A free community concert, with the children’s multi-national chorus Pihcintu, will begin at 4 p.m. Saturday, April 13, at the Sheepscot Community Church, 8 Kings Highway, in Newcastle/Sheepscot.

Pihcintu” (pronounced Pah-sin-too) is a Passamaquoddy word meaning, “When she sings, her voice carries far.” The chorus brings together women and girls who settled in Portland from other countries, including several war-torn nations, and gives them a voice for creative and personal expression via song, , according to a news release from the Alna school.

This group of young women from Cambodia, China, Congo, El Salvador, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda, Viet Nam, British West Indies and Zambia, along with children whose families have been here for generations, have formed a powerful and permanent bond, according to the release.

Through the healing power of music, these vulnerable, yet brave, young women have learned to trust, hope and laugh again.

In 2017, the group sang at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of John F. Kennedy. This past December, Pihcintu also performed in front of the United Nations General Assembly at an event celebrating the adoption of the U.N.’s Global Compact on Refugees.

Refreshments and opportunity to meet the chorus members will follow the concert.

This concert is hosted by Juniper Hill School with support from the Maine Community Foundation and the town of Alna.

For more information about this event, contact Juniper Hill School at 586-5711 or info@juniperhillschool.org.

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