“Cycles of My Being” is a new song cycle performed by world renown tenor Lawrence Brownlee. Lyrics were written by acclaimed poet Terrance Hayes and the music was composed by Tyshawn Sorey. Both Hayes and Sorley are MacArthur “genius” grant winners. The song cycle which examines the experience of being a black man in America is touring across the US, including a performance at New York’s Carnegie Hall.
Brownlee explains the Genesis of the idea of the song cycle to NPR: “It was during the time it seemed that every day you turn on TV, you saw something — this was already past Trayvon Martin, but Sandra Bland. Tamir Rice. So many different people, it just seemed like every day, you saw something.” The composition was also motivated on his personal experiences: “I was pulled over in Los Angeles before. And this cop, he spoke to me in a certain way that I felt was meant to provoke. And my response was, ‘I want to get home. I have two kids and a wife. I want to live to fight another day. He didn’t know that I’ve gotten a chance to meet presidents of the United States, the vice president, Supreme Court justices, kings and queens, and speak four languages and have advanced degrees and that I’ve seen 45 countries in the world. He didn’t know that; he didn’t care. He saw me and he thought that I wasn’t that person.”
Below is a video from a performance of “Inhale, Exhale” from the song cycle.