Songs Of
Mother Europe
A 10-week workshop series
to explore the ancient songs and sounds of Europe!
NEW COURSE STARTING EARLY OCTOBER
AUTUMN TEACHERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED SOON!
The teachers below are from our Winter/Spring series.
In these modern times we are so privileged to receive cultural wisdom from all over the world, and yet, so many of us yearn to remember our own people's ways.
Teachers have been featured in
What’s Included
This Songs of Mother Europe series is intended to connect you more deeply with your ancestral remembrance – in visceral ways – through learning the old methods of singing.
We know that song has the power to awaken ancient memory.
My prayer is that this series will do just that.
- Opening and Closing Calls w/ Hanna Leigh
- 8 Singing & Storytelling Workshops with Guest Teachers
- 4 Bonus Sessions w/ Hanna Leigh & Guest Teachers
- A moderated community sharing forum (not on FB)
What You'll Learn
10 song carriers will point us back to our indigenous European roots through the teaching of old songs and ways of singing.
- 11+ simple, old/traditional songs from 8 regions throughout Europe
- Cultural context that these songs arise from
- Accompanying vocal technique of different traditions
Participant Reviews
How It Works
Step One
Confirm your interest by signing up on the registration page.
Step Two
Put the classes & bonus sessions on your calendar.
Step Three
Join us live for these rich, cultural singing workshops!
Why This Program?
Hi! My name is Hanna Leigh, (IG: @hannaleighsong) originally from California (Chumash territory) though currently on an extended ancestral pilgrimage in the British Isles. My people migrated to the U.S. several generations ago from England, Scotland, Norway, Germany and the Netherlands.
I created this program out of a clear calling to begin tracing the songlines of my European ancestry, and to provide a space for others who are also called to rediscover these old pathways of song.
As a Singer-Songwriter, Voice Doula, Ritualist, and Devotee of this precious, living Earth, I’ve had the gift of attending many beautiful ceremonies of indigenous peoples over the last 15 years. At some point I realized that I had gathered a bundle of medicine songs & chants from diverse world traditions – but none from the lands of my ancestors!
Here I have gathered knowledgeable song-carriers & culture-bearers from across Europe to teach us the old songs and ways of singing.
Who Is This For?
Those who wish to learn old songs and ways of singing from Europe
Lovers of song (even if you don’t consider yourself a “singer”)
Those who are inspired to connect with ancestral wisdom and remember the old ways
“Our songs travel the earth.
We sing to one another.
Not a single note is ever lost and no song is original.
They all come from the same place and go back to a time when only the stones howled.”
Louise Erdrich
Program Overview
Through the songs and sounds shared by our guest teachers, may the living reality of earth and ancestral belonging be rekindled within you.
Classes are on Thursdays @ 9:30am PST/5:30pm GMT
Week 1
16th February
Opening Call w/ Hanna Leigh
Week 2
23rd February
Old Melodies of the Portuguese Roots w/ Mariana Root
Week 3
2nd March
A Basque Love Song to Nature
w/ Amaia Gabantxo
Week 4
9th March
Understanding & Practicing Yoik
w/ Jungle Svonni & Elin Kaaven
Week 5
16th March
Polish Songs of Spring
w/ Anna Sitko
Week 6
23rd March
An Irish Gaelic Song for Spring
w/ Peia Luzzi
Week 7
30th March
Wild Yodeling w/ Sonja Morgenegg
Week 8
6th April
A Journey to the Sacred Sound of Iceland
w/ Unnur Arndísar
Week 9
13th April
Songs & Stories from Gaelic Scotland
w/ Sine McKenna
Week 10
20th April
Closing Call w/ Hanna Leigh
Program Deep Dive
Many may have forgotten the old ways, though gratefully there are those still keeping the skills and songs alive, and others of us who are relearning them.
May our time together help us to remember our own motherland.
Week 1
Opening Call w/ Hanna Leigh
Join us for our Opening Call, which is a time to ground into our journey together, and hear from the community about what has inspired us to join this series at this time.
As well as teaching some basic vocal embodiment techniques, Hanna Leigh will lead us in a guided meditation to connect with a circle of our wise ancestors, so that we may listen and receive their songs and messages.
