Seven Generations (World Premiere in Makhanda, South Africa) by Mark Stone

“Seven Generations” is a jazz composition by American Baha’i musician, composer and percussionist Mark Stone.

The inspiration for this piece came when Mark contemplated the Indigenous wisdom of the impacts of actions on seven generations into the past and seven generations into the future.

I see a time of seven generations when all the colours of mankind will gather under the sacred tree of life and the whole earth will become one circle again.

– Tȟašúŋke Witkó (Crazy Horse), Oglala Lakota Leader (1840-1877)

After sitting on the beach near Cape Coast Castle in Ghana where thousands of enslaved Africans were imprisoned and torn from their homeland, he contemplated the fact that it has only been seven generations since the slave trade ended at Cape Coast, and he meditated on the long road ahead of us to ensure justice and equity for all future generations.

This work is dedicated to all the ancestors who passed through Cape Coast Castle and their descendants.

Find out more about Mark Stone’s music and work by visiting his website.

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Sonjel Vreeland

In her innermost heart, Sonjel is a stay-at-home parent and a bookworm with a maxed out library card but professionally she is a museologist with a background in English Literature. She currently lives on Prince Edward Island, an isle in the shape of a smile on the eastern Canadian coast. Sonjel is a writer who loves to listen to jazz when she's driving at night.