Lifehouse has this ability to express a deeper kind of love --- love for God, love from God, and love for others that can only be given by God.
This song is one of my favorites --- a modern classic that I hope would be played during my own wedding someday (long before I learned that they themselves called it the wedding song of the year and released a longer wedding track).
But because I am more of a lyrics person, I've always thought this particular song is talking to God, not a person:
(1) After singing to "you" for most of the song, "she" is suddenly mentioned.
(2) It is God who saves. Nothing to do, Nothing to lose, Nothing to prove.
Be blessed with "You and Me".
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
June 19, 2011
June 8, 2011
Creativity is from the Creator
From Rico Blanco, Filipino singer-songwriter, a true artist. :) Featured in Men's Health magazine, January 2011:
I think that anything naman that comes out from my creative process is not entirely mine, it's a gift that I'm not the source of. I'm just (like) an instrument. So, I give credit to the Creator for giving me that.
And at the same time, every single piece of art that I absorb, all my experiences, everything that I'm exposed to is a source. If you don't give space for your thoughts because you're thinking of so many other stuff, it would be very hard for creativity to come out. So, I don't really have a process, sometimes (worked for, forced). Sometimes, (it just comes out). Sometimes (if there's no) inspiration, a lot of it is hard work, perseverance. It's sitting down and deciding not to get up off that chair until something comes out. Sometimes, (that's what relaxes me). There are times to relax I work on a song, like some people work on a crossword puzzle to relax.
I think that anything naman that comes out from my creative process is not entirely mine, it's a gift that I'm not the source of. I'm just (like) an instrument. So, I give credit to the Creator for giving me that.
And at the same time, every single piece of art that I absorb, all my experiences, everything that I'm exposed to is a source. If you don't give space for your thoughts because you're thinking of so many other stuff, it would be very hard for creativity to come out. So, I don't really have a process, sometimes (worked for, forced). Sometimes, (it just comes out). Sometimes (if there's no) inspiration, a lot of it is hard work, perseverance. It's sitting down and deciding not to get up off that chair until something comes out. Sometimes, (that's what relaxes me). There are times to relax I work on a song, like some people work on a crossword puzzle to relax.
November 8, 2007
Praise-Rock!
America's Music
PLUGGING IN TO MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE UNTO THE LORD
By BEN RATLIFF
Published: November 7, 2007
The New York Times
VICTORVILLE, Calif. — Mike Day, singer and guitarist, gathered his rock band around him.
Dressed in a faded black T-shirt, jeans and skateboard sneakers, he bent his shaved head. “God,” he said, “I hope these songs we sing will be much more than the music. I know it’s so difficult at times when we’re thinking about chords and lyrics and when to hit the right effect patch, but would you just help that to become second nature, so that we can truly worship you from our hearts?”
A few minutes later the band broke into three songs of slightly funky, distorted rock with heaving choruses, and the room sang along: 1,500 or so congregants of High Desert Church here, where Mr. Day, 33, is a worship director. This was Sunday night worship for the young-adult subset of the church’s congregation, but it was also very much a rock show, one that has helped create a vibrant social world in this otherwise quiet desert town.
There has been enormous growth in the evangelical Protestant movement in America over the last 25 years, and bands in large, modern, nondenominational churches — some would say megachurches — like this one, 90 miles northeast of Los Angeles, now provide one of the major ways that Americans hear live music.
The house bands that play every weekend in High Desert Church — there are a dozen or so — scavenge some of their musical style from the radio and television. They reflect popular taste, though with lyrics about the power of God, not teenage turmoil.
They are not aiming for commercial success. Church-based Christian rock — often referred to as C.C.M., for contemporary Christian music — does not exist primarily to compete in mainstream culture; it exists first to bring together a community.
“When you start a church,” said Tom Mercer, 52, the senior pastor, “you don’t decide who you’re going to reach and then pick a music style. You pick a music style, and that determines who’s going to come.”
High Desert Church has a sprawling concrete campus that includes a lavish auditorium, a gym, classrooms and office space for its 70 employees. Once a traditional Baptist church, it moved toward nondenominational and evangelical Christianity in the mid-1990s and experienced steep growth. Now more than 8,000 people attend services here at least twice a month.
A number of factors encouraged the church’s expansion, Mr. Mercer and others say. For one thing, there are more people in Victorville to receive the gospel: since the early 1990s the region has been experiencing a population surge, as city dwellers have moved north from Los Angeles County, seeking lower real estate costs.
For another, in 1993 the church hired Jeff Crandall, the drummer for a Christian punk band called the Altar Boys, as its music director.
Mr. Crandall, 46, spent more than a decade crossing the country in vans, playing in churches, nightclubs and high school gyms, fighting the battle for a more progressive and aggressive worship music. “I knew that the future, even in the early ’80s, was with bands in churches,” he said. “I liked hymns as a kid, but I just didn’t see myself waving my arms and directing them. I’ve always been one of those guys who tries to figure his own way.”
A Band for Every Age Group
What he did was to pack the church with rock ’n’ roll. He organized a rotation of bands, so the volunteering musicians — drawn from the largely commuter population of Victorville and its surrounding towns — would not exhaust themselves by playing to multiple services. And then he let them play, loudly.
High Desert Church holds three different large services over the weekend for three different age groups, with music tailored to each audience: Seven (so named for the number’s positive associations in the Bible), the 18-to-30-year-old set that made up Mr. Day’s audience; Harbor, the 30-to-55 group; and Classic, for people 55 and over. The church also maintains even more bands for services at the junior high, high school and elementary school levels. Each band carefully calibrates its sound toward the pop culture disposition of the target age group.