Week 2
Lusitanian roots - Voice of Portugal w/ Mariana Root
Born in Porto, Portugal, Mariana Root grew up among her sisters, mother, aunts, and grandmother, who were all singing women and share the last name Rute, which is the origin of the latter part of the artist’s name – Root. She has been exploring voice from a young age, having lived several years in South America reconnecting with indigenous ways of life and the traditional music of the Andean culture. Returning to Portugal, to her ancestral roots, it was in a place named Beiras she first connected with the musical traditions and melodies of the “adufeiras” (Portuguese women drummers) of Monsanto and Paúl. There she lived amongst them and got to learn the wonders of the Adufe, the square drum, which is an instrument she has been playing ever since in her own peculiar way. Her latest album, Lusitana, weaves with the Lusitanian Portuguese roots on a deeper level, honoring the culture and sound that may seem to be forgotten but still live strongly in the stones and landscapes of Portugal.
Week 3
A Basque Love Song to Nature w/ Amaia Gabantxo
Amaia is a writer, singer and literary translator specialised in Basque literature. She is the most prolific translator of Basque literature to date, as well as a pioneer in the field, and has received multiple awards for her work; among them, a Wingate Scholarship, the OMI Writers Translation Lab award, a Mellon Fellowship for Arts and Scholarship, and an artist-in-residence award at the Cervantes Institute in Chicago.
She has published and performed on both sides of the Atlantic: in Ireland and Great Britain, the countries in which she carried out her university education, and in the US, where she lived until 2020. She now splits her time between the US and the Basque Country, where she spends a lot of time freediving and recording the sounds of the Kantauri sea.
Week 4
Understanding & Practicing Yoik w/ Jungle Svonni & Elin Kaaven
Jungle Svonni is a Sami (indigenous people in Northern Europe) from one of the most isolated reindeer herding districts in northern Sapmi, about 200km north of the Arctic Circle.
He has lived many years in other parts of the world, such as Greenland and South America. Jungle went to the Amazon in his mid-twenties, where he studied shamanism and plant medicine for seven years to recover knowledge that became lost among his own people due to Christian laws. Any practice related to shamanism, such as having a drum or practicing yoik (Sami singing style), was persecuted in ways also including the death penalty.
In 2014 Jungle himself became persecuted in Sweden, one of the colonizing countries of Sapmi. He became the first Sami shaman to win over a European Government, after centuries of persecution of shamanism in Sapmi.
Elin Kåven is a Sami singer, songwriter and yoiker from Karasjok. With close to 20 years as a Sami artist, she has seen how yoik has been received in different parts of the world. As an adult, she decided to dig deeper into the yoik, and found a connection to nature and her foremothers and forefathers through the practice. She has been sharing the practice of yoik online for the past several years, including co-creating an online course with Jungle Svonni.
As a recording artist, Elin Kåven’s music combines Sami mythology with pop, rock and ambient soundcapes.
Week 5
Polish Spring Rituals -- Singing for Good Fortune in Difficult Times w/ Anna Sitko
Anna Sitko is an ethnologist, folk singer and East Slavic languages linguist. Since 2010 she has been engaged in the local traditional and folk music scenes, co-creating music workshops, concerts and revival initiatives.
A passionate dancer, musician, folk researcher and educator, Anna focuses on connecting people through music and timeless themes present in the Slavic folk cultures. Be it funeral laments, wedding dances or near-forgotten harvest rituals, since 2013 she has been leading classes and meetings all around Europe about the traditional lore of her homeland.
Week 6
An Irish Gaelic Song for Spring
Peia Luzzi is an American-born song collector, writer and multi-instrumentalist based in the mountains of Southern Oregon. Like water from a deep well, she draws inspiration from her ancestral roots of Celtic and Old World European folk music. With the voice of a lark, Peia dances nimbly from Child Ballads and 17th C. Gaelic laments, to Waulking Songs, and Bulgarian mountain calls. She has traveled extensively over the past 10 years to uncover melodies wrinkled and wise with time, laboring to honor their language and stories, while bringing a piece of herself to each song she carries.
Week 7
Wild Yodeling w/ Sonja Morgenegg
Sonja is a Swiss yodeler, composer, improviser and voice teacher living in the east part of Switzerland.
