“Lest We Forget” is a multi-sensory collaborative performance derived from our ongoing dialogue related to the impact of hurricanes and climate change in the Caribbean and the most vulnerable parts of the United States. In the performance I deliver a speech with an original soundscape composed and mixed live by Fabien. This thrilling and highly relevant work is inspired by speeches delivered by Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit of Dominica and Prime Minister Gordon Browne of Barbuda at the United Nations General Assembly in 2017, post hurricanes Maria and Irma. Portions of these speeches are dissected and combined with text sourced from transcripts of news interviews with the Mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Carmen Yulín Cruz, scholar Yarimar Bonilla, and residents of Puerto Rico. The result is a new document that attempts to articulate the extent of the physical, emotional, and psychological damage caused by these storms, warns against ignoring the changing climate and warming oceans, highlights the plight of the affected, and calls attention to governments’ failure to live up to their promises to send aid.

The soundscape created by Fabien was influenced by the contemporary music culture of the Caribbean and the emotional scars experienced by the people of the Caribbean during the 2017 hurricane season. The sound extrapolates rhythms from Dancehall and Bouyon to recreate an unstable environment and an atmosphere which expresses a contrasting image of the Caribbean—between paradise and disaster. It is mixed and played live to emphasize the importance of the speech and to reinforce the creative energies between us as we perform. The sound employed in this performance acts as a converging element between performance and sound, which amplifies the discourse on climate change. Fabien and I perform in business suits, tailored from blue and brown plastic tarps, a highly valued material utilized during storm and disaster relief.