A very special way to finish the year sharing stories and music at YWAM Davao City, Mindanao. What a great week – amazingly creative students, lots of new friends made, eating at night markets, motor bike and tuktuk rides, Filipino style – and a snake popped up at lunchtime! Now the 2 day journey home!
Out in Göttingen, Germany recording Kerst Sikkema, originally from the Netherlands. We met during his visits to the Northumbria Community – and he sang on the Alone and Together recordings. Since then he has continued to write songs, a collection of Daily prayers (called Breeze) and Peace prayers for a community of foreign students, workers and refugees living in Germany. Oh, and the Bratwurst was wunderbar
What a great week here at YWAM Muskoka, Canada. Wonderful to be back sharing life, stories and music with an amazing group of people. Canada’s First Nation population went through a harrowing time during the season of residential schools. It is wonderful to see this school being run by a First Nations who is bringing a blessing rather than a curse. A true story of reconciliation. Fall is also a beautiful time to be in this land with the trees turning to their magnificent colours.
Just returned from another fantastic recording session in Sweden, working with Viola Grafström and some wonderful singers and acoustic players. Viola’s small studio is in a beautiful location next to a river – and if you are fortunate, in the early evening, you might catch a site of the local beavers passing by.
“Stöld” är en vild och vacker berättelse om en ung urfolksflicka vars familj är samiska renskötare. Hon blir vittne till hur hennes kalv brutalt dödas, och som så ofta händer utreder inte polisen brottet.
“Stolen” is a wild and beautiful story about a young indigenous girl whose family are Sámi reindeer herders. She witnesses her calf being brutally killed, and as so often happens, the police do not investigate the crime.
This wonderfully written book is now a Netflix film although I would urge you to read the book first.
We will be travelling to France to take part in Fête de la Musique. Excited to lead a creative songwriting workshop. Fête de la Musique is an annual celebration of music on the 21st June. On this wonderful day, music is promoted throughout the country. Everybody is urged to play music outside, in their neighbourhoods or in public spaces and parks. Many free concerts are organized and musicians play for fun and not for payment.
A very interesting documentary about the young drummers in Iran, who are keeping the ancient tradition of tonbak (Persian drum) playing alive.
Wonderful new song from New Zealand by Dale and David Garratt – written to bless the people of Ōtautahi (Christchurch).
The incredible story of a singing revolution. This is a brief trailer telling the story – “The Singing Revolution shares how, between 1987 and 1991, hundreds of thousands of Estonians gathered publicly to sing forbidden patriotic songs and share protest speeches, risking their lives to proclaim their desire for independence. While violence and bloodshed was the unfortunate end result in other occupied nations of the USSR, the revolutionary songs of the Estonians anchored their struggle for freedom, which was ultimately accomplished without the loss of a single life.”
It was wonderful to meet Andreas Keller who told me about a Swiss tradition of blessing the land using a milk churn funnel.
Read MoreJamie Fitt filmed our helicopter ride back to base after our musical exploits. Gives a taste of what it was like to fly amongst the mountain peaks!
James Nesbit and a team of musicians had been invited by Dennis and Aldi Hockley of Shalom ministries to their home near Cranbrook B.C. Situated in the Rocky Mountain trench, a valley lying between the Rocky Mountains and the Purcell Mountains, this beautiful 320 acre estate is used as an amazing wedding venue and place of retreat. We had been invited to a gathering called “Releasing Treasures from the Land”, a retreat looking at encouraging the people and sounds in this area. In the last few years, we have been invited to a number of places to encourage the artists and help discuss similar themes regarding the ‘sound of the land’. This has been a wonderful season where people are starting to delve into the history of where they live, listen to the narrative of the people from the region and realise that they can express their own unique stories. There is not a place in the world where the fingerprints of The Great Creator have not left whisper’s of who He is and what He has done amongst the people. The artists have a role to play as scribes, chronicling these testimonies of God, reminding us of the amazing stories within the land.
One of the highlights was a wonderfully mad idea of taking a bunch of mischief musicians to the mountain tops in a helicopter!!! Freezing temperatures and strong winds added to the musicality as we joined creation in sound and voice. A truly memorable experience!
So how did I find myself in a wonderful studio in Barbados you might ask? I was invited by Paul Milner, a producer/engineer from Canada I have worked with a number of times. Paul worked in Barbados for 3 years with Eddie Grant and jumped at the chance of being there again to help Dianne Hanko’s 7th recording project, a singer/songwriter from Canada recording her latest CD. We enjoyed a week of exploring a new sound using a hybrid kit and percussion.
I am always amazed at the unexpected connections on our journeys. The owner of Paradise studios, Scott has an incredible story of how there was a divine orchestration in his ability to bring his dream of a top class studio to the island. The desk and all the equipment (including some furniture designed by Timothy Oulton) has its own history as it was shipped all the way from Hugh Padgham’s studio on a boat! Hugh is a prolific UK record producer and audio engineer who has won 4 Grammy Awards. Because of Scott’s journey of faith he was so encouraged to meet Paul and I and we spent many hours talking story and encouraging him in his wonderful dream for Barbados.
Fragile Warriors (New Zealand)
£15.00
These Things of Love (Hawaii) CD
Original price was: £12.00.£7.00Current price is: £7.00.
Steps and Stones (Hawaii) CD
Original price was: £7.00.£5.00Current price is: £5.00.
The Finer Things in Life (Kevin Prosch & Bryn Haworth)
£12.00
Spirit of Four Directions (Native American) CD
£5.00
Carry Me On (Hawaii) CD - Exciting news - Remastered version available NOW
£10.00
3 VftN Postcards
£1.00
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