XXVIII. Cantat Bis Orat, Part Four – A Three-Hundred-Year-Old Filipino Lenten Sing-Along

We’ve already started Holy Week, and in the Philippines, this signals the observance of a great number of traditional practices developed over the past few centuries of Christianity in these islands.  The most musical one of these is definitely the Pasyon, or Filipino Lenten chant. Its origins seem to date back to at least the 17^th century, with prayers and catechism texts authored by the early Spanish missionaries and set to chants used by the indigenous people.

The first milestone in its development is probably the versified narrative of the Passion, beginning with the Last Supper and ending with the Resurrection, authored by Gaspar Aquino de Belen of Rosario, Batangas, and published in 1703.  Over the following century, the narrative had slowly expanded to include even the Creation from the Book of Genesis.

In 1814, a major editorial effort culminated in the publication of “Kasaysayan ng pasyong mahal ni Jesucristong panginoon natin na sukat ipag-alab ng puso ng sinumang babasa,” also called “Pasyong Mahal” (The Sacred Passion).  Essentially, the initiative sought to rewrite or delete unorthodox texts and content from whatever was in current use at that time.  The editor of this church-sponsored project was a priest named Mariano Pilapil, and as a consequence, this pasyon is also known as “Pasyong Pilapil.”  Like the 1703 version, this newer edition continued the use of the Spanish “quintilla” format – a set of five verses, each of eight syllables, and with rhyming endings. 

Since then, various other editions have appeared, especially in Philippine languages other than Tagalog.  By the early post-World War II years, the entire nation was apparently Pasyon-literate in their own regional languages.

Today, the chanting of the Pasyon seems to be in relative currency, though various quarters complain that it is a dying tradition, brought about by the scarcity of traditional singers familiar with the “way it is supposed to be sung.”  The obvious next step is therefore, let’s simply learn how it’s meant to be sung.  And the obvious question is, do we have any recordings that we can use as references so that we can become self-taught Pasyon chanters? 

The answer is a bit complicated, so let me start with a simple version.  No, I have not come across any broadly-published documentary-type field recordings of actual Pasyon chanters in action.  This is a pity, because in order to learn how these chants are to be properly sung, it is best to listen to how they were ACTUALLY sung in some home or visita during Holy Week.
 

Instead, what is available are a couple of recordings of funky, modernized versions of the Pasyon.  The first one of these is inside the album “Langit: The Filipino Sings of Faith” from the Ateneo Glee Club.

There are four short tracks here that are excerpts from the Pasyon text, and do base their music on traditional Pasyon chants.  The album opens with “Pagsilang,” using the following stanza from the Pasyon: 

Nang malaon nang totoo, 

taong maikapat na libo, 
mulang lalangin ang mundo 
siyang nganing pagparito 
niyong sasakop sa tao. 

Because it has been arranged for a young modern choir, it is either really refreshing and innovative, or is irritatingly self-conscious and potentially irreverent, depending on your musical taste and religious profile.  I recommend listening to “Pagsilang” to see which part of the spectrum of listeners you might be in.  If you like what you hear, go ahead with the other tracks such as “Buhay,” “Handog," and “Alay” as well.

This recording just doesn’t do it for me, as I can’t imagine my family, friends, and fellow parishioners in Bulacan singing anything this way, especially not a religious text for Holy Week, unfortunately. 

(the Ateneo Glee Club singing Regina Caeli, an Easter antiphon)

Another creative and innovative effort is the album “Pasyon: An Oratorio based on the Philippine Lenten Chant.”

This makes use of excerpts from the 1703 and 1814 editions to come up with a classical-style oratorio to commemorate the passion and death of the Lord.  The text selections highlight the fact that the beauty of Tagalog poetry, even in the earlier-described quintilla format, lay not in rhyme or meter, but in the juxtaposition of either contradictory or complementary images.  This compare-and-contrast aesthetic is referred to as “talinghaga” even by modern-day Tagalogs.  In “Panalangin,” the first track on this album, we can try to identify what the “matalinghaga” aspects might be: 

O Diyos sa kalangitan 

hari ng sangkalupaan 
Diyos na walang kapantay 
mabait, lubhang maalam  
at puno ng karunungan, 

Ikaw ang amang tibobos 

nang nangungulilang lubos 
Amang di matapos-tapos 
maawai’t mapagkukop 
sa taong lupa’t alabok,

Iyong itulot sa amin 

Diyos Amang maawain 
mangyaring aming dalitin 
hirap, sakit at hilahil 
ng Anak mong ginigiliw. 