Her experiences and studies in many different music styles and the deep roots in Swiss yodeling give her a strong background in teaching yodel and improvisational singing in combination.
She loves to play around and to combine these two styles in one, calling it “Wild Yodelling”.
For several years she has taught “Nature Yodel“ – a very ancient yodel style from the Swiss mountains. She has also recorded her own “Wild Yodel Style” on her CD “YouchZ NOW” with her Band Sooon.
Week 8
A Journey to the Sacred Sound of Iceland w/ Úní Arndísardóttir
Úní Arndísardóttir, Icelandic Völva and Musician, has walked her spiritual path all her life, following the wisdom of her ancestors and the inspiration of the nature beings, living within the beautiful Nature Temple of Iceland. With a passion for spirit and healing, she has travelled the world and learned from different paths and traditions, including Native American tradition in New Mexico, the Avalon Priestess path in Glastonbury, and the path of Yoga and Meditation. These diverse paths have led her back home to Iceland, where she has found a great connection to the energy and beings of Icelandic nature, having developed Icelandic earth ceremonies in connection to the Norse Wheel of the Year. Uni released the solo album Enchanted in 2009, and in 2013 she released the duet album Morning Rain with her husband Jón Tryggvi. Together they form the duo UniJon. Uni was also a part of the duo Seiðlæti with Reynir Katrínar, they released an album 2017 called Þagnarþulur that is dedicated to Frigg and the Goddesses of Fensalir. Uni has dedicated her life to Mother Earth and the Divine Feminine, having offered women’s circles & seminars for the past 13 years. She also releases original music, which brings the Icelandic Goddess to the world.
Week 9
Songs & Stories from Gaelic Scotland w/ Sine McKenna
Sìne McKenna (Shee-nuh) was born and raised in Montreal, where she was immersed in the traditional music of Gaelic Scotland and Ireland. By the time she was twelve, her greatest aspirations were to study the Gaelic language, learn a few Gaelic songs and live in Scotland.
All three came to pass. Although she now lives in Glengarry county, Canada, once the Highland heart of Ontario, she is devoted to sharing the legacy of her ancestors. As a singer, teacher and performing artist, her life’s work is to pass on the beauty and wisdom of her people, through story and song. As she has always been drawn to the songs that speak of loss and longing, these have become her main focus.
Week 10
Closing Call w/ Hanna Leigh
For our closing call, we will gather in community to sing together and to reflect on our journey over the past many weeks.
Simple Pricing
Early Bird Pricing ends
Pay In Full
Pay in full for:-
10 LIVE Workshops on Zoom
-
3 bonus sessions
-
Weave with a network of like-minded folks
-
Connect with ancestral songs
Payment Plan
Pay in installments-
10 LIVE Workshops on Zoom
-
3 bonus sessions
-
Weave with a network of like-minded folks
-
Connect with ancestral songs
Extended Plan
Pay in Installments-
10 LIVE Workshops on Zoom
-
3 bonus sessions
-
Weave with a network of like-minded folks
-
Connect with ancestral songs
Bonuses
Sound Alchemy & Community Connection
Bonus Session w/ Hanna Leigh - February 28th @ 12:30pm PST / 8:30pm GMT
Sound Alchemy & Integration
Bonus Session w/ Hanna Leigh - March 14th @ 12:30pm PST / 8:30pm GMT
Equinox Sound Healing
Bonus Session w/ Lana Lanaia - March 21st @ 12:30pm PST / 8:30pm GMT
Intro to Irish Gaelic
Bonus Session w/ Mollie - April 4th @ 12:30pm PST
Intro to Irish Gaelic
w/ Mollie
Equinox Sound Ceremony
w/ Lana Lanaia
Frequently Asked Questions
This offering is happening online through Zoom, with teachers joining us from several different countries.
Yes. They will be recorded and sent out soon after each class.
No. The nature of the content delivery is that you purchase the entire course.
You will have access to the recordings for up to one year, and possibly longer.
No, all levels are welcome.
No. There will be a Q&A time during each call, though no one will be “put on the spot”.
No. Due to the delivery of course content, all sales are final.
