what do i need in this life? = a musical reflection on with progressive rock/jazz/blues fusion from Mike Ferguson Orchestra Studio. love the guitar solo and astro-stellar radio signal ending! expressive of a strong heart's yearning . . .

i endorse, of course.

Then on to Akim Camara in his 2005 performance after a short time of training. Andre Rieu introduces 3yr old violinist, Akim Camara, during his 'Flying Dutchman Concert' at Parkstad Stadium in the Nederlands (2005). Akim (born 27 October 2001 in Berlin-Marzahn) plays Ferdinand Kuchler's Violin Concerto (Concertino?) G Major op.11 with the Johan Strauss Orchestra.

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posted by stedawa on 11 Dec 31 9:01 am permalink   

Etymology of the word religion
Etymology of the English word "religion"

Root constructs for the Chinese word for love (ai)
Etymology for "ai", Chinese for "love"

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posted by stedawa on 11 Dec 26 12:59 am permalink   

This video has been seen by more than 12 million people. It is in English and has English subtitles.



MUST SEE.

They have youTube channel and a website with lots to learn from.

They advocate a resource based economy. More on that in this video:



I remember at one time having a book on World Resource Inventory by Bucky Fuller. Not sure if the UN is putting a handle on a resource inventory.

An arcology (architecture +ecology) would cancel the need for a car:

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posted by ramblin' rose on 11 Dec 25 7:09 pm permalink   

I went with some friends to a concert last evening — the Jirani Children's Choir. I hadn't heard of the choir, but quickly found out that it consists of children who live in the Korogocho slum area of Nairobi.

I suppose economically you could call the area one of abject poverty. As Wikipedia reports in their Measuring poverty article,

Even if poverty may be lessening for the world as a whole, it continues to be an enormous problem:

• One third of deaths - some 18 million people a year or 50,000 per day - are due to poverty-related causes. That's 270 million people since 1990, the majority women and children, roughly equal to the population of the US.
• Every year nearly 11 million children die before their fifth birthday.
• In 2001, 1.1 billion people had consumption levels below $1 a day and 2.7 billion lived on less than $2 a day.
• 800 million people go to bed hungry every day.

(wish the stats were more current).

It looks as though social activists have been trying to make a difference in the slums of Nairobi since 1991 (Good Neighbors actually starting in Seoul) and in 1992 (The Jirani Project. Some of them work through the UN and their Millenial Development Goals.

A Korean Presbyterian priest and a music director discovered the needs of these children and have been working together with them on site, visibly keying them in to a Higher Purpose and giving them much more confidence in their own self-worth.

The entourage has performed in the USA (even at Yale University and is currently doing concerts in South Korea.

It was held at the hugest, most colossal church I have ever been in. It was bigger than the Daegu Opera House. It was almost like a stadium.

We arrived early so as to get a good parking spot and good seats.

After a long wait, the lights dimmed and soon on stage we saw a group of about 24 young people (three-quarters of whom were female) all smartly attired in red jackets, shirt, tie, dark pants or skirt. Their voices melted and merged in the air, softening the heart, dissolving bitter residues, purging it of all traces of rancour or regret or anxiety.

The first half of the concert was thus more formal as they sang some Christian hymns, a song or two from musicals in English, some songs in Kiswahili and also Korean.

Their voices floated tremulously, hovered over, and planted and planked themselves nowhere else but squarely in the hearts of the listeners.

For the second half, the girls wore a simple dress and the guys an East African style top with long shorts. The second half was lively and some of the children played instruments such as goat-skin covered drums, dejembe, wooden xylophone, and traditional East African harps.

They did Korean hymns totally in Korean. They did Jambo Bwana and some other songs in Kiswahili.

Their director and vocal instructor are to be congratulated for such excellent work and patience in changing the lives.







Here they are on Kenyan soil doing a song, Yesu ni Mwamba (Yesu is Rock), with the assistance of a local rapper (who was not at the concert).



From a concert in New York:



Here there are singing a Korean song at a primary school in Kenya:



And another song about G-d (hananim) in Korean



And Panis Angelicus (bread of angels) in Latin (words by St. Thomas Aquinas):


And Heal the World:



They went "full tilt boogie" in showing us the spirit of Kenyan dancing. Catch a bit of it viewed here from a side camera (from another concert)



The choir has a youTube channel (click on videos to see the full list).

