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Overcoming

from Behind the Curtain by The Witches

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about

Composed by Adam O'Farrill

"Overcoming was written as a tribute to the great motivational speaker, Lizzie Velasquez. Velasquez was born with a rare congenital disease, that prevents her from being able to store fat, and gain weight. This resulted in a vastly different visual appearance than people without the disease, as she's 27 years old, and has never weighed more than 64 pounds. In high school, she found a video on Youtube that was just a picture of her for several minutes, and the video was called “World's Ugliest Woman”. This piece is a musical reflection of her long, hard-fought journey to overcome that hatred, and turn it into love and productivity. The structure of the piece is akin to a double helix, with the first half unraveling in harmonic dissonance and flurry of activity to reflect Velasquez's frustration and questioning why she looked different from others when she was young.

The second half of the piece recalls the melodic content of the first half, but has a more “major” and harmonious sound. In between the two halves is an improvisatory section where the the violin and flute are to play as if they are building the strength to fight beyond limitations forced upon them, in the form of limited material to base the improvisation off
of.

While we live in a world where women are, still to this day, scrutinized and judged based on their physical appearance, I was deeply inspired by the courage of Ms. Velasquez to not only rise above negativity, but to turn it outward and inspire other people with their speeches and writings. As someone who has always struggled with weight and body image issues, watching her speeches is still enlightening. Although I have never gone through anything close to what she has gone through, she inspires me to reach my greatest potential as a human being, and to not look at life in superficial terms.

The Witches were absolutely meant to play this piece, because they find the beauty in qualities that aren't deemed “beautiful”. In everything they play, they reflect the imperfections of life, when there is the undying pressure to be “perfect”. I couldn't be more honored to work with such real people, and such passionate artists."

-Adam O'Farrill

for more info about the composer, visit www.adam-ofarrill.com

credits

from Behind the Curtain, released October 19, 2017

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The Witches Baltimore, Maryland

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