Commissioned by the Greater South Jersey Chorus
For SATB Chorus, Solo Soprano, Clarinet, Marimba, and Piano
World Premiere on May 4, 2025
Concert information and tickets →
About the Work
Like many nations, Nigeria feels the pull between the economic stability of fossil fuel extraction and tragic environmental degradation. How do we support countries while they transition to sustainable technologies? On Our Watch challenges our assumption that it’s someone else’s problem to solve.
In the opening movement, the music waltzes as the text asks whether the watchman has been sleeping through their responsibilities, urging the watchman (and all of us) to wake up.
The second movement channels our anger as we see the direct consequences of climate change. In this movement, the text prompts us to “reclaim Ubuntu,” translated as “I am because we are” or “humanity towards others.” Our well-being is deeply tied to the well-being of others, emphasizing compassion, mutual support, and shared responsibility.
The third movement finds us lying awake, pondering whether those we asked to protect us enabled the planet’s destruction. We cannot sleep; we can no longer delegate that responsibility.
Words of Ubuntu fill the fourth and final movement of the work, bringing together gestures from earlier in the piece. The music gives hope for new community action to undo past mistakes and take on this massive challenge.
Our collective responsibility is to protect and care for all corners of our shared planet. We must reclaim Ubuntu.
Poems from “I Will Not Dance To Your Beat,” copyright 2011 by Nnimmo Bassey, reprinted with permission by the author. You can learn more about the author by visiting https://nnimmobassey.africa.
Cover artwork, “The vacant watchtower provides no shade,” painted by Rivi Yermish, copyright 2024, used with permission from the artist. You can learn more about the artist at https://riviyermish.com.