canyon Rd, Portland)

On Wednesday, September 27 grassroots activists and leaders from the forest defense & climate justice movement will converge at the World Forestry Center at noon for a massive demonstration to confront these Wall Street capitalists and put them on notice that managing forests to maximize profits for the rich & stall climate action will be met with increasing resistance. There will be speakers, music, marching bands, theatrical performances, art & creative resistance, and more–come out to show these Wall Street elites that extractive forestry and false solutions will be risky investments in the face of staunch grassroots opposition!

forestsoverprofits.org

Shireen will perform / lead song at 2:00pm.

Shireen Amini & Lyndsey Scott EAST COAST TOUR 2023

 —  —

OUR POWERS COMBINED! Community Singing to Seed Liberation   ꩜ 8/30 Ann Arbor, MI | land of the Anishinaabeg  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/our-powers-combined-community-singing-to-seed-liberation-ann-arbor-tickets-695031647367?aff=oddtdtcreator

꩜ 8/31-9/4 Singing in Love: Tamaqua, PA | land of the Lenni-Lenape  https://events.humanitix.com/singing-in-love?mibextid=Zxz2cZ

꩜ 9/5 North Hampton, MA  | land of the Pocumtuck, Norwottock, Woronoco, Agawam, Nipmuck, and Abenaki  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/our-powers-combined-community-singing-to-seed-liberation-noha-tickets-686098036697

꩜ 9/6 Boston, MA | land of the Massachusett, Abenaki, Micmac, Maliseet, Narragansett, Nipmuc, Passamaquoddy, Pawtucket, Pennacook, Penobscot, Pequot, and Wampanoag  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/our-powers-combined-community-singing-to-seed-liberation-boston-tickets-692654697847?aff=oddtdtcreator

꩜ 9/9 Brooklyn, NY | land of the Lenape  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/our-powers-combined-community-singing-to-seed-liberation-brooklyn-tickets-692657446067?aff=oddtdtcreator

꩜ 9/10 Philadelphia, PA | land of the Lenape  https://clients.mindbodyonline.com/classic/ws?studioid=48533&stype=-8&sView=day&sLoc=0&date=09/10/23

꩜ 9/12 Washington, DC Area | land of the Nacotchtank, Piscataway, and Pamunke   https://www.eventbrite.com/e/our-powers-combined-community-singing-to-seed-liberation-dc-area-tickets-716336601057

꩜ 9/13 Richmond, VA | land of the Powhatan and Monacan https://www.eventbrite.com/e/our-powers-combined-community-singing-to-seed-liberation-richmond-va-tickets-691182634867?aff=oddtdtcreator 

꩜ 9/14-17 Love Song: Marshall, NC | land of the Anikituwagi (Cherokee)  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdDcpCV-ohOFF8_Tls3C80GCHMiFiF8sd3_GbgOkYF7KkGSDA/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0&fbclid=IwAR3a80fg7tP08yucXst2sCeftBLsCCQqib9cJ3FEg5UF_jOY0TFxZSlR5is

꩜ 9/20 Asheville, NC | land of the Anikituwagi (Cherokee) https://www.eventbrite.com/e/our-powers-combined-community-singing-to-seed-liberation-asheville-nc-tickets-692664978597?aff=oddtdtcreator

Song kin Shireen Amini and Lyndsey Scott merge their medicines for the first time for an East Coast song circle tour! As students of, as well as leaders in, the community singing movement, they are asking-in-motion about song’s liberatory power. Co-creating a space of authentic, playful, & deep devotion, they will forge a strong container to hold the complexities of each of our identities and histories intersecting. Through heart sharing, somatics, song, and rhythmic expression, they will invite energy to re-whole us in our individual and collective bodies: grounding, attuning, grieving, releasing, connecting, and celebrating. We’ll ask, what’s needed here now? What’s possible when we open our hearts to this aching world and dare the soulful risks it asks? May we be the world we dream, in real time, as song washes over us with grace that overflows into action.

Our tithe for this tour goes to MMIWHOISMISSING a 100% Indigenous-lead sovereign and educational voice that advocates for grassroots efforts, working directly with MMIR families, survivors, & Tribal coalitions laying the groundwork, socially and politically to protect our Indigenous Populations from further Colonial Violence.

GUEST PERFORMER for Singing the Bones LIVE at the Haven PDX

 —  —

The Haven, 819 SE Taylor St., Portland, OR

Catch the Vibe: https://youtu.be/FL2tg9hU-nk

Through an evening that is part musical performance & part sing-a-long, artist-activist Lydia Violet takes us into the realms of Singing the Bones, a program she has spent these past years working on, encouraging the reconnection to ancestral cultures through music and story. Many of us grow up disconnected from our ancestral cultures, requiring us to consciously turn towards our histories and study to learn the foods, festivities, folklore, and songs that lay there. Tonight is a celebration of three American artists who have pursued this path of connection, sharing some of the bounties of what they have found.

Lydia will share songs from her Iranian and Armenian heritages, rich with poetry and longing. M'Gilvry Allen will share fiddle tunes and ballads from his Scottish, Irish, and Scandinavian ancestries, luring us in with rhythm and strings. And Kele Nitoto will share music from Haiti, Congo, and West Africa, drawing from his multiple generations of a musical family from Oakland itself. And these three artists will collaborate together, weaving a multi-cultural celebration!