Some of the people behind this project were also involved in the “Langit” recording, so musically, the two albums are similar, as the above listening example shows.  The basic chants used are of the most common melodies still current today; the production notes credit the province of Bulacan as the field source for these.  On the other hand, the album also features an unusual traditional chant from Santo Tomas, Batangas, that starts of with a “Na na na na.”  In the track “Huling Hapunan”, we can find out how this works. 

Ay ano nga’y nalikmo na 

Si Jesus na Poong Ama 
Siya sampu ng kasama
Doon sa kakanan nila 
 At nagwika kapagdaka 

Obviously, this still doesn’t meet our requirements for self-edification.  Our last hope is “Krus at Muling Pagkabuhay” from Himig Heswita of the Jesuit Communications Foundation at the Ateneo de Manila University, published in 2003.   

 
This promisingly offers fourteen different “Pasyon Himig” (chant melodies), which the authors each characterize as possessing one of several possible qualities: “angkop sa karaniwang salaysay” (appropriate for normal narratives), “angkop sa bahagi ng salaysay na tigib ng hapis” (appropriate for sorrowful parts of the narrative), “angkop sa mga salita ng Panginoon” (appropriate to lines spoken by the Lord), and so on.

Interestingly, the texts used in this recording are not from the old traditional Pasyon texts, but are taken from the “Aklat ng Pagmimisa sa Roma,” or the Roman Missal in Tagalog, published in 1981.  This ensures that all its contents are liturgical and orthodox, rather than simply traditional or, worse, folksy.

It then becomes a simple matter of matching up the texts, which cover Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, to the appropriate chant melodies, as to whether they are meant to be sad, happy, and so forth.

The first two of the fourteen chants are probably the most common, and should be familiar to just about any Holy Week church-goer in at least the Tagalog-speaking regions.  In fact, from my childhood listening experience, these two are always used together, with the first used for the odd-numbered Pasyon stanzas, and the second used for the even-numbered ones.  Here are the words of Himig 1 and Himig 2 here (even if they’re not arranged in the manner that I’ve just described):  

Himig 1 
Poong makapangyarihan 

Lumikha ng sanlibutan 
lupa’y iyong inilagay 
nang matatag at matibay 
sa tubig ng karagatan 

Himig 2

Kay Kristo, Haring Mesiyas
Sumalubong nang may galak
Taglay ang manga palaspas
Manga batang iyong anak 
Jerusalem na mapalad 

In my view, this is valuable not only because it offers the fourteen different Pasyon chant melodies as previously mentioned, but also because it comes fully documented with a book with complete liturgical texts beyond the ones included in the recording.  In fact, beyond the texts set to Pasyon chant, the album includes a “bonus track” at the end, a popular hymn frequently used in the Mass, “Pag-Ibig Mo, Ama.” 

Moreover, the book includes the printed musical notation so that your pianist or organist (or a musically-literate guitarist who can play from musical notes rather than guitar chords) can play the main melody so that the singers can follow, as well as improvise the chordal and bass accompaniment.

I would have, however, preferred to listen to a wider variety of voices, as all of the singers in this album seem to be young, male, and Atenean.  This is rather unlike the typical Pasyon singer, who would be older, female, and possibly a full-time homemaker in one of the Tagalog-speaking provinces around Manila.  I’m sure some small effort could have been expended to find other good singers who could have lent some authenticity to this recording.  

It would also have been better to make use of other accompanying instruments other than a synthesized piano – for example, a normal guitar, or a small electric organ, as this would probably be a more typical accompaniment as well.  Or why not even unaccompanied, but harmonized, vocal arrangements, in two, three, or four parts?  

My final beef with this recording is that, even with the ubiquitous Himig 1 and Himig 2, the recorded performances are not perfectly accurate – based on my hearing, they’re not the sung in the same way, meter- and beat-wise, as how they are sung even today in Bulacan.  And the harmonized accompaniment too is inferior to what is used and played in places like Malolos.  Not really being a trained musicologist, I can’t really explain it in precise musical terms, but one only needs to visit Barasoain Church on Holy Thursday or Good Friday and compare how the choir and congregation sing these two melodies versus the recorded versions here.

