I Am A Circle

I am a circle
I am healing you
You are a circle
You are healing me
U-oo-oo-nite us, be one
U-oo-oo-nite us, be as o-u-u-ne

sung at Rainbow Camps and many other places..

Beautifully sung here by Gila Antara:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTe-HSaFToM

Additional lyrics provided by www.welcomehome.org here:

We are the circle
Love is healing us
(4x)

I am one as you are one
And we are altogether One.
I am one as you are one
And we are all together One.

United people be... as One.
United people become as One.

Guitar chords Dm, C

Niggunim

A niggun is a Jewish religious wordless tune that is chanted over and over. There is power to the melody, hidden meanings conveyed nonverbally.

The word 'niggun' means tune or melody; niggunim is the plural in Hebrew.

They hold a special place for gatherings of Jews the world over, and have a special place among the Chassidic communities especially. The belief is that when you sing a niggun, the soul of the rabbi who created it appears in the room. On festive occasions the niggunim have particularly joyful melodies.

Some other niggunim are used in individual prayer or devekut. Plenty more to read, listen to on this subject!

Divine Sparks

Just heard yesterday about an amazing concert that took place in Boston last Saturday as part of the Boston Jewish Music Festival:

Here's the blurb: It's a once-in-a-lifetime event where world class singers and musicians use traditional Jewish chant and religious song as the springboard for musical improvisation and spiritual expression.

With an all-star ensemble led by Frank London of the Klezmatics on trumpet, Anthony Coleman on keyboards, 26-year-old Orthodox cantorial sensation Yaakov Lemmer, and Moroccan Cantor /Oudist Aaron Bensoussan. The program will also feature local cantors
Gastón Bogomolni and Elias Rosemberg and Hebrew College rabbinical student, Jessica Kate Meyer.

Hope we get to hear them this way (UK) sometime soon!

Nishmat Kol Chai

Music is indeed a bridge.. but more about that later.

For now, let us focus on what has been happening in the last day, no, less than 24 hours.... it is now after dark on Satuday evening, so the shift from sacred to ordinary time has already taken place.

This morning, in the back seat, headphones provided access to a shabbat morning experience while watching the Yorkshire hills and strangely desert-like undulations roll by outside...

Hearing "Nishmat Kol Chai" first in my head, then performed by an othodox man in a room of swesting other men (while women and girls occasionally peeped around the door) then by a five- or six-piece ensemble, brought me closer... but even more so when able to see the words the words the words scroll past, in English and Hebrew, straight text and G-d protected text, to feel the words' meanings reverberate.

Footnote:

These first three words come from this prayer: The soul of every living being shall bless Your Name, Lord our God, the spirit of all flesh shall always glorify and exalt Your remembrance, our King. From this world to the World to Come, You are God, and other than You we have no king, redeemer, or saviour. He who liberates, rescues and sustains, answers and is merciful in every time of distress and anguish, we have no king, helper or supporter but You!" excerpt

Nishmat is one of the most beautiful poetic adorations in all of liturgical literature, recited as part of the Shacharit (morning) service on Sabbaths and festivals immediately following Shirat Ha-Yam ("Song at the Sea"). It is also said at the Passover Seder.

Creating something new

Imagine this....

Bringing together a group of women, some who know each other very well, others meeting for the first time.

Our purpose: to sing together.

And what shall we sing: the melodies and folk songs, prayers and mantras, from our respective traditions.

Or songs we like and don't know the origins of.

Songs for blessing.
Songs for healing.
Songs to connect us, with one another, with Spirit or God or the Divine or Source.
Songs of lament.
Songs of jubilation.
Songs of the past.

And songs for our joint future.

How shall we learn to sing together, we who have not sung together before? What shall we need to allow the music to flow? Who will we have become, by the end of our evening together?