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About the Composer

Mari Esabel Valverde

Award-winning transgender Mexican-American composer Mari Esabel Valverde has been commissioned by the American Choral Directors Association, Boston Choral Ensemble, Cantus, the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses, Los Angeles Master Chorale, One Voice Mixed Chorus, Portland’s Resonance Ensemble, Seattle Men’s and Women’s Choruses, the Texas Music Educators Association, and the University of Michigan Men’s Glee...

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Mari Esabel Valverde

Border Lines

Name: Border Lines
SKU: MVC-174
Availability: InStock

Mari Esabel Valverde

Born out of empathy for immigrants to the United States who have been separated from their families.

Choral

mixed choir

1-2 instruments

Difficulty: 3

Duration: 5-10 min.

MVC-174

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for SATB divisi chorus and guitar or cello (part included with download).

“Border Lines” is born out of empathy for immigrants to the United States who have been separated from their families. The music is inspired in meter and melody by Central American folk song, and the guitar portrays the undulations of “el río” as the narrative unfolds, expressing a clear yearning for belonging.

Composer’s Notes

“Border Lines” was composed for Adams State University’s choral concert series “An Immigrant’s Tale: Hopes, Dreams, and Fears in an Uncertain Time” as part of their ETHOS project—Exploring Equity through Music. In collaboration with Harlem-based Afro-Latina poet Yesenia Montilla, this work is born out of empathy for immigrants to the United States who have been separated from their families in the spirit of xenophobia. Her words call out the arbitrary nature of geopolitical borders and implore all of us to unify at our roots in our common humanity. The music is inspired in meter and melody by Central American folk song; and the guitar, a common denominator in a variety of folk traditions, portrays the undulations of “el río” as the narrative unfolds, expressing a clear yearning for belonging.

*Please credit Ms. Montilla in programs and album liner notes with this statement verbatim.

Text

Some maps have blue borders
like the blue of your name
or the tributary lacing of
veins running through your
father’s hands. & how the last
time I saw you, you held
me for so long I saw whole
lifetimes flooding by me
small tentacles reaching
for both our faces. I wish
maps would be without
borders & that we belonged
to no one & to everyone
at once, what a world that
would be. Or not a world
maybe we would call it
something more intrinsic
like forgiving or something
simplistic like river or dirt.
& if I were to see you
tomorrow & everyone you
came from had disappeared
I would weep with you & drown
out any black lines that this
earth allowed us to give it—
because what is a map but
a useless prison? We are all
so lost & no naming of blank
spaces can save us. & what
is a map but the delusion of
safety? The line drawn is always
in the sand & folds on itself
before we’re done making it.
& that line, there, south of
el río, how it dares to cover
up the bodies, as though we
would forget who died there
& for what? As if we could
forget that if you spin a globe
& stop it with your finger
you’ll land it on top of someone
living, someone who was not
expecting to be crushed by thirst—