Overall, though, this is a worthy effort and fills a huge gap in our knowledge and understanding of this most important form of Philippine religious music.  But we still want to listen to an authentic field recording that documents an actual Pasyon “performance.”  It doesn’t have to be the whole eighteen- to twenty-hour saga of the entire Pasyon book, and video is a nice bonus but is not an essential.  Hopefully, some day, one such recording will turn up, and it will be a good one too. 

Originally published on 18 March 2007.  Text copyright ©2007 by Leo D Cloma. The moral right of Leo D Cloma to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted. Musical examples are owned by their respective copyright holders and are used only for review and demonstration purposes. 

Original comments:

illuminati1 wrote on Jul 19, '07 thanks for the download and lyrics

tandang1 wrote on Feb 1, '08 can u tell me where I can get a downloadable copy of the words of Tagalog Mass please? You can contact me at kevin@padrepio.org.au

rally65 wrote on Feb 12, '08 Sorry, I don't actually know where the Tagalog mass text may be downloaded from. I suggest that you try doing an internet search.

ivanrondelsalditos wrote on Mar 7, '08 can i have the chords? for himig 1 and himig 2? please?

ivanrondelsalditos wrote on Mar 7, '08 salamat

rally65 wrote on Mar 8, '08 The music for the pasyon himig examples is given in the book. Please try to get the book and look for the chords in there.

pabasa2011 wrote on Apr 15, '09 For the benefit of the Filipino children born outside the Philippines do you think it's possible to have the pasyong mahal translated in English? The tradition is brought over here in California (at least) and it will make more sense and perhaps draw their interest (even other nationalities') if they could at least "pray" or "sing-along" with it. Thanks.

rally65 wrote on Apr 15, '09 That's certainly a good idea. I just don't know who might be capable of undertaking this initiative (translating musical lyrics from one language to another while retaining "sing-ability" is always a challenge). Hope someone steps forward.

XXVII. Cantat Bis Orat, Part Three – King David’s Songbook with the World’s Two Best Choirs

“To sing is to pray twice” wasn’t lost at all on the ancients – it is sometimes easy to forget that the Old Testament has a fair number of examples of musical material, from the obviously-titled Song of Solomon (also called the Song of Songs) to the Lamentations of Jeremiah (better sung than wailed).   Our clear modern-day favorites are the Psalms. The ancient Greek word meant “songs sung to a harp,” but harpists were not always readily available throughout the past three-odd millennia, so since two thousand years ago, “psalms” simply became synonymous with “songs.”

Traditionally, the Psalms are attributed to King David (of David and Goliath fame), who is said to have based his song-writing output on the works of earlier “psalmists” including Adam and Moses.  Since we don’t have any of Adam’s or Moses’ songs on-hand, it is difficult to say just how closely David copied his forebears’ styles.  Which is just as well, I suppose. 

In reality, even though about half of the one hundred and fifty numbered Psalms include David’s name, they are all most likely the work of several authors, or groups of authors.  Since they weren’t formally written down in Hebrew until nearly half a millennium after King David reigned, they must have relied on recited and / or sung transmission of any materials actually originating from David.

Psalms have always been in use for worship throughout Christian history.  The Holy Mass always includes a Responsorial Psalm, which is nothing but a rearrangement of the Psalm texts into verses with an antiphonal response from the congregation.  This is often sung, though you’d be lucky to have a good cantor to sing the verses and a good song leader to teach the congregation how to sing the response properly.   

There are also many musical arrangements of the Psalms, in English, Pilipino, or other Philippine languages, in current use throughout the Philippines.  Of course, these are not appropriate to be sung in place of the prescribed Responsorial Psalm for the day’s Mass, unless the texts actually refer to the same Psalm.  We’ve also already heard a Taizé example of a setting of Psalm 34, “Qui regarde vers dieu resplendira” (Look to God and you will shine), and in fact there are numerous other Psalm settings in the extensive Taizé repertoire.

