Vijay Iyer & Mike Ladd - Holding It Down: The Veterans' Dreams Project (2013)

Holding It Down: The Veterans Dreams Project is the result of a three-year collaboration between Grammy nominee Vijay Iyer and poet/librettist Mike Ladd, with veterans of color from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is also the culmination of a trilogy of works spanning more than a decade of American life, including the critically acclaimed In What Language? and Still Life with Commentator. For Holding It Down, Iyer and Ladd explore the experiences of veterans of these wars, in particular their post-traumatic-stress-disorder induced nightmares. They interviewed scores of veterans about their dreams, many of which are retold here.