>> What's known as a sound healing experience is being held at the West Sides.

Karen Center for the Arts this Sunday, the event called the listening field is presented by decomposed a black Chamber music collective in collaboration with singer, songwriter, poet Jane of All Arts G Woods.

Its goal is to explore themes of rest, introspection and liberation.

Joining us now with more, our singer, songwriter, poet and Chicago's South Side native Jamila Woods and Corey Coleman, founder and executive and artistic director of Decompose.

Ladies, Welcome to Chicago in a black boy says Ledger Thank you for having route tell you guys work together Corey, let's start with you.

The listening field, first of its kind event.

>> Why was this important to bring sort of the healing and meditative experience to the Austin neighborhood?

>> So the reason it's so important, as we know right now, more than ever, people just need a space to just be to just exist.

And I feel like when we think about the healing powers of sound healing, it allows you just release those emotions that you might be feeling in a safe and comfortable space.

So that's why we wanted to bring it to the Austin neighborhood.

But often time when we think about engaging communities.

I think the Southside get so much love.

So we want to show love to West side and be able to bring that experience there as well.

What is sound healing so sound healing to me?

I think oftentimes we think about it, we might think of it as singing bowls or times.

But I like to think that ashes allowing music to allow yourself to just reflect, look inward and kind of look within yourself.

So I feel like this experience is providing the many interpretations of what sound healing could be.

Jamila talk, if you would, please a little bit about the concept of rest in the black community, especially right now.

There's been a lot more conversation rest as resistance.

>> Yes, more.

>> Definitely.

Yes.

I think it's really important to consider, especially for black folks to consider rest sake, not only to refuel us to go out there and do more work, but to really think about the ways that our ancestors weren't allowed.

That as a luxury and to reclaim that for ourselves as a time to really go into ourselves, going word to really allow ourselves to heal.

>> Corey, I think you over this was inspired by Zora Neale hurston's.

Their eyes were watching God.

Yes.

Tell me how.

>> Yeah.

So with the K minus enter their starting this year is called our nature and they're having a collective kind of community reading project around Zora Neale hurston's.

Their eyes were watching God.

So what we've done is we've taken inspiration from some of those themes that you would see within the tax and really kind of providing our own interpretation through poetry as well as the music of black composer.

So where kicking off the series hoping it kind of inspires the new way to look at the tax when the community begins to read it on gym Ealier first studio album came out nearly a decade ago and from heaven to most recent project, water made us.

>> You've been unapologetically and probably black, which we obviously celebrate here on black voices.

Tell me how you use music sort of as a tool to heal yourself and others.

>> Yes, I think about growing up in my grandmother's church in the church choir, too, performing in the Chicago Children's Choir now known as Uniting Voices and really understanding the healing power of music from a very young age.

I would see people and church trends muting heavy emotions.

I would see.

my choir director telling us stories of Martin Luther King Junior always, you know, requesting certain gospel songs that would help him him the energy to keep going.

And so I really think about my work as an artist has already been very much sound healing.

I love transforming a room with my music and I definitely feel like I've transmitted a lot of my own traumas and stories through music that I write as well.

So I think about being an artist as really a reciprocal relationship.

It's not only about what the music is doing for me, but what I can also show up for my community because so much of why became an artist because of the community programs and I attended and, you know, my church and things like that as well.

And sounds like this event is obviously an extension of that.

Yes, for All Corey black musicians typically aren't parts the chamber.

Classical music conversation.

Tell us how you also center of the black experience.

>> Through your music to your musicians, but also the music, the composer's.

Yeah.

So everything that decomposed eyes, we only exclusively feature the works.

A black composers.

>> And we do that because oftentimes when people are thinking of classical music, they aren't thinking about the contributions of black classical musicians and black composers.

So our goal is to really kind of redefine and re.

Imagine that narrative and imagine a future where classical music is very black.

>> So everything that we do is celebrating that experience.

But it's also recognizing that our audiences are a monolith.

They come from different backgrounds, different experiences.

And we just want to show that back to us.

black culture and everything it is that we And some of that involves some playing, you know, modern musicians like a little Beyonce, projections, Nile.

But before they were doing great Exactly.

okay.

So this isn't the first time as we discovered.

This is not the first time that the 2 of you collaborated because you speak in unison.

Sometimes here's a moment from a performance that you 2 had together back in 2021.

On the Stephen Colbert show.

>> How did this partnership formed between 2 of you a welcome to First?

>> Yes, I heard a lot about the work of decomposed and and I reached out to them to really make the songs that's inspired by Toni Morrison's novel of the same name.

Just really make a special version of the song.

And it turned out that that day we were just talking about news days where your story might get pushed to And so that day was January so they ended up not pushing it out, but rather like using it kind like this bomb at the end of a very heavy moment.

>> So I I think it's just speaking to the power of music to kind of soothing also allow folks time to process things that might be happening.

This what I hope they can do at our event.

Yeah.

Before let the 2 of you go because it's also a there's a waitlist already.

hopefully have recommendations for people who are unable to make it all.

But Corey, what's next for you?

What's next for decomposed?

>> I think what's next for decomposes you're going to see is continuing to amplify the works.

A black composers rain continued.

It brought in all the artists that we work with and just really extending our impact, even be on Chicago.

>> But you'll always be able to see us here right in the city.

Amplify this work.

10 seconds to me.

Listen, question to If I hope to continue to do more collaboration with the composer also more events with sound healing.

>> We're going to really transform the space and I hope people enjoy it.

So folks in at this time and hopefully there will be another