‘Songs in the Blood’ seeks to sing some of these ‘songs’ drawing directly from a group of HIV positive and affected women who participated in the ‘Women’s Voices‘ project run by the HIV Women’s Project at Women’s Health Statewide. These were a series of writing workshops facilitated by Adelaide writer Elizabeth Mansutti who then shaped the stories into a 30 minute radio play. It tells some of the story of living with HIV through a series of monologues that are overlaid and interwoven with the menacing sounds of ‘The Song of the Virus’ and the moving melancholy of ‘The Song of the Woman’. Local musicians Heather Fran, Stephan Richter and Ingrid Wangel provide the play with its musical heartbeat.

The stories and songs entwine to create a tapestry of sound that speaks of the sadness, the joy, the positive and negative through the 15 actors who breathe life into the women’s words. Together, their voices form a ‘choir of hard knocks’ striking a chord of courage and harmonizing with humility and honesty to highlight some of the concerns of HIV positive and affected women living among us. The Producers gratefully acknowledge the courage and commitment of the women from the ‘Women’s Voices’ project to share their stories and shine some light on the situation of women everywhere who are living with HIV in their lives.

‘Songs in the Blood’ is an initiative of Women’s Health Statewide, a community service of the Children’s, Youth & Women’s Health Service. It was funded by the Government of South Australia through Arts SA, produced at the studios of Radio Adelaide and broadcast as part of AIDS Awareness Week 2007.