We now look at a sampling of different Psalm settings, from other musical traditions, starting with “Anglican Chant.”  This refers to the practice in the Church of England (i.e., the church originally established by Henry VIII to break-away from the Roman Catholic Church) of chanting the Psalms to English texts, using a simple harmonized melody in seven, fourteen, twenty-one, or twenty-eight bars.  The precise melodies and harmonies evolved from the 16^th century onwards, but were probably pretty much established by the 18^th century, and were fully developed in the Victorian era, with chant settings authored by distinguished English composers in the 19^th century, as we’re about to hear.

First is a setting of Psalm 84, “O how amiable are thy dwellings” with a chant composed by Sir Hubert Parry (1848-1918).  This is from the album “The Sound of King’s,” (EMI CDZ 7 62852 2) an anthology of choral works performed by what many say is the world’s best choir, the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge. 

Here is a recent photograph of the choir in their home chapel in King’s College, a famous structure with acoustics that make them sound even better than they already do to begin with. 

In their rendition of Psalm 84, which dates from 1969, they were led by their then Director of Music, the venerable Sir David Willcocks, who retired in 1974, but is still an active musician to this day.

The choir recorded all one hundred fifty Psalms in Anglican Chant during Mr. Willcocks’ tenure there, with him usually playing the small accompanying pipe organ. This allowed the choir to demonstrate various variations of Anglican chant – including where verses are sung alternately by the higher voices (boy sopranos and male altos) and by the lower voices (tenors and basses), or by half of the choir (half of the sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses), and then by the other half. 

As a matter of fact, choirs in Anglican churches are usually positioned into two halves straddling the nave of the chapel or church, with the halves referred to as “cantori” (the half positioned on the cantor’s side) and “decani” (the half positioned on the dean’s side). So depending on the chant arrangement used, one could achieve a “stereophonic” effect with volume increasing or decreasing, and shifting from left to right to center. I recommend listening to their recording of Psalm 84 again and try to see what dynamics were used by the King’s College Choir with Parry’s chant arrangement.

After Mr. Willcocks retired, he was succeeded as Director of Music by Sir Philip Ledger, who also made many recordings with the choir. 

In 1978, they recorded “Choral Evensong for Ascension Day,” (EMI DCM 5 65102 2) a recording of the service for that feast day. The program included a setting of Psalm 24, “The Earth is the Lord’s,” with a chant composed by Sir Joseph Barnby (1838-1896).

From these two tracks, one may observe that despite the gap of nearly a decade and the leadership of two different conductors, the choir’s sound has not changed at all. It is indeed paradoxical that despite the fact that the choir’s membership constantly changes – the boys’ voices break and therefore trebles usually stay in the choir for no more than three years, and the choral scholars leave the choir after graduation from the university – the choir sounds exactly the same from year to year. Just another example of how a religious musical tradition is transmitted through the ages – perhaps directly, in a manner of speaking, from old King David himself!

The current Director of Music at King’s College, Cambridge is Stephen Cleobury, who succeeded Mr. Ledger in 1982. 

He too has recorded prolifically with the choir. In the album “The Sound of King’s” cited earlier, there is a recording of “Miserere mei, Deus” (Have mercy on me, O God), made in 1984, not long after Mr. Cleobury took over.  This piece is a setting of Psalm 51 composed by Gregorio Allegri (1582-1652), priest, composer, and member of the Sistine Chapel Choir in Rome. 

(A 1987 version of the piece conducted by Stephen Cleobury by the King's College Cambridge)

(Another version of the piece)

The well-known story about this piece is that to preserve its exclusivity, the church forbade copies from being published. That changed when the fourteen-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, visiting Rome in 1770, heard it performed, and transcribed it from memory.  It is not difficult to hear why the choir would have wanted to keep the work to themselves, or why the young Mozart would have wanted to write it down after hearing it – the choral arrangement is both sublime and striking, perfectly suited to a musical work of repentance and penance. It being the Lenten season now, this work, usually performed on Ash Wednesday, is an entirely appropriate musical reflection for us at this time.

Psalm 51, “Miserere mei, Deus”

Miserere mei, Deus,

secundum magnam misericordiam tuam;

et secundum multitudinem miserationum tuarum,

dele iniquitatem meam.

Amplius lava me ab iniquitate mea,

et a peccato meo munda me.

Have mercy on me, God,

in accordance with your great mercy;

and in accordance with the greatness of your pity,

destroy my wrong-doing.

