Our intention

Carrying songs with respect

These are the songs that opened me. They brought me healing, and they brought me into connection with people all over the world. I share them so they can keep doing that, and I want to share them with the utmost respect for where they come from.

Appreciation and appropriation

Appreciation honours where a song comes from. Appropriation takes the song and leaves its people behind. The difference usually lives in small, careful things: knowing a song's story, saying its words with care, naming who it belongs to, and giving something back.

How we carry these songs

Every song names its source.When I know who wrote a song, their name and their music are on its page. When a song is traditional, I name the tradition and the people it comes from.
Songwriters keep their names on their songs.Where a song has a living songwriter, their name sits with the words, and their recording and their links are on the page. Listen to them, follow them, buy their music. If you wrote one of these songs and would rather the words were not here, write to me and I will take them down.
Learn the story before you lead it.Every mantra here comes with its meaning. Take time with a song's language, its pronunciation and its history before you bring it to a circle.
Sacred songs stay sacred.Some of these songs come from ceremony, from Indigenous peoples of the Americas, and from living devotional traditions in India and beyond. Sing them with reverence, and keep them away from settings where they'd become a performance or a product.
Ask before you perform or record.If you'd like to sing a song at a paid event or record it, reach out to the songwriter first.
Say where it comes from.When you lead a song, tell the circle whose song it is and where it was born. It takes ten seconds and it changes how a room sings.
Give back.Support the artists, and where you can, support the communities these songs come from.

How to honour the songwriters

Most of the people behind these songs are living, working musicians. Streaming pays them a fraction of a cent per play, so the songs you love on repeat earn them almost nothing. Here are simple ways to give back.

Buy the music directly.Bandcamp or the artist’s own website puts the most money in their hands. A download costs less than a coffee and means the world to them.
Follow them and say thank you.A message telling a songwriter their song carried you through something is a gift. Join their mailing list so you hear about their next album or circle.
Go and sing with them.Many of these songwriters lead circles, concerts and retreats. Singing a song with the person who wrote it is something else entirely.
Ask before you perform or record.Before you sing someone’s song at a ticketed event, or record it, write to them, get their yes, and agree a fair exchange.
Keep the song as it was given.If you don’t know the songwriter, keep their words and melody as they wrote them. Ask before you change them.
Name them every time.When you lead a song, say who wrote it. When you share a video, tag them. It costs nothing and it helps their music find new ears.
Honour the traditions too.For songs from other cultures, learn the language and the story, check your pronunciation with someone from that tradition, and thank it out loud when you sing.

A note to the songwriters

My intention with this site is to spread the love of your beautiful music, and to help connect you with the hearts and voices of the people singing your songs around the world. If there are links you’d prefer on your page, or a better way for people to support you, please let me know. I’ll change it straight away.

I'm still learning

If you belong to a tradition represented here, or you wrote one of these songs, and something doesn't sit right, I'd be truly grateful to hear from you. Your words help me carry these songs better.

Write to me