You can help separated families here: https://www.raicestexas.org/
Kathleen Supové: Piano and voice
Howie Kenty: Electronics
Recorded at the Queens New Music Festival and at Badbox Studios, NYC, May 2019.
"What We’re Missing" is part of a set of works exploring the political situation under the 45th president of the United States, examining him and the people affected by his policies. It takes as its subject the separation of children from their families, primarily seeking asylum, at the Mexican/US border. The piece focuses on interactions within a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility in Texas in June 2018, captured in an audio recording, authenticated and released by the organization ProPublica. In the recording, heavy with sobbing, we hear dialogue between a border patrol agent, a consular worker, and a number of children. While many of the children are unidentified, six-year-old Salvadoran Alison Jimena Valencia Madrid stands out for her memorization of her aunt’s phone number and her perseverance in asking the workers to allow her to make contact. What We’re Missing uses this dialogue, translated from Spanish into English, condensed, and lightly edited, as its lyrical and musical source material. Transcriptions of the children’s sobbing inform many of the musical gestures.
While Alison was eventually able to make contact and reunite with her family, it doesn’t erase the deep trauma she and the other children have experienced. Nor is hers always the outcome for separated children; while approximately 2,800 children and families have been reunited, as of April 2019, there are still children separated from their families, numbering in the potential thousands. If the administration is allowed to continue its policies, they may remain so for several years.
Seeds for "What We're Missing" were generated while in residence at the Aaron Copland House, July through August, 2017, and it was finalized while in residence at the Oberpfälzer Kunstlerhaus, via the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, in June and July of 2019. Great thanks go to the Copland House, the Oberpfälzer Künstlerhaus, the VCCA, the Queens New Music Festival, and the amazing performer Kathleen Supové.
You can view another work in the series, "Everybody Loves Me," here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzyaXX76rjM
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Papa, papa… Mama…
Oh, papa… Mama…
Well, we have an orchestra here, right?
What we're missing is a conductor.
Papa…
Don't cry. Don’t cry.
This is her ID number.
Keep this number.
Don't lose it.
Where are you from? And you?
Where are your parents?
Don't cry.
Papa… Mama…
At least can I go with my aunt? I want her to come.
I want my aunt to come so she can take me to her house.
I have her number.
Where are you from?
Where are your parents?
Don't cry. Don't cry.
Are you going to call my aunt so she can pick me up?
I have her number memorized.
Papa… Mama…
I want to go, too! I want to go, too!
Where is your mother?
Where are your parents?
Are you going to call my aunt so she can come pick me up?
So my mom can come as soon as possible.
With Papa… with Papa.
Where is the girl from El Salvador?
Do you have the number?
Yes. 3-4-7-2...
You're going to get there. You're going to get there.
Don’t cry. Don’t cry.
