Music Notes – Sunday, January 11th:
This Sunday’s musicians are The Treble Ensemble, The Chancel Choir and UUCC Music Director Mike Carney
Centering Music: Keep on Movin’ Forward – Humphries
Known for fearless, truth-telling lyrics and melodies you can’t resist singing, Emma’s Revolution is the dynamic, award-winning activist duo of Pat Humphries & Sandy O. Emma’s Revolution’s songs have traveled around the world and have been sung for the Dalai Lama, praised by Pete Seeger and covered by Holly Near. An anthem of resistance and perseverance, “Keep on Movin’ Forward” was written by Pat Humphries and is one of Emma’s Revolution’s best-known songs.
Song: We Are a Gentle, Angry People – Near
Holly Near (b. 1949) is a performer, songwriter, and activist who for decades has inspired thousands to thought and action. She is among the founders of the Women’s Music movement and is a fierce advocate for LGBTQ and environmental justice as well. Ms. Near has received honors from the ACLU, the National Lawyers Guild, the National Organization for Women, and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; she was named Ms. Magazine’s Woman of the Year and received the Legends of Women’s Music Award. One of Holly’s best-known and best-loved songs is “Singing for Our Lives”, which was written after she heard news of the assassination of city supervisor and gay rights activist Harvey Milk. The song appears in our Singing the Living Tradition hymnal as “We Are a Gentle, Angry People” (#170). (includes material from hollynear.com)
Special Music: A Yellow Disc Rising from the Sea – Talbot
Joby Talbot (b. 1971) is a British composer who has written works for chorus, instrumental solos and ensembles, dance and opera. In 2005 the British classical music station Classic FM named Talbot as its first ever resident composer, with the understanding that Talbot would compose a new work for each month of the calendar year which would premier on Classic FM. Airing on Classic FM in January 2005, “A Yellow Disc Rising from the Sea” was the first piece that Talbot wrote for this project, which would eventually become a twelve-movement published work titled Once Around the Sun.
Offertory Music: Profetiza, Pueblo Mio – Zárate Macias
Musicians are not strangers to the cause for civil rights, and Rosa Martha Zárate Macias is a heroic example. Zárate Macias came to the United States from Mexico in 1968 and has successfully combined her rich musical talent with courageous leadership in championing the rights of the Mexican community in the U.S. She has performed benefit concerts in numerous countries of Central and South America as well as in Portugal and the United States. (from giamusic.com) In 1985, she was the cofounder of the California-based immigration and citizenship project Libreria del Pueblo, and from 1990–1993 she acted as cofounder of Calpulli, an organization that promotes and develops programs to aid disadvantaged people of Central and South American heritage. Profetiza, Pueblo Mio (#1016 in our Singing the Journey hymnbook) was written in 1975 and first sung at the II National Convention of Spanish Speaking Catholics in Washington, DC.
The English translation of the song’s refrain is:
Prophesy, oh my people, prophesy one more time.
Let your voice be the echo of the outcries of all oppressed.
Prophesy, oh my people, prophesy one more time.
Announce to them the coming of a new society.
Song: Step by Step – Irish folk tune/Hille & Seeger
#352 in Singing the Living Tradition, “Step by Step” is an anthem of the labor movement in the United States. The lyrics created were inspired by a verse in preamble to the constitution of an early coal miner’s union, and modified by songwriter Waldemar Hille (1908-1995) with some help from legendary folk singer/songwriter Pete Seeger (1919-2014). The tune they set the words to is an Irish folk tune known during the Irish Potato Famine as “The Praties they Grow Small”.
Song: One More Step – Poley
Canadian UU Composer Joyce Poley (b. 1941) wrote “One More Step” in 1986 and its message of commitment and perseverance still rings true today. “One More Step” is #168 in our Singing the Living Tradition hymnal and is a favorite of many UUs around the world.
Postlude: I Know I Can – Gagné & Hamilton
The gospel-style “I Know I Can” resulted from a collaboration between two Unitarian Universalists: composer Jeannie Gagné (b. 1960) and lyricist Rev. Dennis Hamilton (b. 1944). “The song comes from hope, prayer, and a strong will. The melody came to Jeannie in about twenty minutes one evening, which she says happens rarely but when it does, she trusts it!” (from uua.org) “I Know I Can” is #1015 in our Singing the Journey hymnbook.
-Mike Carney, UUCC Music Director