"Irthlingz" was born when Sharon Abreu and Michael Hurwicz met at the People's Voice coffeehouse in Greenwich Village in 1998. Soon, the activist-singing-songwriting duo was appearing with legendary folk singer Pete Seeger in concerts to benefit the Ships to Save the Waters conference, the Delaware Bay Schooner Project and the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater’s New Boat Fund.
They also created "Turn the World Upside Down," a fun, educational 45-minute interactive musical show about water conservation, keeping the water clean, and recycling, for grades 1-5. Satisfying New York State academic standards for science – as well as kids' standards for being silly – they performed in a number of public schools and at the New York Aquarium in Brooklyn, NY, with Emmy-winner Bill Nye “The Science Guy,” under the auspices of the Brooklyn Arts Council.
From these seeds grew years of singing, songwriting, celebration and advocacy, focusing on peace, the environment and sustainability. In November, 2000, they performed for American ecology students at Cambridge University in England, and travelled to France to help launch what became the Global Foundation for Social Harmony and Sustainable Development. In 2001, a generous grant from the Celebration Foundation enabled them to form a 501(c)(3) non-profit, Irthlingz, (https://www.irthlingz.org). This funding allowed them, among other adventures, to travel in 2002 to the Centro Ecologico Akumal (CEA), in Akumal, Mexico, and to the World Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa. They learned as they went how to educate, entertain and inspire through music.
While these globe-trotting times were fun, fulfilling and very educational, Sharon and Michael also began to feel an increasing sense of frustration and bewilderment.
"I began asking myself," says Sharon, "why I had to twist myself into a pretzel to convince people to protect the natural systems we depend on for things like water, air and food."
"It seemed strange," says Michael, "that so many people were willing to vote against clean air and water for their kids and grandkids."
The first hint of an answer for Michael and Sharon came in 2003, through Rabbi Michael Lerner (author of The Left Hand of God), who talked about the "spiritual crisis" in America – a pervasive and largely unsatisfied hunger for meaning and higher purpose – and how progressives, by focusing exclusively on "the issues" and "the facts," were failing to address that deeply felt need.
"Michael Lerner basically said we needed to take our heads out of the sand and address the spiritual aspect of things, both in ourselves and in society," says Sharon.
"That really hit home for us," says Michael. "I guess in part because, in our work at least, we ourselves had been focusing so much on issues and facts. Trying to get people to act in loving, ethical, balanced ways, but not thinking about how we and others could develop the inner qualities that those kinds of actions spring from."
Strongly drawn to Rabbi Lerner's vision, Michael and Sharon attended – and performed for – conferences held by the Network of Spiritual Progressives (NSP), which Rabbi Lerner founded to build a spiritually grounded progressive movement.
In 2004, while working with a progressive political campaign, Sharon met Pushkara Sally Ashford. They kept in touch, and in 2009 Pushkara introduced Sharon and Michael to SingPeace!.
SingPeace! evolved as the celebratory component of BePeace, a group dedicated to teaching practical techniques for feeling peace and speaking peace, and ultimately teaching peace. The techniques for "feeling peace" were developed by the HeartMath Institute, while those for "speaking peace" are based on Nonviolent Communication (NVC).
In August, 2011, Michael and Sharon took the four-day BePeace Foundations Course with BePeace founder, Rita Marie Johnson, at the Whidbey Institute in Washington State. They also provided music at various key points during the workshop.
In April, 2012, they facilitated the BePeace Foundations Course taught by Rita Marie, for international Masters degree students, at the United Nations University for Peace in Costa Rica. They also provided music for that workshop and gave a special concert at the University.
In August, they attended a weekend training/ certification workshop in Kansas City, Kansas, where they were certified to teach BePeace!
"The BePeace practice is pretty simple and down-to-earth," says Michael, "and it's working for us. We feel we're taking another step towards being able to work for peace in a peaceful way, and for balance in a balanced way. In other words, we're trying to address both the inner and the outer."
"And we're seeing more and more how music can help with that," adds Sharon, "by bringing groups together around the core heart feelings – like appreciation, compassion and forgiveness – that are the basis of BePeace."
BePeace has since been rebranded as The Connection Practice. Sharon and Michael are using the skills they've acquired as certified Connection Practice trainers/coaches to teach others and in their own lives.
Over the years, they have participated in, and sometimes provided support and music for, a number of events organized by the Lummi Nation, including totem pole journeys and canoe journeys.
In June, 2014, at the Lummi Nation in Ferndale, WA, they participated in the Lummi Sacred Walk and Rally to Preserve Cherry Point, led by Freddie Lane and other leaders from the Lummi Nation, opposing the proposed Gateway Pacific Terminal at Cherry Point.
After attending Community Choir Leadership Training in 2016, they led an Ubuntu choir, SingPeaceOrcas, and organized one-off singing events.
Over the years, at the invitation of Coast Salish elder Rosie Cayou James, they have sung for several ceremonial events. The first was a wake for Tahlequah's calf in August, 2018, on Orcas Island. In 2024, they composed and sang a song for two memorials for Tokitae, one on Orcas Island and one on San Juan Island, at which they had the honor of being blanketed by Rosie.
The Paddle to Lummi Tribal Canoe Journey in July, 2019, was a massive event, led by the Lummi but including nearly 70 tribes. On the day the canoes arrived at the Lummi Nation, Sharon and Michael greeted them with food, physical support such as pulling the canoes up onto the beach, and song.
In May, 2021, they sang and participated in an hour-long Red Road to DC totem pole journey ceremony on Madrona Point on Orcas. Led by Freddie Lane and Doug James of the House of Tears Carvers from the Lummi Nation, this ceremony was part of a national tour to raise awareness about endangered indigenous sacred sites.
Also in May 2021, they sang and participated in a multi-faith blessing ceremony at the Red Road to DC totem pole journey when it passed through Bellingham.
In May of 2023 and 2024, they sang and participated in Gathering of the Eagles Canoe Journey stopovers on Orcas.
On April 26, 2025, on Orcas, they sang in "Requiem and Renewal", a program of poetry and songs "to help us move through grief and keep going forward together." Donations were collected to support the Lummi canoe journey and Palestinian relief efforts.
On April 29, 2025, they participated online in the Joint Memorial Ceremony, an event to bring together Israelis and Palestinians on the West Bank, hosted by Combatants for Peace and the Parents Circle - Families Forum.
References:
Connection Practice Coaching
The Connection Practice (Rasur International)
HeartMath
Center for Nonviolent Communication
"Peacemaker, singers will meet for weekend at Whidbey Institute"
(South Whidbey Record, June, 2011)
Irthlingz: Sharon Abreu and Michael Hurwicz
Sharon Abreu
Irthlingz (non-profit)
copyright © 2025 by Michael Hurwicz and Sharon Abreu