Songs for the soul

The Christmas tree is up at Mall of Asia and maybe in other places as well. Decorations are out on sale. Christmas carols are being played on radio. There is no stopping the Christmas Season and as we near the end of another year, it’s only right for us to sit back and enjoy some downtime before all the fuss and bustle of this most blessed of celebration.

This is where the new release Christify by Bukas Palad comes in. Take note of that title. It means to become Christ which happens to the bread and wine during the Consecration in the Mass. It is billed as a collection of songs for liturgy and worship, but I think the album is just right for the Mass. Released in celebration of Bukas Palad’s 25th anniversary, this is a continuation of the Music Ministry’s mission to broaden the repertoire of Filipino Liturgical music.

Christify is actually the second of three anniversary albums. Released earlier was To Love And Serve: Bukas Palad Chants. Included are Love And Truth Will Meet, a chant before the start the ceremony; Sa Tahanan Ng Poon, the processional; Miserere (Psalm 51) a responsorial psalm; Praise The Lord Who Heals (Psalm 147) a responsorial psalm; Christify for the preparation of the altar and the gifts; Say The Word at communion; Pagkabighani at communion; Kailan Pa Man also at communion; Magnificat a recessional; and Magpasalamat Sa Kanta also for the recessional.

If you read these titles carefully, you will notice that the songs and the sequence follow the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. And this is what I like very much about this CD. Any choir singing for the Mass can perform these songs in the appropriate parts. That means we now have a new repertoire of Mass songs that can be sung again and again in any parish church anywhere. Hopefully as time goes by, the congregation attending the Mass can also join the choir much like they do now with the old Filipino songs in use these days.

Incidentally, most of them, including the famous Bukas Palad and Tanging Yaman are also of Jesuit origin, most notably from fathers Hontiveros and Francisco. These songs have stood the test of time. In fact these helped change my mind about the switch to the Community Mass after Vatican II. I loved the Latin songs and it was hard accepting the change to the native language at first. But then we started getting these nice compositions which are also very Filipino and I soon got used to hearing Mass with the new music.

Congratulations go out to everybody at Bukas Palad. Thank you for taking care of what Father Horacio de la Costa, S.J. calls the “two jewels” of the Filipino soul, faith and music. Here’s wishing you more inspired songwriters, more songs and more albums that will bring these to us.

Benedictine nuns ink recording deal

From the Jesuits, we now go to the nuns of the Abbaye de Notre-Dame de l’Annonciation. This is a cloistered order of Benedictine nuns from a remote region of France near Avignon. In a development that would have shocked the entire community of Catholic religious orders, the nuns recently signed a recording deal with Decca Records.

This was the prize they won in a worldwide search to find the best female singers of Gregorian Chant. The search drew entries from 70 convents including several from Africa and the US. And the nuns from the Abbaye de Notre-Dame del’Annonciation, an ancient order that dates back to the sixth century were named the winners.

Aside from the recording sessions, which will be done inside the Abbey, nothing will change in these nuns’ lives. They will continue to lead the hidden life behind closed doors where they vowed to remain until they die. All communications with the outside world including those with their families, are done only through a grill. They signed their recording contract through a grill.

Expect to get the finished album by November. It is supposed to be all chants but I can’t help but hope it will include Christmas songs.