Songs of Issa — A Fund for Music, Grief & Transformation

This fundraiser supports the ongoing creation of Songs of Issa, a living music and arts project born from love, loss, and the evolving relationship between grief and creativity.

At its heart, this work is shaped by the life and passing of Issa Ixchel, only daughter of singer & writer Lucy Sessions & Fernando Brito, and by the question of how we continue our relationship with those we love beyond death — not only in memory, but through sound, story, and creative expression.

What began as a personal process of mourning has grown into a wider offering: a body of work exploring grief not as something to “move past,” but as something that can be witnessed, expressed, and transformed into meaning.

The album

The immediate focus of this fundraiser is the completion of the Songs of Issa album.

Your support will go directly towards:

* Recording studio time

* Mixing and mastering

* Musicians’ fees

* Production costs to complete the album

The intention is to make the album freely accessible to listen and download, so it can reach those who need it without financial barrier. A limited number of physical editions will also be created for those who wish to hold the work in physical form.

A wider living project - Singing in the Dark

While the album is a key milestone, Songs of Issa is an ongoing project.

Alongside the music, it includes:

* Intimate concerts (free or low-cost where possible)

* Workshops on voice, creativity, grief, and transformation

* Talks and participation in gatherings focused on grief and creative practice

* The development of a book weaving story, reflection, and artistic process

The aim is to create spaces where grief is not hidden or isolated, but met with creativity, presence, and care — and where people can reconnect with their own capacity to transform experience through art.

Why this matters

Grief is often rushed, contained, or carried alone. Many people do not have spaces where they can express or integrate loss in a supported way.

This project is an invitation toward something different:

that grief can be creative,

that loss can remain a form of relationship,

and that music can hold what words cannot.

Songs of Issa is also about legacy — not only Issa’s, but the wider question of how we carry what we love forward, and how meaning continues to unfold through creative expression.

Over time, the project aims to support others in developing their own grief-informed creative work — in music, writing, ritual, and collective practice.

Where your support goes

At this stage, funding the album is essential. It is the foundation that allows all other aspects of the project to grow and be shared.

Your contribution directly supports:

* Completing the album

* Fair payment for collaborators

* Making the work freely accessible

* Laying the groundwork for future concerts, workshops, and the book

Closing

This is a living project, still unfolding.

Thank you for supporting its continuation — whether through funding, sharing, or simply holding it in awareness.

Every contribution helps bring Songs of Issa into form, and helps create spaces where grief, music, and meaning can meet.

Thank you for contributing to this musical legacy: the Songs of Issa.