A PROCLAMATION FOR PEACE

English Text is by Kim Stafford.

Translations of Stafford’s poem are by Moazzam Sheikh, Amna Ali, Anne-Charlotte Giovangrandi, Inna Kovtun, El Habib Louai, Malcolm Goldman, D.P. Snyder, and Allison DeFreese.

Versions are available for one or more solo voices, SA and SATB choirs, and variousinstrumentation, including choir with symphony orchestra.Duration: 4:00 or 8:00 minutes. (See below for more detailed information.)Former Oregon Poet Laureate Kim Stafford’s powerful poem “A Proclamation for Peace” hasbeen translated into more than 100 languages. Many of these have been gathered into abeautiful book, with a QR code on every page leading to a native translator reading the poem ineach language. After having set three of his poems for the song cycle Hammering My Heart,Kim and I met to discuss ideas for future collaborations. When I read his poetic commitment toPeace and looked through the translations, I heard music arising through the words. With Kim’spermission, I set out to compose a song in English whose melody would be repeated with eachphrase sung in a different language, adapted from the translations in Kim’s book. From there, Ienvisioned a short film featuring seven international singers performing the song in varioussettings around Portland, Oregon. This Peace Film would be Portland’s gift to the world, hopingto inspire people in many cultures with Kim’s words of peace.

To our great good fortune, international award-winning filmmaker Ron Bourke agreed tocollaborate with us on the project. Sankar Raman, founding director of The Immigrant Story,helped us find several of the wonderful singers we needed, who perform the song in English,Punjabi, French, Ukrainian, Arabic, German, and Spanish. For accompaniment on the filmversion, I chose piano, cello, melodica, oud, guitar, and tabla. The film will receive a localscreening at the Portland Art Museum in November 2026, before being releasedinternationally, along with the song. A link to the film will be here soon.

One of the main goals in creating the film is to encourage international and intercultural liveperformances of the Peace Song in schools, churches, community gatherings, rallies, meetings,and homes. To that end, I have created several arrangements of the music for use in differentsettings: the film score solo version, with instruments as listed above; a shorter solo version,English-only, with piano and/or cello; an SATB choral version in English, with piano and/or cello;a longer SATB choral version in 7 languages, with piano and/or cello, or the film scoreinstruments; a shorter SA treble choir version in English, with piano and/or cello; and also twoEnglish and 7-language SATB choral versions with symphony orchestra (coming soon).

Adaptations of this music are allowed under certain conditions. If you would like to perform AProclamation for Peace in languages and with instruments not included here, please contact mefor assistance and permission. Prices for each score are listed below, however if you or yourorganization is suffering from financial hardship, please also contact me with details about howand where you wish to perform the Peace Song, along with a request for a free score:Theresa@tikkunmusic.com.