Furthermore, wash me of my wrong-doing,

and cleanse me of my sin.

In reality, this is an abridged version from the original recording, and includes only verses (stanzas) 1 to 4 and 17 to 20.  There are several famous recordings of this venerable work truly worth dipping into, with perhaps one of the first all-time classical lollipops being a recording made, in an excellent English translation, by the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge also, way back in March 1963. The soloist who hits all those other-worldly high C’s was a boy treble in the choir named Roy Goodman, who has since had an outstanding performing and recording career as a violinist, keyboardist, and opera and orchestral conductor. Try to look for this original recording, now reissued on a CD album titled Allegri: Miserere (Decca 466 373-2).

If you want to listen to Allegri: Miserere in the original Latin, the best recording that I have listened to is the one by what I think is the best choir in the world (despite what the King’s College Choir fans might say) – the Choir of Westminster Cathedral in London. This is the major Roman Catholic Cathedral in the UK, so I’m probably biased on at least two counts: (1) I’m a Roman Catholic, and (2) I’ve actually attended Sunday High Mass in the Cathedral with the choir on hand on a few occasions. But I’m not the only one who thinks they’re outstanding – they are among the most awarded choirs in the world, with Gramophone Awards received for some of their recordings, and they continue to sell plenty of CDs of their recordings, of which they make frequently.

(a recent recording of the piece from the Choir of Westminster)

Credit must likewise go to the choir’s Master of Music, James O’Donnell, who joins a distinguished roster of choir directors since the Cathedral was founded about (only!) a hundred years ago.

Interestingly, Stephen Cleobury was Master of Music at Westminster Cathedral prior to moving to King’s College, Cambridge. And in 2000, Mr. O’Donnell was “pirated” by nearby Westminster Abbey (an Anglican church), to be succeeded by a former student, Martin Baker, who now leads the choir in its daily sung Masses and Vespers, probably unique in the Roman Catholic world.

Again, their Allegri: Miserere lasts nearly twelve minutes.  I do strongly recommend the album that it comes from: Masterpieces of Sacred Polyphony; Westminster Cathedral Choir, directed by James O’Donnell. This was recorded in 1995 and is published as Hyperion Records CDA 66850. 

The last track in that album is a six-voice choral setting of Psalm 97, “Cantate Domino,” composed by the late renaissance-to-early baroque composed Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643).

Cantate Domino canticum novum,

cantata et benedicite nomini ejus,

quia mirabilia fecit.

Cantate et exultate et psallite,

psallite in cithara et voce psalmi,

quia mirabilia fecit.

Sing to the Lord a new song,

sing and bless his name,

for he has done marvelous things.

Sing and rejoice and sing praise,

sing praise with the lute and with the sound of a hymn,

for he has done marvelous things.

This joyous setting, perfectly matched to this very popular Psalm’s message, is most exuberantly delivered by Mr. O’Donnell’s full-throated boys (sopranos and altos) and men (countertenors, tenors, and basses) in the expansive acoustic of the Cathedral. To my ears, this piece is a short (two-and-a-half minute) but solid demonstration of why this is the best choir in the world.

Have another listen and see if you don’t agree that they make old King David proud. And the Lord Himself as well, no doubt.

Originally published on 18 March 2007.  Text copyright ©2007 by Leo D Cloma. The moral right of Leo D Cloma to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted. Musical examples are owned by their respective copyright holders and are used only for review and demonstration purposes.

XXV. Cantat Bis Orat, Part Two – Prayer in Song, Not Just for 17- to 30-Year-Olds

I had heard and read about Taizé many years ago, even before I had set foot in France.  I knew that it was somewhere in Burgundy, and had made vague plans to visit it, but with increasingly heavy schoolwork and dwindling finances as a self-sponsored graduate student living at the fringes of hyper-expensive Paris, never got around to doing so.  My opportunity finally came a couple of years ago, when on a road trek through the Land of the Frogs, I took the TGV (French bullet train) and a wide variety of other means of transport besides to wind up in the eponymous little village where, since the 1940’s, a maverick group of modern monks have set up shop and attracted millions of young pilgrims from all over.

But this isn’t yet another akyat-bahay chronicle – the full story of my visit and all my touristic photos are probably best left for another time.  In reality, many millions more have never set foot in the place, but still live out the Taizé experience daily – and it will be interesting to find out why.

