Of all the art forms, music is arguably the most democratic. While always of its time, it ignores temporal boundaries, moving freely through hands, across the years. While belonging to the people that make it—speaking of them and their experiences—it reaches toward something fundamental in us all, placing few limits - be they economic, experiential, educational, cultural, or geographic—on who might encounter, experience, and appreciate what it holds. Even when sung in languages that we do not speak, or delivered by unfamiliar structures and sounds, it communicates to open ears. Through music—an encountered expression of others—we find ourselves and discover how similar we are. Of its subjects, are there any more accessible and relatable than love and longing, these emotions that level us all?

Gregory Isaacs - If I Don’t Have You
Lydia Mendoza - Mal Hombre
Nina Simone - Why Keep on Breaking My Heart
The Daytonians - Let Jesus Work It Out
Delroy Wilson - Got to See My Woman
Stu Gardner - I Can’t Make it by Myself