You're invited to come and enjoy the sounds, and learn some tunes as well! We will also teach you some songs throughout the night, summoning the joy of singing together. We hope to weave a soulful thread for that which feels tattered and longs for peace and reconnection.

$20 advanced tickets, $25 day-of admission

SONGLEADER at Wails: Songs for Grief Album Recording + Gathering

 —  —

Sedro-Woolly, Washington

Artist and song tender Alexandra "ahlay" Blakely has written an album entirely dedicated to grief. Written in the community singing tradition, the intention of the songs is to inspire communities to create their versions of contained circles together to sing + become more agile in their relationship with grief.

The album is inspired by the five gates of grief from Francis Weller’s book The Wild Edge of Sorrow. Ahlay dreamed of recording the songs with a choir and from this vision, WAILS: Songs for Grief - Album Recording + Gathering was born.

The 4 days will be centered around 4 recorded song circles (3 hours each), recording 5 songs (the five gates) with a professional sound engineer. The recordings will happen inside a lodge and will be woven into the album WAILS: Songs for Grief.

I will be assisting with opening / closing circle, singing in the choir, and songleading!

Shireen Amini LIVE at Oregon Country Fair

 —  —

Veneta, Oregon

I have been selected to perform 2 sets at the Oregon Country Fair on the Spoken Word Stage! This will be my first time attending and performing. I hope to see you there!

Friday, 5:30-6:20pm, Front Port Saturday, 2-2:50pm, Chez Ray's

The Oregon Country Fair (OCF) hosts an annual three-day festival offering the finest in entertainment, hand-made crafts, delectable food and information sharing, with annual attendance of approximately 45,000. We have chosen to have a smaller Fair in 2022 with about 30,000 attendees. We are in a wooded setting located in Veneta, Oregon, about 15 miles west of Eugene, with our own water and communication systems, security team, recycling service and much more. We enjoy a mutually cooperative relationship with our neighbors in the Veneta community.

Thrive Street Choir hosts special guest Shireen Amini for this combined community song journey and drum workshop.

Shireen will lead original short-form healing and liberation-oriented songs for community singing and also teach several songs with arranged drum parts for all skill levels. Syncing our singing voices with rhythmic movement is a powerful, ancient practice that amplifies spiritual connection and strengthens community. We will address our complex, but shared nonetheless, American heritage as we co-create a reverent and joyful community drum-song experience to inspire confidence and unity: an embodied musical metaphor for a new way forward.

For more info, visit: https://urban-adamah.my.salesforce-sites.com/WebEvent?eid=thrive-street-choir-song-circle-at-urban-adamah-202368

$15-$75 sliding scale (no one turned away for lack of funds)

GUEST SONGLEADER at Central Marin Singers

 —  —

First Presbyterian San Anselmo, 72 Kensington Rd., San Anselmo, CA

I will be a guest songleader with Central Marin Singers choir!

The Central Marin Singers Choir, led by Marv Zauderer, is a joyful, soulful, inclusive space where we sing easy-to-learn, contemporary community-singing songs, selected for their ability to rejuvenate, soothe, uplift, and inspire. We co-create a safe, non-judgmental, anti-perfectionistic space with the freedom to allow our voices to emerge and blend just as they are. This weekly drop-in choir also forms a pop-up choir at public events, like farmers' markets, where our purpose is not performance, it's community participation and community-building: we invite passers-by to step into the circle, learn a song, and sing with us. All voices and levels welcome! Details: singwithmarv.com.

$20 tickets

SONGLEADER at Song Village

 —  —

Santa Cruz Mountains, California

Song Village is held in a beautiful redwood forest in the Santa Cruz mountains. We have three or four song circles each morning afternoon and evening. The circles are lead by guest song leaders or by the participants themselves. Each circle has a theme or genre, like the ones listed below. You choose the circles that interest you the most. Learn and sing new songs, or teach the group some songs you love.

Our gatherings also include fun and rich community building events, including dance, improv theater, heart share circles and delicious meals. Our gatherings are consciously facilitated to help everyone feel included and connected.

REGISTRATION NOW CLOSED.

Shireen Amini LIVE at NW Folklife Festival

 —  —

Seattle Center, 305 Harrison St., Seattle, Washington

Performing on the >>> K Prom Welcome Stage

Northwest Folklife is an independent 501(c)(3) arts organization that celebrates the multigenerational arts, cultures, and traditions of a global Pacific Northwest. Since 1972, Northwest Folklife has been deeply committed to celebrating the diversity of our Northwest communities and demystifying our differences together, under one roof. Most notable of their events is the annual Northwest Folklife Festival, a community-powered celebration of the music, arts, and heritage of the Pacific Northwest.

I have been selected to perform a solo set for NW Folklife Festival 2023 taking place May 26-29! Free and all ages!

SONGLEADER at Cascadia Song Rise

 —  —

Philomath, Oregon

Cascadia Song Rise is a gathering of people who love to sing! Join us May 18-21, 2023 near Philomath, Oregon (~12 miles from Corvallis). We will nourish ourselves and each other through collective song, harmony, and connection. There is a magic to be experienced in the layering of voices, a mysterious activation that is felt in the body and in the soul.

Featuring an amazing lineup of songleaders: Shireen Amini, Ahlay Blakely, Laurence Cole, Kjersten Hallin, Aaron Johnson, Karly Loveling, Osprey, Kira Seto, Katie Sontag

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN!

$250 (early bird by March 31) and $275-350 sliding scale (after March 31)