Author: Bruce Harding

In the busyness of Christmas preparations, with Christmas parties, shopping, extravagant meals and family travel for which to get ready, it is no wonder that many people find December to be tiring. We know many people who even take their Christmas trees down on Boxing Day (December 26) because they are already tired of the season!

Despite what our consumerist culture and corporate ethos has done to our Christmas celebrations over the past century or so, in the Christian calendar, Christmas is actually the twelve days between December 25 and January 5, before the feast of Epiphany on January 6! The four weeks leading up to Christmas are traditionally known as Advent, a season of longing and expectation, as we prepare for the birth of the Christ Child. And so in our ongoing desire to have people experience Advent, we are again continuing a tradition as we hit the road throughout southern British Columbia, sharing songs of Advent and providing an oasis of musical space in the midst of busy Christmas preparations. We’ll be in the Okanagan valley, in the Vancouver area, and on Vancouver Island for Evenings of Singing and for a few Blue Christmas services, December 1-22. Please join us if you can, and help us spread the word! Details are on our events page.

May we be filled again with anticipation of the joy to come!

We’re excited to announce that our newest album, A Black and White Christmas, is finished and now available! You can listen to samples and get it right now in CD form or as mp3 download (saves the environment!) through our sales page. In the coming weeks (by mid-December) it will also be available through all major online retailers. A joint production by MelodicArts Media in association with Raga Gospel Ministries, A Black and White Christmas is a wonderful IndoCanadian fusion approach to traditional Christmas carols from Canada and India, featuring the amazing talents of Hamilton, Ontario sitarist and vocalist Neeraj Prem in partnership with Bruce Harding (flutes, voice, guitar, bass and percussion). Bruce and Neeraj worked on the project when they were together for their BC tour in April, 2009, putting final touches to the recordings this September. What a feast of Christmas music it is!

We launched the album in Hamilton, Ontario, on Sunday, November 21, in a dinner concert with amazing food and, of course, amazing music! Thanks to all who came out and supported us.

I’m excited about tomorrow night’s concert by Shashi Lata Virk, an amazing singer of North Indian classical music and ghazals, and a good friend. Shashi doesn’t do many concerts in the Vancouver area, despite being a Canadian resident since the early 1970s – she spends most of her touring time in India, singing on All India Radio, television broadcasts, and concerts – so it is a rare opportunity to hear her do her thing. Shashi will be accompanied by me on flutes, Ed Henderson on guitar, Amarjeet Singh on tabla, and a host of students and other music guests, so a rich musical experience is in store for all. Come join us! Saturday, October 9, 6:30pm, at the Douglas College Performing Arts Theatre in New Westminster, BC. Tickets: $25.

It seems like we’ve been to Naramata already this summer… Oh yes, that’s because we have been twice this year! Our second week of music leadership has just ended and we’re on the highway to home. Thanks to everyone – staff, participants and volunteers – who made the week so great. For your continued singing pleasure, here are the scores for the songs we wrote to help make the theme come alive:

• Network (pdf)
• The Circle of Life (pdf)
• Generations (pdf)

We also used an earlier song of ours, a song written for intercultural ministry, during the Wednesday community worship:

• Alpha and Omega (pdf)

Finally, on the way home, a new song written during the week which didn’t end up getting used for worship morphed into a wonderful, energetic Amen!

• Amen, Praise God! (pdf)

⇒ Continue reading

We’re just wrapping up a fun week of music leadership at Naramata Centre in the Okanagan Valley, a time of playing with the theme for the week, “Wake Up,” and with the overall summer theme of “Awakened Body, Awakened Purpose.” Thanks as always to the staff and volunteers at the Centre for all that they do, and to all the participants who made our week so great! If anyone would like a full list of all the songs sung during the week, contact us and we’ll email it to you.

For your continued singing, here are a few key songs which we sang with the children’s programme and during community gathering times:

• Wake Up – our theme song for the week, with zipper verse possibilities
• Sleeper, Awake – a lively song in SATB harmony
• I Feel God Around Me – a zipper song celebrating God’s presence in us and our world
• Catch the Light – a simple song reminding us we are bearers of God’s light

⇒ Continue reading