So here’s the background: In 1940 a young Swiss guy named Roger Louis Schütz-Marsauche came to what was then a near-abandoned village in Burgundy, where his mother was from.  He had initially set out to offer refuge to Jews fleeing the Nazis, but a few years later evolved his mission to set up a full-fledged monastic community, with, unusually, brother-monks from various Christian traditions and denominations – ecumenical before it was fashionable.  And consistent with the monastic tradition, they practiced a daily liturgy of community worship, which consisted not only of recited prayers and meditative silence, but also one of the most appealing portfolios of modern religious music yet composed.

This is then what initially attracts young people to Taizé – good music will always be broadly attractive, but it will be especially so to younger ears.  Each week, even in the dead of winter, busloads of 17- to 30-year-old pilgrims (including many groups from the Philippines , I was told) converge on the little village, which thankfully is extremely well set-up to take the deluge.  In summer, the place is a virtual World Youth Day camp, and it will not be surprising that Pope John Paul II supposedly got the idea for those annual gatherings from his many visits to Taizé – the former Karol Wojtyla and its founder Brother Roger were long-time friends.

Not only has the whole world set out for Taizé – but Taizé has also gone out to the world.  This refers not only to the fact that a Taizé song has probably been sung at least a few times in your own parish church even without your knowing it, but that the brothers of the Community actually work as missionaries in various corners of the earth.  Even predominantly Christian Philippines is not spared – as we will now see.

Taizé: Nabuhay si Kristo

One of the unusual characteristics of Taizé music is that it lends itself very easily to translation in any number of languages.  No doubt this is because most of the songs consist only of a few repeated lines, many of them frequently quoted passages from Scripture, whose meaning is already widely-understood and can, after minor adjustments to match up with the musical notes, be expressed in the local language.  It will not be suprising that Pilipino (actually both Tagalog and Cebuano, and maybe some other Philippine languages also) is one of those “official” Taizé languages, as demonstrated in a recording made in the College Chapel of the Immaculate Conception Seminary in Guiguinto, Bulacan in 1994.

This recording, made in collaboration with visiting brothers of the Taizé Community, assembled not only the resident seminarians but also four congregations of nuns in the vicinity, as well as vocalists and instrumentalists from Manila, Baguio, and Pampanga.  The first track, “Purihin ang Ating Diyos,” is a direct translation of an old Taizé staple, “Laudate Dominum,” which is Latin for the same thing.

"Purihin ang Ating Diyos" demonstrates at least three features of Taize music: (1) A repetitive mantra-like refrain or chorus, which allows for meditation and reflection; (2) Interjectory verses sung by alternating soloists, often simultaneously with the chorus, which provide additional points for contemplation; and (3) Flexibility and variety in musical scoring, making use of whatever instruments are on hand. In this track, we hear not only chordal rhythm guitars providing the usual musical base, but also plucked guitars, flutes, violins, and an unmistakable bandurria ensemble (only in the Philippines?) playing melodic variations according to the Taizé style book.

Purihin ang Ating Diyos

Purihin ang ating Diyos

Purihin ang ating Diyos

Lahat ng tao, Alleluia

Laudate Dominum

Laudate Dominum

Omnes gentes, Alleluia

The title track from this album, “Nabuhay si Kristo,” is a direct translation of another Taizé workhorse, “Surrexit Christus.”  Consistent with the Taizé practice of polyglot singing, a couple of its soloist verses are in Cebuano.  More importantly, the track demonstrates the same three musical characteristics as identified in “Purihin ang Ating Diyos,” but with a couple of interesting twists: the soloist verses not only unusually open the song and come before the chorus, but even more unusually are “sliced-and-inserted” into it.

Nabuhay si Kristo

(First part of soloist’s verse)

(Chorus:) Nabuhay si Kristo, Alleluia

(Second part of soloist’s verse)

(Chorus:) Umawit sa ating Diyos, Alleluia

(First part of soloist’s verse)

(Chorus:) Surrexit Christus, Alleluia

(Second part of soloist’s verse)

(Chorus:) Cantate Domino, Alleluia

There are a great many Taizé recordings (and even videos and books) already published, but of those that I have listened to, the best has to be one made right in the Community’s own Church in 2001, with the young pilgrims who happened to be in residence at that time.

