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Saunder Choi
Saunder Choi Music
Bed Run Dry
Bed Run Dry is a choral work that examines the environmental and social justice implications of the Owens Valley water diversion, exploring the historical and ongoing impact of the California Water Wars.
SMATTB a cappella
Bed Run Dry is a powerful choral composition that continues the exploration of the elements through a climate and social justice lens, following Crown of Flames (2020). This piece tells the poignant story of Owens Lake in the Eastern Sierras, once a thriving water source for the Timbisha/Mono people, which was tragically diverted in 1913 to feed Los Angeles via the LA Aqueduct. As the lake dried up, it sparked the California Water Wars, a battle for resources with far-reaching environmental and social consequences. Bed Run Dry invites reflection on the intersection of nature, water rights, and the human impact on the environment, and urges listeners to confront the realities of resource depletion and the urgent need for environmental justice.
Composer’s Notes
Bed Run Dry is part of an on-going series of pieces that explore the elements (fire, water, air, earth) through a climate/social justice lens, following Crown of Flames (2020).
This piece looks into the story of the Owens Valley and its lake in the Eastern Sierras. Named Payahǖǖnadǖ in the Native American Timbisha/Mono, it means “place of flowing water.” In 1913, its waters were diverted to feed the city of Los Angeles, 200 miles south, through the creation of the LA Aqueduct. Before the diversion, Owens Lake was up to 12 miles long and 8 miles wide, with an average depth of 23-50 feet. By 1926, the lake was dessicate, disparaging the communities that relied on it. This began a series of litigations and political conflicts known as the California Water Wars.
Bed Run Dry was commissioned by the William Baker Choral Foundation for Vox Venti — Ed Frazier Davis, artistic director. Its premiere was given in Chicago on May 2023.
-Saunder Choi
Text
Where can a river sleep
When its bed runs dry?
Land of little rain
In the mountain’s shadow,
At the mouth of the metropolis —
Land of little rain
A city is thirsty.
In the tracks of glaciers,
The earthquake’s eye.
At Camp Independence,
stolen people died.
Where can a river sleep
When its bed runs dry?
Now Hell’s Angels race
The sun for burning tarmac.
The lawyers say pay up.
It will take years for sagebrush
& salt grasses to return.
A person, too, is mostly water.
Glacier-sculpted, earthquake-carved
Where can a river sleep
When its bed runs dry?
-Brian Sonia-Wallace
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