Kutandara mstudio part 10; LESSONS FROM CHURCH HYMNS This month i recorded a number of church choirs who were recording hymns,I started discussing about hymns with them and decided to do a research on them,one of the guys Fatso from church of Christ choir gave me a document with some of the histories of the hymns they were singing,i then did further research and i learnt a number of lessons that i will share here. WRITING&COMPOSITION 1:Most of the songs were created seperately,someone would write the lyrics(words)then someone would write the melody and the music,or they would even take a traditional folk songs melody(tune)and set the new lyrics to the words,for example,taking some gospel lyrics then combine with a folk songs melody,for example nhemamusasa,Chemutengure or dzinomwa muna save,then come up with a joined gospel masterpiece. That is exackly what happened to the great hymn we all love calledHow great thou art.A Swedish man named Carl Gustav Boberg(who was born1859 and died 1940) wrote the lyrics as a poem in 1885,Someone set the lyrics to a Swedish traditional melody which was not even a gospel tune,thats how the hymn was born. It was then translated into english by British missionary Stuart K.Hine,who also added 2 of his own verses. 2:INSPIRATIONS FROM TRAGIC MOMENTS: A big number of hymns were inspired by tragic moments,for example this popular hymn called It is well with my soulThe lyrics were written by a Presbyterian lawyer named Horatio G.Spafford.The music was composed by Philip P.Bliss.(Please note the difference between writing the words(lyrics)and composing the music). Here are the events that added up to the birth of the song:Spaffords only son passed away,soon after that his fortune perished in a fire in Chicago in 1871,Then his four daughters passed away a short while later,they had sunk in a ship,only his wife was saved,as he passed by the place where his daughters perished for the first time he took out pen and paper and wrote the first lines of the hymn.As i always say,you can never beat a stressed man in writing a great touching song.Composer Philip Bliss was touched with the story and composed the music. 3:DOCUMENTATION One thing that i learnt is the importance of documentation,all the composers are known,even the dates and the incidents that inspired the songs.In Africa we need to learn to document,the majority of African church songs are re-recorded so many times by artists who all claim authorship of the songs and collect composer royalties that do not belong to them simply because the composers didnt care to document their material.Imagine the guy who wroteTarira uone ruoko rwaMwarihow much royalties he could have collected since the song was covered by many artists. NKOSI SIKELEL IAFRICA(ISHE KOMBORERAI AFRICA) Was written in 1897 by this Xhosa clergyman named Enock Sontoga.In 1927 seven additional stanzas were added by a poet named Samuel Mqhayi.The song became a pan African liberation anthem and was used a national anthem here in Zimbabwe till we started usingSimudzai murezawhich is another great piece.It was also used as a national anthem in other 4African countries,thats is Zambia,Namibia,Tanzania, and S.africa varidzi vayo.Namibia,like Zimbabwe also later changed and are now using another national anthem. ABERYSTWYTH MELODY Enock Sontoga wrote the loriginal yrics but In terms of melody he used the melody from a hymn tune called Aberystwyth composed by a Welshman named Joseph Parry in 1876.The same melody is also used in Finland in a psalm called Kuule Isa Taivaan. Kudzidza hakuperi shuwa,meet you at the monolio groove garage,the small place with a big sound(studio contact +263772303736,website monoliostudios
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 03:47:25 +0000
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