Taizé: Venite Exultemus

I picked this one up at the thoughtfully-provided gift shop during my visit to the Community in 2005, and while it wasn’t exactly the least expensive CD that I purchased during those two weeks in France, it certainly provided me extremely good value-for-money, as I have played it several times over since then.  Not only does it contain some of the newer songs in their repertoire, but its excellent recording engineering of the live sound of youthful voices and talented young instrumentalists also conveys the Taizé spirit exceptionally well, in my mind.

The first selection from this album, “El Alma que Anda en Amor,” uses a famous quote from San Juan de la Cruz (1542-1591), the great Spanish Carmelite reformer and close associate of Santa Teresa de Avila.  He said, “The soul filled by love neither tires others, nor grows tired itself.” I guess only a 16th century mystic could have come up with that one.  The soloist verses are in a wide variety of languages, including German, French, and Italian.

El Alma que Anda en Amor

El alma que anda en amor

Ni cansa ni se cansa

“The Kingdom of God” is a perfect demonstration of the Taizé song for meditation.  It consists only of one chorus block, with no soloist verses, and its repetition over the course of several minutes affords the opportunity for deep spiritual reflection.  And for those more easily distracted like myself, it features very inventively-written accompaniment parts for instrumental soloists, including a plucked guitar, an oboe, flutes, a trumpet, a clarinet, a horn, a bassoon, and various combinations of these.  

The Kingdom of God

The kingdom of God is justice and peace

And joy in the Holy Spirit

Come, Lord, and open in us

The gates of your kingdom

Since we’re in France , it would be negligent of us to omit the beautiful but complicated language of the Franks and Gauls. “Qui regarde vers Dieu resplendira” conveys a mysterious and mystical sound and message using Psalm 34, with interjectory verses in French, Portuguese, English, and German, and a beautiful plucked guitar accompaniment.

Qui regarde vers Dieu resplendira

Qui regarde vers Dieu resplendira

Sur son visage, Plus d’amertume

Sur son visage, Plus d’amertume

Look to God and you will shine

All bitterness gone from your face

All bitterness gone from your face

Since we’re well into Lent by now, “In manus tuas, Pater” from Luke 23:46 is an appropriate reflection, in the usual Taizé-style four-part choral block for reflective repetition (or is it repetitive reflection?).  The beautiful four-part harmony with strummed chordal guitar accompaniment is well-complemented by very engaging instrumental soloist parts: a plucked guitar, an oboe, a clarinet, recorders (hey, I can play those!), a cello, and a flute.

In manus tuas Pater

In manus tuas, Pater

Commendo spiritum meum

Into your hands, Father

I commend my spirit

Over the past two decades, Taizé has also become a spiritual refuge for young people from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet block.  The repertoire has thus expanded appropriately to include musical and spiritual traditions from Eastern Christianity.  “Alleluia, slava tiebie Boze!” is among the best of this type.  Without any instrumental accompaniment, it makes use of exceedingly simple but powerfully effective four-part choral harmony in the style of the Eastern churches.

This would make for great congregational singing even in the Philippines, and would be a good alternative to the usual sung or recited Alleluia verses before the Gospel – just replace the line “slava tiebe Boze” with something in Pilipino or English that fits the notes.  And make sure that your priest or cantor-commentator can intone that solo “Alleluia” line at the beginning well enough!

Alleluia, slava tiebie Boze!

Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia

Slava tiebie Boze!

Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia

Glory be to you, O God!

My favourite track of all on “Venite Exultemus” is “Gott ist nur Liebe.”  Like some of the others, it is a simple choral block for meditative repetition.  However, more than in any of the rest, I feel that this piece effectively combines a fundamental Christian tenet in its lyric with not only a simple main melody and a great choral harmony, but also painfully beautiful instrumental variations from a bassoon, a plucked guitar, a pair of oboes, a horn, and a clarinet.   Like many Taizé songs, this piece has been translated into several other languages, including English, so we may want to sing along:

Gott ist nur Liebe

Gott ist nur Liebe

Wagt, für die Liebe alles zu geben

Gott ist nur Liebe

Gebt euch ohne Furcht

(Translation:)

God is nothing but love

Dare to give all for love

God is nothing but love

Give yourselves without fear

(English sung lyric:)

God is forgiveness

Dare to forgive and God will be with you

God is forgiveness

Love and do not fear

The Challenge

Taizé music is used in churches all around the world, even in the Philippines.  It is tuneful and attractive to listen to and thus easy to sing along to also.  The musical scores are available for purchase on the internet, and Taizé’s own website even provides free multimedia teaching aids online for tone-deaf choir members to polish up their individual sung parts so as not to make a total mess of it.

