((PKG)) PIHCINTU CHORUS
((Banner: For Love of Song))
((Reporter/Camera: June Soh))
((Map: Washington, D.C.))
((NATS))
((Sara Ali, Pihcintu Chorus Member from Sudan)) I like being in the Pihcintu Choir because it gives you a voice for who you are, and with every voice, there is a story behind it.
((NATS))
((Girl1)) I am from Uganda. ((Girl2)) I am from Iraq ((Girl3)) I am from Sudan. ((Girl4)) I lived in a refugee camp in Ethiopia.
((NATS))
((Con Fullam, Founder, Pihcintu Chorus)) The Pihcintu Chorus was created to give immigrant and refugee children their voices back, because the very first thing you lose when you come to a new country, quite literally, is your voice. So, being able to join a chorus of like-minded kids, who also struggle with language, is a very positive and powerful way to bring these kids into the culture and into the English language.
((NATS))
((Con Fullam, Founder, Pihcintu Chorus)) I am a singer-songwriter, composer, television producer, and I founded Pihcintu, this multinational refugee and immigrant girls’ chorus, 14 years ago in Portland, Maine. We have 34 girls from 21 countries.
((NATS))
((Con Fullam, Founder, Pihcintu Chorus)) Pihcintu is an (American) Indian word and it means when they sing, their voices carry far.
((NATS))
Please welcome, Pihcintu.
((Con Fullam, Founder, Pihcintu Chorus)) So, we are based in Portland, Maine, but we were invited to come and perform at the One Journey Festival here in Washington, DC.
((NATS))
((Vanda Berninger, Co-founder, One Journey Festival)) One Journey Festival is a celebration of the people, who experienced unimaginable struggles, and come in to new societies, and thrive. I think the Pihcintu Choir represents our mission.
((NATS)) Somewhere where we all can live together.....
((Con Fullam, Founder, Pihcintu Chorus)) I write a good deal of the songs for the girls. They choose some of the songs, some of their repertoires. So, it’s a group effort.
((NATS))
((Con Fullam, Founder, Pihcintu Chorus)) The songs really have to do with peace and love and lack of violence, because these kids all come from areas of violence, war torn countries, great violence that has had a tremendous impact on their lives.
((NATS))
((Fatimah Lamloom, Pihcintu Chorus Member from Iraq)) When I sing on stage, I feel empowered. I feel as though when someone hears our songs, that they are going to be touched in some way and they are going to make a change.
((Nyawal Lia, Pihcintu Chorus Member from Sudan)) I joined this chorus when I was very young. And in 2013, I began to do advocacy work, through this chorus, for the South Sudanese people who are going through the genocide and going through famine and all of that.
((NATS))
((Sara Ali, Pihcintu Chorus Member from Sudan)) I've learned that family does not have to be from blood because these girls are practically like my family now, even though we are not blood. They are who I am, and they are what made me who I am. And that is like one of our songs, We Are Family, and I think that speaks.
((NATS))
((NATS))
((Sara Ali, Pihcintu Chorus Member from Sudan)) I like being in the Pihcintu Choir because it gives you a voice for who you are, and with every voice, there is a story behind it.
((NATS))
((Girl1)) I am from Uganda. ((Girl2)) I am from Iraq ((Girl3)) I am from Sudan. ((Girl4)) I lived in a refugee camp in Ethiopia.
((NATS))
((Con Fullam, Founder, Pihcintu Chorus)) The Pihcintu Chorus was created to give immigrant and refugee children their voices back, because the very first thing you lose when you come to a new country, quite literally, is your voice. So, being able to join a chorus of like-minded kids, who also struggle with language, is a very positive and powerful way to bring these kids into the culture and into the English language.
((NATS))
((Con Fullam, Founder, Pihcintu Chorus)) I am a singer-songwriter, composer, television producer, and I founded Pihcintu, this multinational refugee and immigrant girls’ chorus, 14 years ago in Portland, Maine. We have 34 girls from 21 countries.
((NATS))
((Con Fullam, Founder, Pihcintu Chorus)) Pihcintu is an (American) Indian word and it means when they sing, their voices carry far.
((NATS))
Please welcome, Pihcintu.
((Con Fullam, Founder, Pihcintu Chorus)) So, we are based in Portland, Maine, but we were invited to come and perform at the One Journey Festival here in Washington, DC.
((NATS))
((Vanda Berninger, Co-founder, One Journey Festival)) One Journey Festival is a celebration of the people, who experienced unimaginable struggles, and come in to new societies, and thrive. I think the Pihcintu Choir represents our mission.
((NATS)) Somewhere where we all can live together.....
((Con Fullam, Founder, Pihcintu Chorus)) I write a good deal of the songs for the girls. They choose some of the songs, some of their repertoires. So, it’s a group effort.
((NATS))
((Con Fullam, Founder, Pihcintu Chorus)) The songs really have to do with peace and love and lack of violence, because these kids all come from areas of violence, war torn countries, great violence that has had a tremendous impact on their lives.
((NATS))
((Fatimah Lamloom, Pihcintu Chorus Member from Iraq)) When I sing on stage, I feel empowered. I feel as though when someone hears our songs, that they are going to be touched in some way and they are going to make a change.
((Nyawal Lia, Pihcintu Chorus Member from Sudan)) I joined this chorus when I was very young. And in 2013, I began to do advocacy work, through this chorus, for the South Sudanese people who are going through the genocide and going through famine and all of that.
((NATS))
((Sara Ali, Pihcintu Chorus Member from Sudan)) I've learned that family does not have to be from blood because these girls are practically like my family now, even though we are not blood. They are who I am, and they are what made me who I am. And that is like one of our songs, We Are Family, and I think that speaks.
((NATS))
