Music Notes – Sunday, February 11th:
This Sunday’s musicians are The Women’s Ensemble and UUCC Music Director Mike Carney.
Opening Hymn: Siyahamba – South African folk song
“Siyahamba” (#1030 in Singing the Journey) is a South African freedom song that was one of the anthems of the Apartheid Era. Some scholars believe “Siyahamba” was composed around 1950 by Andries van Tonder (1882-1955), while others credit Anders Nyberg (b. 1955), who was likely the first to transcribe “Siyahamba” to the written page. Nyberg was musical director of the Swedish choral group Fjedur, and he discovered the song on a trip to Cape Town, South Africa. In 1984, Nyberg arranged the song for a four-voice setting and he and his choir helped to introduce “Siyahamba” to a worldwide audience. (includes material from uua.org)
Centering Music: My Lord, What a Morning – African American Spiritual
“My Lord, What a Morning” is among the best-loved of all African American Spirituals. Like most songs in the genre, its origins are unclear, but the music is no less powerful for having grown from anonymous roots. The unbridled optimism contained in the song’s lyrics and rising melody convey the message of hope in a new day rising.
Offertory Music: To Walk in the Light – Lange
A native of Texas, composer and conductor Kinley Lange (b. 1950) has worked with and composed music for virtually every type of choral ensemble, and is the founder and former artistic director of the Austin ProChorus. Lange wrote “To Walk in the Light” for a cappella treble voices in 2020, and this Sunday, you’ll hear this piece sung by UUCC’s Women’s Ensemble.
Closing Hymn: May I Be Light in You – Slack
This Sunday’s closing hymn is an original song of prayer, written by UU Minister Rev. Mykal Slack. Slack currently serves as the UUA’s Community Minister for Worship & Spiritual Care for Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism (BLUU). He is also one of the co-founders of the Transforming Hearts Collective, an organizing ministry that helps to both co-create spaces of healing and spiritual resiliency for queer and trans/nonbinary folks and resource congregations in the work of radical welcome and culture shift. (includes material from uua.org)
Postlude: Be the Change – Britt and Kaplan
“Be the Change” was written in 2010 by Marc Kaplan and Colin Britt, based on the “Be the change you wish to see in the world” quotation that is frequently attributed to Mahatma Gandhi. This song is part of the online Justice Choir Songbook and will be sung by UUCC’s Women’s Ensemble to close this Sunday’s service.
-Mike Carney, UUCC Music Director