A creative challenge would be to take one of the hundred-odd Taizé pieces and translate them into Pilipino or English, if it has not been done yet.  (A few ARE already in Pilipino, but more could be, I’m sure.) Then teach your own choir or congregation how to sing it, and voilà! (that’s French too), you have a new song from Taizé for use in Sunday Mass.

Even better, since the Taizé musical characteristics aren’t all that esoteric, as we’ve seen and heard, why not re-apply them?  Take a simple text, perhaps from Holy Scripture, set it to an appealing melody, give it a simple harmony, and make the whole thing work beautifully enough for repetition without sounding like a drone (as someone recently told me), and voilà!  (there the French go again), you have a Taizé-style piece that is nonetheless original and home-grown.

What about it, young musical Filipinos?

Originally published 24 February 2007.  Copyright ©2007 by Leo D Cloma. The moral right of Leo D Cloma to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted. Musical examples are owned by their respective copyright holders and are used only for review and demonstration purposes.

Original comments:

puyat1981 wrote on Feb 25, '07 I spent a summer in Taize months before Bro. Roger got killed. It was a blessed experience with the community. There are Taize communites here in Manila; one at EDSA Shrine, the other at Pope Pius Catholic Center in Paco - i hope you can join us for prayers.

rally65 wrote on Feb 25, '07 Hey, that's great -- were you with a Filipino group that summer or did you go alone? I was there too in April 2005, but stayed only a day since I was over the age limit. ;-( [Coincidentally, the day I was at Taize was also when the election of Joseph Ratzinger as Benedict XVI was announced.] In your Taize Community in Manila, do you use only the songs in the "Nabuhay si Kristo" album (and perhaps their English or Latin equivalents), or do you also use some of the newer ones, like "God is Forgiveness" ("Gott ist nur Liebe")? I really like that one -- isn't it obvious? ;-) I wonder if that has been translated into Tagalog already.

puyat1981 wrote on Feb 25, '07 tatlo lang kami. I went there after I asked dispensation from my vows. Okay naman yung community doon kaso parang di sila sanay maligo (hehe) nasan ka ba ngayon? I know sa EDSa Shrine and Pope Pius they use tagalog. Sa group ko (7 lang kami) we use english kasi it's more convenient to use.

arwin0313 wrote on Mar 22, '07 being an active youth leader in my parish. it is my dream to visit taize, france.

rally65 wrote on Mar 22, '07 Keep working on that dream! It's a great place to spend a week or two with your youth group members -- while you are still young.

clifford4 wrote on Apr 28, '07 I was in Taize several times and I really like this place, there feel unity with all Christians from all over the world and in every Christ

otsopya wrote on May 11, '07 hmm astig po talaga ang taize experience... galing me dun dec 06 to feb 07, kumbaga malamig lamig pa hehehe (dahil sa yelo). may balita pong magkakaruon ng malaking meeting ang taize sa manila come 2009, some brothers will be back on september this year.

rally65 wrote on May 11, '07 Oh, that would be great if it happens!

warintan wrote on Jun 7, '07 I visited Taize for a week on May 2007. It was wonderful moment. I wish someday, i can come back and sit down on the temple again (my favourit place)

otsopya wrote on Jan 8, '08 update update 2010 na lang pala ang meeting sa manila... paano kasi... mukhang may Asian Youth Day na host din ang Pinas on 2009, mahirap naman pag sabay na taon daw kasi isa lang ang organizer... hays 2 more years pero mabilis lang ang taon. natuloy yung dalawang brothers dito nung september, last update would be babalik sila by feb of this year, nagiikot sila sa Pinas, pati yung mga non-catholic churches to prepare for the meeting on 2010, as it is hindi pa rin kasi well known ang taize sa bansa... ^_^ sana andito ka na by then hehehe...