Laura Brino performs her original song ‘Cactus Moon,’ a deeply personal live musical piece about breaking cycles of generational trauma, dedicated to healing her mother, her daughters, and the women in her lineage. In her spoken introduction, she shares her identity as a birth trauma survivor and co-founder of the Songbird Festival, framing the song as an act of intergenerational healing.
×
Transcript
[01:38:37] Hey, guys.
[01:38:39] Dr. Elliot, we’ve never met.
[01:38:42] It’s nice to meet you.
[01:38:43] You, what just happened on stage lives inside of my body.
[01:38:47] It just, this is how I express myself.
[01:38:51] But what was happening is what happens inside me.
[01:38:54] You brought some tears to my eyes.
[01:38:56] It was really .
[01:38:58] Really beautiful.
[01:38:59] So Dana, is she still here?
[01:39:05] She’s in the vendor space.
[01:39:06] So Dana and I together, came together
[01:39:10] and started the Songbird Festival two years ago.
[01:39:14] And she’s incredible and we bonded
[01:39:19] over healing through music.
[01:39:22] And I have two little girls and as a survivor and I also,
[01:39:27] birth trauma survivor.
[01:39:28] I almost died during the birth of my second daughter.
[01:39:32] I feel moved to do things to help make the world a better place
[01:39:37] for my two little girls that are coming up.
[01:39:39] And in working on all of this for Songbird Festival,
[01:39:44] in the end I realized that I was doing a lot of it
[01:39:47] to actually help heal my mom.
[01:39:50] Which then would heal my girls.
[01:39:53] So this song is all about that.
[01:39:56] So breaking that generational trauma.
[01:39:57] Thank you.
[01:39:57] It’s called Cactus Moon.
[01:40:07] Half of a decade I blinked and I woke up right here.
[01:40:20] Itched like a president, like a fine wine underneath the stairs.
[01:40:27] Generations past
[01:40:40] Making crisis last
[01:40:45] Chance to heal my mother
[01:40:52] I’ll carry on your name
[01:40:55] Ancestors and the others
[01:40:59] Cause we are all the same
[01:41:02] Underneath this cactus moon
[01:41:08] I, I will heal this hurt
[01:41:13] For you
[01:41:16] Half of my life
[01:41:26] There’s stories you would show and tell
[01:41:30] Wounded is their birthright
[01:41:39] Surviving the patriarch as well
[01:41:46] Generations lost
[01:41:54] Apologetic claws
[01:42:01] Chance to heal my mother
[01:42:08] I’ll carry on your name
[01:42:11] Ancestors and the others
[01:42:15] Cause we are all the same
[01:42:16] Underneath this cactus moon
[01:42:23] I, I will heal this hurt
[01:42:29] For you
[01:42:32] For you
[01:42:33] Baby’s lost, voices found
[01:42:41] Brooms left bleeding on the ground
[01:42:44] Sisters broken
[01:42:46] Too much space. Daughters born. Brand new places. Bodies taken without consent. Bodies made over again and again. Lessons learned, then forgotten.
[01:43:01] Wishes burned, but still we’re standing. Chance to heal my mother. I’ll carry on your name. Ancestors and the others. Cause we are all the same.
[01:43:18] Chance to heal my mother. I’ll carry on your name. Ancestors and the others. Cause we are all the same.
[01:43:31] I’ll carry on your name. Ancestors and the others. Cause we are all the same. Underneath this cactus moon. I, I will heal this hurt for you.
[01:43:49] I’ll heal this hurt for you. I’ll heal this hurt for you. I’ll heal this hurt for you. I’ll heal this hurt for you.
[01:44:00] I’ll heal this hurt for you. I’ll heal this hurt for you. I’ll heal this hurt for you. I’ll heal this hurt for you. I’ll heal this hurt for you.
[01:44:01] For you, oh, a chance to heal my mother, I’ll carry on.
[01:44:08] A chance to heal my mother, I’ll carry on.
[01:44:18] My aunts, my sisters, oh, all the others, oh.
[01:44:28] All the others, oh, my aunts, my sisters, and all the others, oh, all the others, oh.
[01:44:44] My aunts, my sisters, and all the others, oh, all the others.
[01:44:58] Thank you, guys.