Water is Life (feat. Oliver Enjady) | Lyla June

+ add
stats
×
- See all results
- No matching results
  
  Try a different filter or a new search keyword.
Search all Bandcamp artists, tracks, and albums
cancel

partner
×
- See all results
- No matching results
  
  Try a different filter or a new search keyword.
Search all Bandcamp artists, tracks, and albums
cancel
sign up
log in

We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.

We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Water is Life (feat. Oliver Enjady)

by Lyla June

supported by

emily thumbnail

Kandi & Daisy thumbnail

Jonathan Stegall thumbnail

Shanel thumbnail

ickymac thumbnail

stormfay thumbnail

DJ BA thumbnail

james1966 thumbnail

Lilith Dragonswife thumbnail

Tripp Crouse thumbnail

Vanessa Sinclair thumbnail

steelegrrl thumbnail

Matt Bruce thumbnail

Ned Raggett thumbnail

johnrplatt99 thumbnail

bebravelittlebear thumbnail

generalstrike thumbnail

chupathingie thumbnail

maryamoonwolf thumbnail

robynsowers thumbnail

grizzysdad thumbnail

backyardharvest thumbnail

voicedancer thumbnail

deboraheliezer thumbnail

Kara Huntermoon thumbnail

jmetz thumbnail

twinklerose thumbnail

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Purchasable with gift card

$1 USD or more

about

All sales benefit www.7genfund.org. This song/music video is based on a conversation with Mescalero Apache elder Oliver R Enjady. Lyla was asked by the Architectural League of New York to write a song or poem about southern New Mexico water issues. But her people are not from that area so she did not feel right speaking on the issue. Oliver gave his perspective, rooted in traditional Mescalero knowledge and his personal observations. A lot of the lyrics from this song are verbatim his words and his message to all of us about how to re-understand water. We have been told by other elders that we need to change the way the world thinks about food and water if we are to survive and thrive. We don’t understand how fragile and precarious our civilization is. Two days without water and our whole society would start to unravel. With depleted ground water sources, unclean rivers and streams, and dwindling springs, we are all having to get back to basics and honor just how precious water is. We cannot take her for granted anymore. We love you all and may this song be a prayer for all waters and the life that depend on them, around the world.

Produced by: Adam Elfers
Video with: Northern Vision Productions
Composed by: Lyla June
Written by: Oliver Enjady + Lyla June

lyrics

He said it’s not a song
It’s a way of life
minor It’s a forever thing
It’s a message

He said you can say
That water is life
You can say it again and again
But will they listen?

Are we gonna stand by these words?
Are we gonna find a way to change the way we’re living?

She feels everything, and it hurts.
Like the moon, like the body of a woman, she is changing.

Can we return to
the time when
water was alive?
When we prayed at her edge
And gave thanks for this life

When the water fell from the skies
And we drank from her A rivers
When the water fell from our eyes
When the water fell from A our wombs
When it rose up to the surface
And we knew every spring?

No fear or competition
just a relative to all things.

We are the people of the sun
We are the people of the water
Txó éí Iiná at’é (water is life [diné])
Shá’ in bee indá (sun is life [Ndé])

We will celebrate our sons
We will celebrate our daughters
with ceremony
so when drought comes
they’ll be ready

Will the next war
Be for water?
Your solutions are problems you
Can’t win war with war.

There is more than one
creation story
Worlds have died
And world have been reborn before.

When you touch the water
You touch the world
From Taos Peaks
To Gulf Stream and
The memories they hold.

We sell her by the acre foot
Treat her as our captive
The rivers are undrinkable
While aquifers extracted
Our food will need water to grow
But do you have to take it all?

We Try to hold her or control her
As we Am watch our empire fall

He said it’s not a song
It’s a way of life …
You can chant it again and again
But can you live it

credits

released September 18, 2021
Produced by Adam Elfers
Composed by Lyla June
Written by Oliver Enjady + Lyla June
Music Video by Northern Vision Productions

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Lyla June image

Lyla June Albuquerque, New Mexico

Lyla June is an Indigenous musician, scholar and community organizer of Diné (Navajo), Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne) and European lineages. Her dynamic, multi-genre presentation style has engaged audiences across the globe towards personal, collective and ecological healing. ... more

contact / help

Contact Lyla June

Streaming and
Download help

Report this track or account

If you like Lyla June, you may also like:

Learning To Swim On Empty
by Wu-Lu

featured on Bandcamp Radio Apr 30, 2024
go to album
Laughing In My Sleep
by The Cradle

On his latest LP, Paco Cathcart sketches life in Brooklyn in remarkable detail. Bandcamp Album of the Day Aug 14, 2020
go to album
CRYING AROUND AND IN COLOR
by BELOVED SUN

The duo of Artist Named You and Sol Galeano present their debut together, a conceptual and adventurous modern R&B album. Bandcamp New & Notable Jul 26, 2022
go to album
In all good Hope
by José Lobo

featured on Bandcamp Radio Apr 30, 2024
go to album
Weird Faith
by Madi Diaz

More folk-inflected confessionals on love, loss, and anxiety — plus a Kacey Musgraves cameo —from the Nashville indie pop auteur. Bandcamp New & Notable Feb 11, 2024
go to album
Hertz
by Carla Geneve

Carla Geneve returns with a record of jittery alt-rock, topped with lyrics that are both wry and introspective. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 29, 2023
go to album
Jai
by Uma

This project from the Spanish indie-pop singer explores nostalgia and joy. Bandcamp New & Notable Sep 19, 2023
go to album

Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Featured guests are the golden-voiced Baby Rose and psyche soulsters Brainstory.