Today we’re joined by artist, musician and communal grief ritual facilitator Alexandra “ahlay” Blakey to speak about the cultural forgetting of communal mourning, the sacred role of professional mourners, and the re-emergence of grief ceremonies as necessary spaces of remembrance, healing and repair.

Ahlay brings her experience weaving song, body, and ritual into collective spaces where grief is given breath and movement, and we explore the history of grief practices across cultures, the political power of public mourning, and how grief can soften the heart and stitch community back together. We explore what to expect in a communal grief ceremony, and ahlay shares the story behind her 200-voice album WAILS: Songs for Grief, inspired by whales, ancestral sorrow, and Francis Weller’s work. Within the episode are woven tracks of her haunting songs, so tune up your headphones, and sink in.

Episode Website Link

Show Links:

• Healing at the Roots: ahlay’s website
• Song: Carry this All
• The Sacred Role of Eastern European Professional Mourners
• Sobonfu Some
• WAILS: Songs For Grief
• One Body Song Circle Live
• Francis Weller
• Book: Dangerous Voices
• Book: Caliban and the Witch
• Martin Prechtel
• Myth of Lindworm: Martin Shaw
• Bandcamp
• Youtube Channel
• Spotify
• Soundcloud
• Instagram

Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd

Photo Credit: Cover image (Earth Altering)

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