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ORONO – The revolution’s coming.
And if Pat Humphries and Sandy Opatow have their way, there will be dancing.
Humphries and Opatow, who make up the folk duo Emma’s Revolution, will perform at 1:15 p.m. Saturday, April 23, as part of the 11th annual HOPE Festival being held at the Field House at the University of Maine in Orono.
The duo’s name comes from anarchist and activist Emma Goldman, who once said, “If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution.”
Emma’s Revolution blends two sweet voices on pretty melodies, with words that take on activist causes such as farm worker rights and opposition to war. The songs “celebrate our right to dissent,” and are “a musical uprising of truth and hope,” according to the group’s Web site.
Humphries, who has released two solo records, has earned praise from folk icon Pete Seeger, who called her song “Never Turning Back,” “extraordinary … one of the best songs I have heard in 50 years.”
The duo’s first record together, “One x 1,000,000 = Change,” was released earlier this year.
In a telephone interview, Humphries said she considers herself an activist and musician in equal parts. In fact, she says it’s impossible to separate one from the other.
“There is no real delineation in my mind between the personal and the political,” Humphries said.
A song from the folk duo’s most recent record, “If I Give You My Name,” was the grand prize winner in the folk category from among 24,000 entries of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest. The song is about undocumented workers at the World Trade Center who were killed during the Sept. 11 attacks in New York. Humphries and Opatow were in the process of moving from New York to Washington, D.C., when the attacks occurred.
While some left-leaning folkies can sound as if they’re lecturing their audience, Emma’s Revolution has tried to avoid that trap.
“The idea is to make music,” Humphries said. Their credo is, “Make sure everything we say is musical, but use music to say something.”
Emma’s Revolution seeks to express views on political and economic issues that are not heard elsewhere.
“The side of the story we tend to tell doesn’t get told,” Humphries said. “We rely on people being able to think critically.”
The duo tours extensively around the United States, with recent stops in Florida, Tennessee, Texas, and a monthlong stint in California.
Two years ago, Humphries and Opatow traveled to Seoul, South Korea, a visit that inspired their song “We Are One.” The song is about the meeting between the leaders of North and South Korea.
“We sang a song at the DMZ,” Humphries said.
Ilze Petersons, program coordinator for Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine, said she first heard Emma’s Revolution last year at WERU-FM’s Full Circle Fair.
“We were very, very moved by them,” she said. “They’re very creative.”
Their song “We Are One,” Petersons said, reflects what the HOPE Festival is about.
“It’s beautiful music,” she said, “but it’s a message of peace.”
Admission to the HOPE Festival, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., is free. The name of the festival spells out: “Help Organize Peace Worldwide.” Other performers include Jennifer Armstrong, Phil White Hawk, and the Bangor Fiddlers. The festival also features a children’s area, food and crafts, and more than 70 organizations represented with information tables. For more information, call 942-9343.
Emma’s Revolution
Pat Humphries and Sandy Opatow, who make up the folk duo Emma’s Revolution, will give a house concert in Brewer on Friday, April 22 (see www.downeastmusic.org); at 9:30 a.m. on WERU’s “Saturday Morning Coffeehouse” program (89.9 on the coast and 102.9 FM in Bangor) on April 23; and a benefit for WERU at the Alamoosook Lodge in Orland on Saturday night (see www.weru.org).
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