Put one foot in front of the other, and Lead with Love – UU songleader, composer, and activist Melanie DeMore will lead a free all-ages community sing at UUCC next Saturday, May 18th!
We are proud to be welcoming Oakland-based songleader and composer Melanie DeMore to UUCC later this month! Come join us at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 18th for a free community sing, open to all ages and experience levels. Melanie will also be co-leading our worship service at 10:15 a.m. on Sunday, May 19th.
Music Notes – Sunday, May 12th:
This Sunday’s musicians are Suvan Agarwal and UUCC Pianist Karin Tooley
About this Sunday’s guest musician:
Suvan Agarwal, currently a graduate student at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, is an American guitarist with international experience. He has won numerous prizes at the Columbus Guitar Symposium Competition, Oberlin Conservatory Bach Competition, Louisville Guitar Competition, Guitar Foundation of America International Ensemble Competition, and Tuesday Musical competition, where in addition to first prize in the guitar category he won the audience prize in the final round, open to winners from all instrument categories. Suvan has performed in both the United States and Japan.
Opening Hymn: #311 Let It Be a Dance – Masten
“Let It Be a Dance” (#311 in our Singing the Living Tradition hymnal) was originally written and performed by Ric Masten (1929-2008), a California-based Unitarian Universalist folk singer, songwriter, poet, storyteller, and author. Masten’s song has a natural motion and momentum, and I encourage all of you to let your body move and bend and (of course) dance while you sing along with this song on Sunday morning.
Centering Music: Sonata Romantica – Ponce
Manuel Maria Ponce (1882-1948) was a Mexican composer and music educator who was especially known for his piano and guitar works. Ponce was strongly influenced by folk and traditional music, and many of his compositions call upon Mexican folk melodies and forms. Ponce was also a scholar and aficionado of European classical music, and his 1929 Sonata Romántica is an example of European influence in Ponce’s work, as the piece was written as an homage to the work of Austrian composer Franz Schubert (1797-1828), incorporating material from a number of Schubert’s works.
Offertory Music: Sonata in F Major – Diabelli
Anton Diabelli (1781-1858) was an Austrian musician, publisher, and composer. He was most famously known during his lifetime as a music publisher, and today is best-known as the composer of the waltz which was used by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) used as the basis for his famous Diabelli Variations. Diabelli played both the piano and guitar, and most of his compositions were for one (or in a few cases, both) of these instruments. This Sunday, you’ll hear an excerpt from Diabelli’s Sonata in F major (Op. 29, No. 3), originally written for piano, but arranged and performed on guitar by our guest musician Suvan Aragwal.
Closing Hymn: #1020 Woyaya – Amarfio, Amoa, Bailey, Bedeau, Osei, Richardson, & Tontoh
Primarily written by Ghanaian drummer Sol Amarifio (b. 1938), “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, which are 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.
Postlude: Coco de Alagoas – Bellinati
Paulo Bellinati (b. 1950) is a Brazilian guitarist and composer. He is a renowned performer, winning a Prémio Sharp (Brazil’s equivalent to the Grammy Award), and touring many times in his homeland and internationally.
-Mike Carney, UUCC Music Director