(It rang a bell.)


Their singing reminded me of a recording I had heard back in my teen years. The Missa Luba is a version of the Roman Catholic Latin Mass based on traditional Congolese songs. It was arranged by Father Guido Haazen, a Franciscan Friar from Belgium, and originally performed and recorded in 1958 by "Les Troubadours du Roi Baudouin", a choir of Congolese children from Kamina.

Here is the link to a kind of fashion video with background music from Missa Luba and another link to reports on Missa Luba by unnotables as well as notables such as working-class hero writer Studs Terkel.

Anyone hearing and seeing the fresh and dynamic performance of these unified voices cannot fail to be moved.

By paying attention to children, we benefit not only them now, but the children that they will beget and that generations and kids that will accompany them.

One good friend said it was like "a glimpse of heaven" and commented that Africa is the continent of Great Joy.

The group and conductor responded to 5 encores. I was surprised at the audience's insistence for so many encores. I had thought that the concert had many high moments and I was thoroughly satisfied and happy in sharing the reflected glows of pride from the faces of the children who were the primary focus of the evening.

I was somewhat disappointed that the pastor of the church then come out to led the audience (or were we a congregation) in pentecostal prayer and shouting for/at G-d and Yesu. I couldn't help but feel he was intentionally or otherwise stealing the thunder of the choir. I couldn't understand why he would do that. I appreciated his generosity in hosting the event and not charging admission, and maybe the majority of the audience were Christian, but, it was in fact on the early side of midnight, and for the sake of kids in the choir and audience, I thought they should have wound it down in quick fashion after the choir had finished singing.

The choir left the stage and the pastor was still rousing the emotions of the audience. I thought for a moment that he would tear off his shirt and start to whiplash himself. I thought of the excessive (to my mind) show of emotions of the North Koreans mourning the death of Kim Jong Il .

Koreans have deep emotions, but they can at times let their emotions run away on them or, put differently, cancel out reason. Emotion is good but it should be judiciously balanced by at least a modicum of reason if at all possible.

The lights went out after the choir had left and a few of the audience started to file out. The pastor was still going on, milking the audience and bringing them to the brink of something I don't know about. A hymn followed, then sung again, and again. The lyrics were projected onto the large LED or jumbotron screen which was above the stage on its back wall.

Our group decided to make an exit in the dark and we slipped out to the lobby. So did others. CDs were bought and that took some time, but the pastor and the amped instruments and synthesizer were still bellowing it out in the darkness in the charged chamber, the overpowering crescendo mix of pitched pipes of throated passion interspersed with a running interjection to the effect that they themselves were the different ones because they were the ones of G-d. It was getting a bit too exclusionary for me.

Partially in refuge, I stepped outside and was embraced by the cool, clear air of a quiet Korean winter night.

Passion and emotion are both good, but considering that some of the kids were 7 yo or so and considering that they had sung for 2 hours and done 5 encores, one would have thought that a short closing comment or song would have sufficed.

In the book Forgotten Truth by the great multi-Faith spokesman Huston Smith, he explains that the word mystic derives from the Greek root mu, meaning silent or mute — muo = "I shut my mouth" — and by derivation unutterable, which is the respect in which the word lends itself. He later quotes Dionysius: the mysteries of heavenly Truth lie hidden in the obscurity of the secret Silence, outshining all brilliance with the intensity of their darkness. from the opening chapter The Divine Gloom from Mystical Theology.

The sense of unity that was felt through the music led to joy, and for that we should be thankful. (Praise G-d, JHVH, Adonai, Deus, Allah.)

All things considered, though, very little could have more uplifted my spirit than the singing of the Jirani Choir and their fine selection of songs and imaginative choreography. They had used black lights and some kind of paint in one song that involved hand gestures. It reminded of The Famous People Players show that I had seen with my older sister Liz and mom some years back.

Many thanks to friend Sonya for the invitation. Sonya had already seen the performance a week ago, but decided it was worth seeing again with more friends (the more, the merrier). She had led to show the way on the drive to the venue through the busy, many-fleeted streets of Daegu to the church.

