Written by Jamie Ben-Azay and Susan Appe, this was the first of Samsara's songs. It was written about the devastating sanctions on Iraq and the struggles against them. Samsara is honored that our song was included on several benefit compilation CDs; one of songs about the sanctions on Iraq, called 'Stoking the Fires of Resistance', which is a benefit CD for Voices in the Wilderness, a group working to end the sanctions on Iraq (www.stokingthefires.org). The other is Azadi!, an album benefitting RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (info@firemuseum.org).

Take care was written by Rebecca Anders. We sing this song as a challenge to all who hear it, to critically look at their world and take fierce, passionate and urgent action to make positive change in their communities.

Written by Susan Appe. The refrain of this song is from a traditional Scottish ballad about the battle at Cuillodin Field in 1764, another war where the noblemen hired the poor people to give their lives for the noblemen's acquisition of power, land and resources. This song is not specifically about that battle, however, it is about the ravages of war on those who actually have to fight it on the ground, the mental, physical and emotional toll. It was written based on letters and writings of Vietnam veterans and was inspired by letters from the Israeli soldiers who are refusing to fight, today, and those refusing to enlist. To them, this song is dedicated.

Poetry by Chanah Senesh. Chanah Senesh was a Hungarian Jew who was a member of the Resistance during WWII. Upon parachuting into Hungary from then Palestine on a reconnaisance mission for the Resistance, she was arrested by the Nazis. She wrote this poem while in prison, where she taught other inmates to read. She never betrayed any of her fellow freedom fighters, even under torture. She was executed after the orders were given not to execute any more POW's. Samsara has often sung her words as a prayer for justice and peace.

This is a traditional song written about pogroms, the campaign of violence against small jewish villages before World War I. As with all traditional folk music this is just one of many versions of this song, as we have also adapted it. This song is a gift from Jamie's grandmother, who taught it to Jamie when she was a small child. We sing this song in intense remembrance of Jamie's grandmother as she was dying during the recording of this song and passed on as we finished the recording. Her life was echoed in this song and we will sing it always in memory of her and all those who lived and died through the Holocaust.

Oh, Death Have Mercy is a traditional song of the American south and Appalachia and has appeared in many musical traditions from Bluegrass to white and African American Spirituals. Samsara's version of Oh, Death Have Mercy is an adaptation of a field recording from the 1930's of blues legend Vera Hall Ward with an original arrangement by the lovely and talented Casey Connor, a close friend and co-conspirator.

Lady Mary is a sea song, passed on to us at the monthly Sea Chantey Sing on the ship the Thayer at the Hyde Street pier in San Francisco. We feel it belongs in our repertoire because it speaks to the destruction of communities that happens for the blood thirsty hunger for capital and war.

This song began as a few verses of a Clayoquot lullaby, with melody, arrangement and several new verses by Samsara. The Clayoquot people are in the area known as British Columbia, and you can learn more about them and their struggles for the land at www.ancientforest.org. Our most memorable experience of this song was in March of 2003 when we had the honor of singing to Tahmeena Faryal, truly a wild rose, and a lifetime member of RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, who was touring the world speaking about life in Afghanistan after one year of U.S. occupation. Please read the book "With All our Strength" by Anne E. Brodsky, and go to the website www.rawa.org for more information.

Mo lih ta is a traditional Bulgarian folk song. It is the words of a young girl: "Mother, I begged you not to marry me off, mother, not before the spring and summer when the girls go to the dances and wear their adornments. You married me off too soon, mother, too soon."

Jasper, TX is the first piece from Samsara's Prison Poetry Project. Samsara is soliciting poetry from incarcerated poets and composing vocal music to turn them into songs. This poem, Jasper, TX was written by activist, political prisoner and artist Marilyn Buck, who is currently serving an 80 year sentence in the Federal Correctional Institute in Dublin, California for her role in helping Black Panther Assata Shakur escape from prison, and to exile in Cuba. The CD project when complete will be a benefit for the California Coalition for Women Prisoners. Please learn more about Marilyn Buck at www.prisonactivist.org, and read more of her work in her poetry book: "Rescue the Word". Samsara is honored to have contributed this song to a benefit CD of Marilyn Buck's poetry, along with Piri Tomas, and Uchechi Kalu.

We learned this song from Mark Levy, in a workshop he was teaching on Yiddish labor songs. He is a brilliant musician and incredible resource, Samsara is very grateful to him for passing this song on to us. This song was written by Morris Rosenfeld in 1910. It was sung in the streets at the protests following the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911 and at the Bread and Roses strike in 1912, and during the growing women's labor movement throughout the following century. The paraphrased english translation is: "Don't look for me where the myrtles grow, you will not find me there, my home is by the machines, that is my final resting place. Don't look for me where the birds are singing, you will not find me there, where chains ring, that is my final resting place. Don't look for me where the fountains spring, you will not find me there, where the tears run, and teeth gnash, that is my resting place. If you really love me, come to me and sweeten my resting place."

Bread and Roses is a song written to commemorate the Women textile workers strike of 1912 in Lawrence, Massachusetts, commonly known as the Bread and Roses Strike. In the winter of 1912 over 40,000 women and girls, half of whom were between the ages of 14-18, speaking over 40 different languages, walked out of the Lawrence Textile Mills where they had had their pay cut, machines sped up and their room and board costs raised again. A woman striker carried a sign that read "We want Bread, but we want Roses, too". The women stayed out on strike all through the bitter winter and horrendous police repression until finally on March 8th of 1912 they won their demands. We now celebrate International Women's day on March 8th in commemoration of that strike. Like many of the early I.W.W. songs, this song was originally a hymn with lyrics re-written by James Oppenheim, and later with the melody re-written by Mimi Farina (1945-2001), founder of the musician's organization "Bread and Roses", dedicated to providing free live concerts to people in prisons and in hospitals. This is Samsara's adapted version and we are so honored and blessed to be joined by the most amazing group of women community activists and singers: Rashida Clendenning, Juanita Brown, Lina Hoshino, Delia Nakayama and Uchechi Kalu.