Bossa do Anjinho, Julio Santillán and Francisca Almeida.

Bossa do Anjinho.
Julio and Francisca.
Film, music and art.

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about the piece.
Julio wrote this song the day his friends’ twins were born, right after he came back from the hospital. He imagined they were the little friends of his stillborn son, Alejandro. Part of the inspiration came from Chico Buarque, a Brazilian songwriter who often writes as a woman. The watercolors were painted by Francisca, Alejandro’s mother, as a healing activity. About half of the paintings are reproductions of (or inspired by) watercolors from the book The Tao of Watercolor, by Jeanne Carbonneti. Julio took pictures of the watercolors, recorded the song (with an amazing singer and friend, Ana Rossi), and made the video while Francisca was away in a business trip to make her a surprise gift. Here is an approximate English translation of the lyrics:

Bossa of the little angel

I forgot to feel all the pain
that was left by the illusion you were bringing

I forgot to cry, to understand
that you are not here and are only a remembrance

I was deprived to offer you the warmth
of this voice that names you

I’ll keep for another time
my advices and motherly fears

They will grow up and one day will know them,
the ones that are and will be your friends

It is difficult to understand what justice decided
to take you away forever



about the artists.
Julio Santillán, Argentine, 37, is a professional musician now based in Barcelona. Francisca Almeida, Brazilian, 35, is a scientist. They met in NYC where their first and only child, Alejandro, was stillborn at exactly 40 weeks, on December 30th 2008. Ale had been planned and the pregnancy was mostly healthy except for a few bleeding episodes between weeks 14 and 16. Despite tens of tests and an autopsy the doctors couldn’t explain Ale’s death. Julio has contributed to Still Life 365 before with an instrumental piece, Piedrita de rio.

Softly Spoken, Emma's Daddy

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about the music.
Emma's Daddy wrote Softly Spoken. "The idea behind the music was simply to take two notes as a starting point and imagine a word being whispered through them. The piece is deliberately short, as if the words were brought on the evening's breeze and then gone," shares Emma's Daddy.

about the contributor.
Emma's Daddy describes himself and his family, "Emma was our third child who was born sleeping on her due date in October 2008. I live in the North East of England. My blog is called My Baby Emma."

And so to Sleep, Emma's Daddy

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about the music.
Emma's Daddy wrote And so to Sleep as a lullaby for his little girl.

about the contributor.
Emma's Daddy describes himself and his family, "Emma was our third child who was born sleeping on her due date in October 2008. I live in the North East of England. My blog is called My Baby Emma."

Summer Here, Faith Kleppinger

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Summer Here
written and performed by Faith Kleppinger

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about the piece.
Faith talks about her song, "My dear friend Kenny and his wife Terra had an exquisite baby daughter with dark, dark hair, stillborn at 37 weeks in August 2007. Her name is Roxy Jean. This is the first song I wrote after Roxy died. I recorded it because I wanted something to give to Kenny beyond my inadequate words and my constant checking in. I wanted to immortalize Roxy in my own small way, and I wanted to express to my friend that his grief was truly shared; he was not alone. Back then, I adopted a kind of magical thinking that theorized that there was a finite well of misery for all of the world to draw from; and if I absorbed a huge share of it, there might be less for Kenny to have to endure. Not true, of course, but that was my desperate, disordered thinking at the time. After I heard the unimaginable news that Roxy had died, I stood on the subway platform in New York City and lost my mind, all the while keeping a separate corner of what was left of it reserved for this, 'If it hurts this much for me, I can't even imagine what it's like for them.' Truthfully, I still can't imagine it. I was leveled by the forever-ness of Roxy's death, while simultaneously resolving to be as strong as I possibly could for my friend. The words of the song came quickly, once I was ready to write them. It's about grief's ability to trick time, how the seasons collapse and it's the heat of summer and something draws your eye away from the pain and you suddenly notice it's winter. It's about making the world as small as possible, trying to trick yourself into believing that this sweet, perfect baby girl isn't missing all that much--anything to try in vain to make sense of the nonsensical. The song is hard for me to listen to even now, because I hear the choked pain in my singing and it takes me right back to that day. Roxy will always take my breath away. And I would gladly hand over each sad breath that remains in my lungs for Kenny and Terra hear Roxy breathe in and out, just one time."

about the musician.
Faith Kleppinger is a musician and writer who is in awe of what Angie is doing here.

Piedrita de Rio, Julio A. Santillán

Piedrita de Rio, Julio A. Santillán
piece written for guitar


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about the piece.
In Julio's words, "My wife and I lost our baby about a year ago. I started to write Piedrita de Rio (little river stone or little stone from the river) for Alejandro while he was growing in my wife's belly. He died at the end of the ninth month. I finished writing the piece recently and to commemorate his first birthday, I decided to put together a video. My idea was to tell the story of my son: a little stone in a mountain river that never came out of the water. It travelled stream down, until eventually reaching the sea."

about the composer.
Julio A. Santillán is a composer and guitarist from Tucumán, Argentina. His compositions combine elements from his home land folk music, jazz improvisation and classical music. He has recorded 40 CDs, including five with his ensembles. His website is at Julio Santillán.com.