🎵 “CARRIED OVER WATER (Ancestral Version)” (A call to the ancestors — rhythmic, haunting, powerful) [Intro — soft wind, distant hums, ocean sounds] (one voice, trembling) mmm… the water remembers. the water remembers every name. (low drum begins, heartbeat slow) voices in the tide… echoes of the mothers who sang to survive. (choir hums softly) ohhh… ohhh… ohhh… [Verse 1 — lead, almost spoken, raw] They took us from the soil, from the rhythm, from the rain, Bound our wrists, but couldn’t chain our veins. Under burning suns and crying skies, We held each other, whispered “we survive.” (drums pulse — soft call and response) Choir (call): who remembers the names? Lead (response): the sea does. the sea does. Choir: who carries the pain? Lead: the blood does. the blood does. [Pre-Chorus — growing chant, multiple voices weaving] They broke the body, not the song, They stole the land, but we belong. Through the storms, through the tide, Our spirit learned to hide — then rise. (choir hums and stomps in rhythm) ha-ay… ha-ay… ha-ay… rise. [Chorus — full ancestral choir, layered and powerful] Carried over water — we still breathe. Carried over water — we still weave. Drums of sorrow, drums of flame, We sing the lost, we call their name. (echo:) Carried over… carried over… Still we rise, still we remember. [Verse 2 — lead voice cracks with emotion] Ships of iron, hearts of stone, But our tears made the ocean our own. From the depths we learned to dream, Every chain a rhythm, every cry a theme. (choir claps in sync — percussive harmony) Choir: from the dark — Lead: came the song. Choir: from the pain — Lead: we belong. Choir: from the fire — Lead: came the drum. Together: from the blood — we become. [Bridge — stripped, chant rising, almost spiritual] We are not the wound, we are the healers. We are not the chained, we are the dealers of rhythm, of light, of tomorrow’s seed. We are the ancestors they said would bleed — but we breathe. (drums intensify, voices stack, chanting) breathe… breathe… breathe… (ohhh, ancestors, breathe through me.) [Final Chorus — full choir, layered, triumphant] Carried over water — but not gone. Carried over water — we became song. Every heartbeat still repeats, Every child still carries the beat. (call & response) Lead: who are we? Choir: we are the river. Lead: what do we keep? Choir: the fire that shivers. Lead: what do we sing? Choir: the names, the names, the names. (choir harmonizes the word “names” in rising layers) Naa-aaames… ohhh… [Outro — fading hums, ocean returns, single voice left] mmm… the water remembers. and so do we. (last drumbeat, silence)