Sing Praise! 🌈 Pride Edition: Sebastopol
🎶 What is Sing Praise?
Sing Praise! is not your average song circle—it’s a queer-led revival, a ritual of collective power and joy, led by music minister KJ Song and artist-scholar Lydia Violet. This is worship remixed: rooted in rhythm, grounded in justice, and open to all.
Sing Praise! is a place to wail, harmonize, stomp, and rise. It’s for anyone hungry for Spirit without the strings, for prayer without dogma, for a free voice that sings back, for a moment of communal aliveness that feels like YES.
This isn’t a concert and not a "vocal jam" — it’s a homecoming.
This is a song SERVICE, curated by KJ and Lydia, without any dogma or religious affiliation. It's a place to let loose and sing songs that actually stir something deep.
⏰ PLEASE BE ON TIME. Doors close at 6:40 to preserve the integrity of our container ⏰
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💜 Who are your facilitators?
KJ Song (they/them) is a queer music minister, holistic kink practitioner, and Master of Divinity Candidate who leads transformative spaces at the intersection of Spirit, song, and liberation. As the founder and director of Sing Praise!, raised in North Carolina, KJ blends Gospel-inspired roots, ritual leadership, and radical welcome to create gatherings that are as joyful as they are healing. Their work invites every voice—tender, tired, or triumphant—into communion.
Lydia Violet is an Iranian-Armenian-American folk multi-instrumentalist, revolution-bringer, culture-tender, grief-worker, and mischief-maker. With her live band, she weaves together her songwriting, folk standards, Iranian ballads, 3-part harmonies, fiddle, banjo, and collective singing into an altar of music to lay at our feet. She is the creator behind Singing the Bones, a course with Leah Song of Rising Appalachia, and a music project that brings American artists together to explore and share folk music from their ancestries, encouraging cultural revitalization and diasporic healing. She has engaged in vibrant collaborations with world-renowned artists Climbing PoeTree, Rising Appalachia, MaMuse, and Lyla June.
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🌈 Who is Sing Praise for?
Queer folks and allies who know that the power of prayer and praise belongs to everyone.
People who want a little more grounded ceremony in their song circles.
Fewer warm-up games, more prayer. We get down to it.
People who used to sing but forgot how.
People who’ve never sung but always wanted to.
People who miss the singing in church but not the rest...
Anyone who wants to cut up and be themselves at the top of their lungs.
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NOTES:
🤧 Please be mindful of everyone's health and do not attend if you are experiencing any cold symptoms 🤧
🌿 Bring a water bottle, a sit-upon, shawl, or soft thing, an open heart and a wild hope, a small object for our communal altar (optional)
📸 Documentation: As Sing Praise prepares for a summer tour, we’ll have a designated videographer capturing brief, respectful footage to help share the spirit of this ministry with new communities.
❌ 📱You are invited to NOT use your phone or personal cameras during the gathering. Let’s keep the focus on collective presence and the sanctity of our shared moment.
💸 A Note on Money and Access
Your contribution helps make this work possible: the time, the preparation, the holding of space, and the unseen labor that goes into creating something truly nourishing. If you’re able to give more, you help make room for someone who can’t. If you need to give less, you’re still welcome in the circle.Pay what feels generous, honest, and aligned with your current life—without shame, without pressure.
Please also note that there are no refunds or exchanges for this event.
🙏 We can’t wait to sing with you. This space is more than a gathering—it’s a living altar built by all of us. Thank you for showing up in reverence and resonance.