Hello members and friends of UUCC, 

I hope you can join us for online worship this Sunday, February 7th for our service centered around the 6th UU Principle of World Community with Peace, Liberty and Justice for All. The music in that service will include some old and new favorites, and you can read all about those songs in this week’s Music Notes:

Music Notes – Sunday, February 7th:

Music 1: This Is My Song – Sibelius/Stone

“This Is My Song” (#159 in Singing the Living Tradition) is a favorite hymn of many UUs. The music famously comes from Finlandia, a 1900 tone poem which is the best-known work of Finnish composer Jean Sibelius (1865-1957). In 1934, American poet Lloyd Stone (1912-1993) set Sibelius’s distinctive melody to “This Is My Song”, intending the hymn to become an international song of peace. Fittingly, Stone’s setting of the Finlandia melody appears today in hymnals of dozens of faith traditions around the world. The UUCC Chancel Choir with organist Mike Carney will lead “This Is My Song” in our virtual service this weekend.

Music 2: Years Are Coming – Prichard/Ballou

Adin Ballou (1803-1890) was an American philosopher and Universalist minister who was well-known for his views as a pacifist and abolitionist. Although Ballou wrote many hymns, “Years Are Coming” (#166) is his sole contribution to Singing the Living Tradition. This hymn was first published in 1842 under the title “Reign of Christian Peace” and is set in our hymnal to “Hyfrodol”, a popular Welsh hymn tune credited to Rowland Prichard (1811-1887) and familiar to modern UUs as the tune of “Blue Boat Home”. This Sunday, “Years Are Coming” will be led by the UUCC Chancel Choir accompanied by Mike Carney on the organ.

Music 3/Offertory: Daoona Nayeesh – Warmbrand/Badri

1032 in Singing the Journey, “Daoona Nayeesh” is the inspiration of a Muslim residing in the United States, Samir Badri (b. 1952). Samir recruited Jewish composer Ted Warmbrand (b. 1943) to set his words to a tune, after they were both featured at a Peace rally in Arizona before the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan and then Iraq. This song has been well embraced by those who have heard it around the country. It is structured musically to allow for people who have never sung in Arabic to do so, in echo fashion. It was first sung with a rippling banjo accompaniment, then a cappella, then with percussion, and then with a band made up of musicians from Morocco and Saudi Arabia who formed to play for the Tucson Jewish Muslim Peace Walk of 2004. (from uua.org)

Translated from Arabic, Badri’s words are as follows:

Let us live in peace.
Let us live in inner peace.
Let us weave our dreams together.
Let us die in peace.

This Sunday, “Daoona Nayeesh” will be led by UUCC Music Director Mike Carney (vocals and piano) along with Anne and Steve Sanford (clarinet).

Music 4/Postlude: Profetiza, Pueblo Mio – Zarate 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 and Latino 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. 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. Written in 1975 and first sung at the II National Convention of Spanish Speaking Catholics in Washington, DC, “Profetiza, Pueblo Mio” appears as #1016 in our Singing the Journey hymnbook and will be led this week by the UUCC Women’s Ensemble with percussionist Aaron Burkle and pianist Mike Carney. (includes material from giamusic.com)

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.

-Mike Carney, UUCC Music Director