More links

• long article on Jirani in English with photos
  http://www.worldyannews.com/news/quickViewArticleView.html?idxno=931
  
• English/Korean report on Jirani at naver.com about Jirani (with video in Korean)
  http://blog.naver.com/PostView.nhn?blogId=chuumsoju&logNo=80041023697#
  
• a Korea Times article about Jirani (English)
  http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/art/2010/10/135_74740.html
  
• Nairobi Times article about Jirani (English) http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/archives/children/InsidePage.php?id=1144029229&cid=445&
  
• Saftira blog scoop on Jirani Children's Choir (English)
  
  link
  
• excellent story about Korean corporations helping education in Indonesia (10,000 digital pianos, 30,000 reflective metallic blackboards), Ghana (mobile library), Vietnam (Sy Kyu middle school renovation).
  http://saftira-in-korea.blogspot.com/2011/03/wsk-stories-of-month-we-sell-korean.html
  
• Hyundai Corporate Social Responsibility
  re-greening Inner Mongolia, replanting fire-kill mountainside in Korea, etc etc
  http://csr.hyundai.com/eng/cares/intro/vision.aspx
  
• Africa Children's Choir (similar choir from Uganda)
  http://africanchildrenschoir.com/
  http://youtu.be/5jXxnr-FzQU
  

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  posted by stedawa on 11 Dec 23 5:51 pm permalink   

Last night, it was rainy and the air was full of good ions [could this be called a watershed moment?] [hehe] Somehow wanting to assimilate and also oscillate, and also thinking that a hot chocolate once imbibed would subside well inside and help bridge me into new moments of profound realization, I decided to venture beyond my gated residence, even though the streets were puddley.

Besides, I wanted to read more of the book I'm almost done reading: Messages: Signs, Visits, and Premonitions from Loved Ones Lost on 9/11 by Bonnie McEneaney.


So, umbrella shedding droplets, I sauntered on over to the large, newish, nearby Angel-In-Us coffee shop by Manchon 4-junction. An observer of trends, I mention that in an attempt to capture part of the burgeoning bean (coffee) market here in Korea, Angel-In-Us [*] offers quality product, quality service, and a fine ambience. They even give you an RFID card (radio frequency identification) when you order and it flashes a red light when your order is ready, thus transfering the job of delivering their trays to the customer while at the same time doing away with waiters and other such overhead expenses. MacDonalds in Seoul had tried using RFID on cellphones some years back.


Now, if you didn't click on the angelinus link above [*], right click on it now to open in a nearby window, as the song soundtrack to the website is quite nice and will do until you get to the gawdy light show video below. The hopeful lyrics helps reinforce the theme of a common humanity.

The franchise name is also catchy. We are all of potentially saintly or angelic stock. It is our duty to help those virtues bud and bloom in each other.

Anyway, the first half of the Messages book blew me away as I read about and start to fathom how closely connected the physical realm is with the spiritual realm. Our ancestors can apparently intermingle with this workaday weary world, not as reincarnated beings but kind of like rejuvenated ageless filtered filigree or gossamer figures, evanescent, heaven sent. There in a flash if we need it.

Or, stated differently, departed spirits can manifest in either seemingly human form or with by implementing subtle yet seemingly mundance signs such as butterflies, flashing electronic lights, a penny on the ground from a certain year, or unexpected, sustained gust of wind on an otherwise windless day.

I had previously wanted to order a huge batch of books that probed the anomalies surrounding the collapse of WTC7 on 9/11, but instead opted for this slim volume of first-hand stories from loved ones who lost family members on 9/11. Perhaps the greater purpose of 9|| (if there is one) was that these people were spiritually ready for the next world and perhaps also the slim record of their continued contact with this world is testament to the enduring soul. As the book points out, these were individuals who were kind-hearted and cared deeply for the people around them.

Of course, we should not pine or even wish that calamities descend upon us, but the story makes us reflect on the purpose of such calamities.

The Canadian keytarist and songwriter Lights has a song entitled Lions! on her first CD. The lyrics seem to indicate an underlying understanding of the purpose of hardship or disaster.

Here's the video with only lyrics to the non-acoustic version from that CD:


For anyone who is skeptical of the existence of the afterlife or of the spiritual dimension, I recommend this book.

The events are too many and too personal and too connected to be called random, quirkish events that happened just coincidentally without any greater connection. The events indicate that the 2 worlds are very closely intertwined (entangled?) and that it is okay to ask for confirmations from the other side. It is also okay to pray and very okay to help take care of other humans.

