Music Life and Faith

A few different posts from friends on the role of music in life have been in my mind today: this one from Fr. Austin Fleming - scroll down after the poem to listen to the sublime Alleluia by Eric Whitacre, then a post from John Predmore S.J in Jordan from here , and another from Thom Curnutte  here.

Image source

I cannot imagine what life would be like without music. It certainly has the power to unite and I'm sure we all have good and bad cringeworthy memories of times in church when music has uplifted us or had the opposite effect !

A regular read for me is my friend R.J's superb blog When Love Comes To Town who invariably has something to feed my soul in words and/or music. His dual passion for faith and music ministry always nourishes and inspires.

This week he has posted a version of one of my favourite songs "Who Knows Where The Time Goes" by a singer new to me and quite beautiful it is too.  The original Sandy Denny Version has been a backdrop to my life. Thanks R.J. This is the new version by singer Kate Rusby.


This video shows how this lovely old man reacts to hearing music from his era.




Then tonight by chance I came across an interview from Grammy Award Winning artist Bobby Mc Ferrin talking about his faith and his music  where he says “To me, just being is a religious experience. Just being is holy.” 

The video interview is here

You can also read the transcript of the interview here.

There's also an interesting review of his most recent album "SpiritYouAll" here where he reconnects to the faith of his childhood.

 
Watch Bobby McFerrin on PBS. See more from Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.

The videos below show two songs from his new album from his performance at the Barbican Centre London earlier this year: "Glory Glory Hallelujah" and "He/She's Got The Whole World In His/Her Hands."




No comments: