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The Green Guard with Mira Manickam - Truth of the Past

from Green Guard and other projects by Mira Manic and friends

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This track was produced in collaboration with the brilliant youth of the Green Guard, an intergenerational hip hop collaboration I initiated in Spring 2014. The Green Guard explored the theme of urban nature, and the diverse ways we connect to the earth as city dwellers in Oakland.

The Green Guard youth laid out the framework for the piece. The idea was to tell an ancestor story in four movements about the history of Oakland, through a combination of poetry, rap, song, and dance, The first movement would describe the land before humans lived there, the second movement would tell the story of the Ohlone people living in tune with the resources that surrounded them, and the third movement would describe the interruption of colonization, and the eventual building of Oakland on top of the earth. These would all lead to the final movement, which would call for community healing and rebuilding our connections to nature. At some point the idea arose to tell the story from the perspective of an oak tree, for whom Oakland is named. The first two movements are accompanied by an interpretive dance which you can watch on the Green Guard vimeo site.

The Green Guard project took place at United Roots in Oakland and was supported through an artists grant I received from the Open Circle Foundation. You can view our finished poems and videos here:
vimeo.com/album/2965685

credits

from Green Guard and other projects, released October 11, 2014
Produced by Mira Manickam and the Green Guard
Instrumental by Mazin Maghoub
Poetry by Lali Wilde and Ida Keller
Rap by Mira Manickam
Vocals by Ida Keller and Mazin Maghoub

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Mira Oakland, California

¡Mira Manic! I am Mira ¡Mira Mira! Looking at the world with eyes wide open. Manic, gulping up life with a ravenous hunger. Honoring Manickam, the dazzling gem inside the head of a cobra, who could hunt at night by it's sparkling light, the name of my ancestors. 6 foot tall, nature-nerd, surfer, ninja, educator, author, ethnically complicated, M.C. Rooted in Oakland by way of Jerzzy. ... more

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