<div>Hi all, I'm <strong>Shireen Amini</strong>, a queer Puerto Rican Iranian-American artist, community facilitator, and music educator. I’ve released 3 albums as a singer-songwriter, but in recent years, a new format of song has emerged for me as I’ve stepped into the world of community singing. These are <strong>simple, powerful songs</strong> that have unlocked resource and catalyzed liberation for myself and others, offering healing and connection in ways I never expected. This has inspired the vision for <strong><em>my first community song album</em></strong>, tentatively titled <strong>“Gather Your Resilience: Medicine Songs for Liberation,”</strong> and marks the next step in my musical evolution, blending the personal with the communal.
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<div><strong>What is a Community Song Album?</strong>
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<div>Over the past five years, my journey has taken me into the emergent culture of community singing, rooted in values of healing, justice, and interconnectedness. I’ve always been a performing artist, but this album marks a new direction: <strong>songs meant to be sung together, not just listened to</strong>...songs meant to build relationship with both personally <em>and</em> in community.
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<div><strong>Why “Medicine Songs for Liberation”?</strong>
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<div>Medicine songs, to me, are songs designed to heal trauma and empower the spirit. I use the word "medicine" with deep respect, acknowledging the spiritual and cultural significance it holds in various traditions. In this context, medicine refers to music that facilitates emotional and spiritual healing in ways that are transformative and mysterious. It carries a quality that speaks to the soul’s capacity to grow, shift, and reconnect. I believe that the traumas we carry, often rooted in cultural and systemic oppression, can be unraveled through music. By healing ourselves, we can heal the systems that bind us. As we claim our wholeness and our power to live freely, we create new systems that outgrow the old ones.
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<div>And so this album project intends to close the gap between personal healing (medicine ways) and liberation from the world’s injustices, creating a theme of <strong>self-liberation</strong> that is amplified into our collective body when we sing together.
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<div><strong>Why Does This Matter Now?</strong>
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<div>We are living in a moment when oppression continues to manifest in increasingly harmful ways. With the current political landscape threatening rights and freedoms across the board, it feels urgent to find ways to resist, especially by coming together, rooting ourselves in compassion, and transforming our collective energy.
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<div><em>As a trans queer person of color</em>, I hold identities along with so many beloved kin in this country that are particularly being targeted by the current administration. These songs have helped me liberate myself from generational trauma and toxic, oppressive cultural systems. I want to share them as they may help others, of any backgrounds and identities but especially marginalized ones, do the same. This album is a part of my <em>liberatory counter-agenda</em> of the moment<em>, </em>a tool for <strong><em>collective immunity and resistance.</em></strong>
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<div><strong>Collaborating with Tracy LJ Robertson</strong>
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<div>I’m honored to collaborate with my musical kindred spirit on this project, Tracy LJ Robertson, a mixed race, Black American male-identified musician. Tracy and I have been working together for the past year, visioning, planning, and arranging songs as part of our pre-production process. Our collaboration is an exciting exchange between the vibrant East Coast and my West Coast roots. With a diverse background, ranging from his time at Berklee College of Music to performing and recording with renowned artists such as Bobby McFerrin, Justin Timberlake, and Billie Eilish, his musical sensibilities are a strong complement my own. Not only is Tracy an incredibly talented vocalist, educator, and vocal percussionist but he also is a spiritually-rooted, heartfelt individual who believes in the transformative power of music. This combination of musical mastery and soul-driven purpose is what makes our collaboration so aligned and exciting. Together, we are bringing fresh energy and intention to this album, working not just as musicians but as <strong>co-creators of something bigger than ourselves</strong>.
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<div><strong>Song Selection</strong>
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<div>Every song on this album has already served its purpose in my own healing journey. Born from pain, need, and spiritual truth, they’ve guided me through challenging times and helped me shift long-held patterns. I’ve already shared them in community singing circles, and the feedback has been profound, whether they’ve raised spirits, cleansed grief, or inspired dance, these songs have a life of their own. Now, it’s time to record them in their fullest artistic form and make them more widely accessible.
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<div>Here are some of the slated tracks:
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<div><em>Gather Your Resilience</em>
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<div><em>You Are Safe Now</em>
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<div><em>I Am Free in My Body</em>
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<div><em>You’ve Got Your Back</em>
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<div><em>Doesn’t Mean</em>
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<div><em>Sacred Irony</em>
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<div><em>We Got the Light</em>
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<div><strong>The Cost of Making This Album</strong>
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<div>Creating this album will require skilled artists and collaborators, including guest musicians, engineers, and designers. The funds will go toward:
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<div><em>Production, arranging, and project admin labor (Tracy and I)</em>
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<div><em>Sound engineer fees (recording, mixing, and mastering)</em>
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<div><em>Guest artists and musicians (including collaborators from Puerto Rico)</em>
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<div><em>Travel expenses</em>
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<div><em>Album distribution and promotion</em>
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<div><em>Artwork and design (cover art, songbook)</em>
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<div><strong>Why Your Support Matters</strong>
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<div>This project is about much more than creating music—it’s about <strong>creating a tool for liberation</strong>, a force for change in the world. With your support, this album will become a part of the movement that restores interconnected care, justice, and joy. It’s also about pulling the music industry back into alignment with the higher good, not as a trend-focused medium, but as a revolutionary force in cultural change.
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<div>I am deeply intentional about this work. It is practical yet mysteriously guided. It is long overdue yet right on time. Together, we can bring this music into the world in more expansive ways and create a ripple of healing that spreads far and wide.
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<div><strong>How to Contribute</strong>
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<div>I invite contributions that feel authentic, inspired, and within your means. It’s important to me to counteract the typical culture of pressure or guilt around fundraising. Please know that whatever amount you are able to give, whether big or small, is deeply appreciated, and your support, in any form, is a powerful part of this journey. While we are hoping <strong><em>to reach our full goal within the first 30 days</em></strong>, every contribution counts and means so much. If you feel inspired, sharing this campaign with others is another wonderful way to help bring this album to life.
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<div>As a token of my gratitude, all contributors to this campaign will be <strong><em>acknowledged in the album’s liner notes</em></strong>—unless you prefer to remain anonymous or wish to opt out of the acknowledgment.
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<div>Thank you so much for considering supporting this project. With your help, we can make this album a reality, one that I hope will serve for years to come.
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