Last September was the 10th anniversary of the attack/explosions of 9/11. It is a solemn reminder that faith awareness has a long way to go.

Now, in my peripatetic mouse clicking (of which I am prone), I chanced this morning upon a video about another tower. Rather, it was about the Nokia Lumia Light show in London that featured animations of light flashed upon the side of the 118m tall Millbank Tower during which (at the end of which?) the "London skyscraper seemed [seems] to buckle and twist". In other words, it highlights (using high lights) (celebrates?) towers and their collapsing.



To place this somewhat bizarre techno razzle dazzle display video here in the same blog post beside a book that so candidly reports or lays before us almost beyond-a-doubt evidence of the next world might seem to be an affront or disservice or dishonoring or belittling of the human lives or the sacred spirits of those gone. I in no way want to do that. My puzzlement is that the memory of 9/11 is still with us and is not yet fully a thing of the past, but rather something whose full and import and lesson still daunt and haunt us. Many unresolved issues remain and by no means do we have the full story. For more on this, go to my wtc7 link compilation at google docs.

The light show seems shallow and hollow. Perhaps it is celebrating the collapsing of towers. Perhaps it is reminscent of or a new take on Dante's Inferno. I wonder if it is intended to boost sales of Nokia cellphones or to make us shrug off matters concerning 9/11 and dismiss into the mist of the past.


And remember it was 3 buildings that collapsed/were demolished, not 2!

R.D. Blackmore published his novel Lorna Doone in 1869. The following quote from the novel seems to be as applicable now as it was then (to wit, certain scanty, governmental reports on the events of 9/11.

For, according to our old saying, the three learned professions live by roguery on the three parts of a man. The doctor mauls our bodies; the parson starves our souls; but the lawyer must be the adroitest knave, for he has to ensnare our minds. Therefore he takes a careful delight in covering his traps and engines with a spread of dead-leaf words, whereof himself knows little more than half the way to spell them.

The ongoing investigation by professionals still continues to probe beneath the 9/11 Commission's slick veneer of purported, unsupported, distorted, contorted facts passed off as truth.

Anyway, back to our book review. I recommend you google "Bonnie McEneaney" or go here to the Huffington Post article or here at ABC News or this blog post and video to get more on these first-hand accounts and affirmations of life after death.

If death is a messenger of joy (Bahá'u'lláh), we should not fear it. Since we hardly ever know when our appointed time will come, we must make sure that we make each day count and that we live up to our noblest nature and highest purpose.

I close with the song Angel by your side sung by Lady Antebellum. Injoy.



[inset 2011.12.22]
In addition to Lady Antebellum, my recent foraging forays onto the net yielding another emerging talent with a tune that ties in: Somong, of Korean and Afro-American descent currently calling south Florida home. His soulful take and turn on Wind Beneath My Wings should put the reader in a restful frame of mind.


[end of inset]

Remember your ancestors. Pray for their spiritual progress in the next realm. In turn, they could even give you [us] a helping hand down here in our cellular entity world. More...

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posted by stedawa on 11 Dec 22 11:41 pm permalink   

It's an interesting and positive sign that musicians are expressing such things as spiritual emptiness, longing, renewal, grace, perfection, etc in their songs. They ask questions about the meaning of life, what do we take with us when we die, the futility of war, what else is there to us besides body and flesh?

I've listed the band name, the song title, something about the theme or some quoted lines from the song, and then the embedded video.

Evanescence
Bring me to life
"wake me up inside"


Green Day
Waiting
"dawning of a new era"


Linkin Park
Leave out all the rest
about contributing some good to this world, remembering the good virtues of a person


Green Day
21 Guns
about disarmament


Simple Plan
Perfect
about differences between generations
"sorry i can't be perfect"


Hoobastank
Crawling in the dark
"Is there something more than what I've been handed?"


U2
City of Blinding Lights
[could it be an intangible city, one built on solid spiritual principles, full of creativity and peace, even a New Jerusalem?]
"Blessings are not just for the ones who kneel (luckily)"
"grace abounds"
"What happened to the beauty I had inside of me?"

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posted by chairman dao on 11 Dec 17 4:30 pm permalink