Musical Musings 10-27: Songs of healing and redemption with Mike and our Chancel Choir

Music Notes – Sunday, October 27th

This Sunday’s musicians are The Chancel Choir and UUCC Music Director Mike Carney

 

Song: Come, Sing a Song with Me – McDade  

#346 in our Singing the Living Tradition hymnal, “Come, Sing a Song with Me” is a well-known and beloved hymn to many Unitarian Universalists. The words and music were written by Carolyn McDade (b. 1935), a self-described songwriter, spiritual feminist, and social activist. McDade is also the composer of two other UU favorites: “Spirit of Life” and “We’ll Build a Land”.

 

Song: Woyaya – Amarfio, Amoa, Bailey, Bedeau, Osei, Richardson, & Tontoh

Primarily written by Ghanaian drummer Sol Amarifio (1938-2022), “Woyaya” (also known as “We Are Going” or “Heaven Knows”) is the title song of a 1971 album by Oisibisa, a group of Ghanaian and Caribbean musicians. The song was frequently heard in work camps throughout central West Africa in the 1970s and 1980s. The word “Woyaya” has no literal English translation but can have multiple meanings, as is the case with many scat syllables (a common feature in West African music). The arrangement of “Woyaya” used in our service (and appearing as #1020 in our Singing the Journey hymnbook) comes from Ysaye Barnwell of Sweet Honey in the Rock.   

 

Centering Music: Come, Come, Whoever You Are – Ungar/Rumi

#188 in our Singing the Living Tradition hymnal, “Come, Come, Whoever You Are” has been used as a gathering song for thousands of UU worship services and events. The words, welcoming all without condition or exclusion, are from the renowned 13th century poet and mystic Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207-1273). The overlapping round melody was written by poet, musician and UU minister Rev. Dr. Lynn Ungar (b. 1963), who currently serves as minister for lifespan learning and editor of Quest for the Church of the Larger Fellowship.  

 

Offertory Music: Hashivenu – Hebrew folk song, arr. Richards

“Hashivenu” is a traditional Hebrew melody set to a text from the Book of Lamentations. The Hebrew text translates as follows:

Turn us back, turn us back, O Lord to You and we will turn, and we will turn.

Renew, renew our days as before.

“Hashivenu” appears as #216 in our Singing the Living Tradition hymnbook, and the choral arrangement you’ll hear from our Chancel Choir this Sunday was written by American composer and arranger Stephen Richards.

 

Closing Song: There’s a River Flowin’ in my Soul – Sanders

“There’s a River Flowin’ in My Soul” is #1007 in our Singing the Journey hymnal. It was composed by Rose Sanders (b. 1945), who is a civil rights attorney, activist and creative artist living in Selma, Alabama. Ms. Sanders was Alabama’s first African American female judge, and she has co-founded and works to support many organizations which protect children.

 

Postlude: Does the World Say? – Pederson

Kyle Pederson (b. 1971) is a Minneapolis-based composer, lyricist, pianist, and educator. He was awarded the ACDA Genesis Prize in 2020 and the American Prize in Choral Composition in 2019. His work has been commissioned and recorded by All State/Honors choirs, and youth, church, college, and professional choirs around the world. Kyle enjoys working at the intersection of the sacred and secular, and his lyrics and music invite the choir and audience to be agents of hope, grace, and compassion in the world. Written in 2022, “Does the World Say?” is a choral anthem about finding your place and living into your true self, regardless of external pressures. Of this 2022 work, the composer says: “Too many times in my own personal experience, I allowed myself to be unduly influenced by the opinions and expectations of others. And as a junior and senior high teacher and coach, I saw this pressure play out daily on my students. And now as a father of young children, I watch as they, too, struggle with expectations the world throws at them. ‘Does the World Say?’ names a few of these pressures, hoping that by naming them they might hold a bit less power over us. The piece then affirms the importance and power of friendship–and the gift available to us to walk alongside somebody buckling under the weight of expectation to remind them that they are not alone, and to remind them that others do not get to define who they are.” (includes material from kylepederson.com).

                                                   -Mike Carney, UUCC Music Director

 

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