Young people and future generations are in fact the fixation of High Desert Church, which has already broken ground on building a children’s ministry complex called Pointe Discovery, a $20 million project financed entirely by worshiper donations. “If I ask God’s people to give me $20 million,” Mr. Mercer said during an interview in his corner office, “when I stand before God someday, I don’t want to hear him say, ‘Dude, you wasted a ton of my money.’ I want him to say, ‘You did a good job.’ My definition of a good job is that it will impact people until Christ comes back.”
‘Hey God’
Praise-rock is at the heart of that impact. The teenagers and young adults at High Desert — those who haven’t been attending services since birth — tend to say they joined the church for the teaching and the community, and stayed because of the bands. But some are clearly more enthusiastic about the music itself.
“I started out in Harbor, but I moved to Seven because I liked the music more,” said Tony Cherco, 32, a recent arrival to the church who would not have been out of place in the East Village: he wore a long beard and large rings in his earlobes. “Between Pastor Tom and the music of Seven, I was like, yes!”
To generalize, the music tailored to the Seven service is modern rock, with a modicum of wired aggressiveness. (In its sets before and after the pastor’s sermon, the band does play some adaptations of hymns, including a power-chord version of the doxology. It was arranged by the worship minister Matt Coulombe to approximate the droning, locomotive style of the secular New York rock band Secret Machines, one of his favorite groups.)
The music for Harbor, meanwhile, resembles U2 from about 1985, while the Classic crowd gets a softer and more acoustic sound, like the West Coast folk-rock of the 1970s.
For the children, in both their Sunday school classes and youth group events, the music is pop-punk. The idea is to keep their attention with high energy, then to slide gradually toward contemplation.
On a Saturday afternoon in October a group for the junior high contingent, called Power Surge, which included four guitarists and two bassists, played in the church gym, rehearsing a version of the Jason Wallis song “Hey God.” Fifteen girls performed choreographed hand motions to the music, which sounded like pious Ramones:
Hey, hey, hey, God I love you
Hey, hey, hey, God I need you
I know there’s not anything you can’t do
I know there’s nothing you won’t see me through
Hey God!
These bands don’t need to take all their cues from secular rock. Since the ’70s there have been Christian versions of all kinds of genres, from folk-rock to metal to punk. But the music heard at this church descends more directly from other Christian music.
The fountainheads are artists like Lincoln Brewster, a singer, guitarist and songwriter who began as a touring rock guitarist in the mid-’90s and later became music minister at several churches, before starting his own recording career. His highly melodic songs, as well as those by other Christian-rock artists like Chris Tomlin and Matt Redman, are performed here in nearly constant rotation.
Then there is Air One, a national FM radio network with 164 stations that serves as an index of the current Christian-rock movement and provides a playlist for many of the bands here. For the most part the groups at High Desert Church don’t write their own songs; they are high-functioning garage bands, playing cover versions. But they operate in a large, modern auditorium with top-quality sound, lights and video operated by young volunteers; there are smoke machines and overhead screens that announce the title of each song and its lyrics.
Staying Humble
Still, showmanship has its limits in praise-rock music. The musicians don’t want to distract themselves, or their audiences, from the higher purpose of serving God; in interviews they talked about not exuding rock-star charisma but instead remaining humble. “We’re not up there to have people say, ‘Wow, what an amazing band,’” Mr. Day said. His goal, he explained, was to play with excellence but to remain “transparent.”
“There’s a constant tension,” he continued, “between the audience and the people on the stage, all thinking, ‘O.K., music is a great tool, but the ultimate purpose is worship.’ And riding that tension is tough.”
The congregants also tend to respond fairly chastely. A performance at a Seven service may look like a rock show, with the audience dressed as fashionably as the band, but in some ways it represents an inversion of one.
The tall, solemn bassist Zac Foster, 15, played twice over the weekend: with the in-house high school praise band Fuel on Saturday, and with the Sunday morning junior high group as well. He has a six-string bass and a guitar strap with a large white cross on the front. And he is adamant about the idea of music as merely a means to an end.
“It’s structured, and we play well, but we’re still allowed to worship,” he said with a serious face. “Worship comes first. Music just falls into place.”
Bobby Stolp, 39, a drummer in several different bands here, agreed. “It’s all about the heart of worship,” he said. “God can enjoy a distorted guitar as well as a clean guitar. Especially when you’re playing it for him.”
PLUGGING IN TO MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE UNTO THE LORD
By BEN RATLIFF
Published: November 7, 2007
The New York Times
With the lyrics projected on an overhead screen, a rock band performs for Harbor, the 30-to-55 age group, during Saturday evening services at High Desert Church in Victorville, Calif. Photograph by Jim Wilson/ NYTimes
VICTORVILLE, Calif. — Mike Day, singer and guitarist, gathered his rock band around him.
Dressed in a faded black T-shirt, jeans and skateboard sneakers, he bent his shaved head. “God,” he said, “I hope these songs we sing will be much more than the music. I know it’s so difficult at times when we’re thinking about chords and lyrics and when to hit the right effect patch, but would you just help that to become second nature, so that we can truly worship you from our hearts?”
A few minutes later the band broke into three songs of slightly funky, distorted rock with heaving choruses, and the room sang along: 1,500 or so congregants of High Desert Church here, where Mr. Day, 33, is a worship director. This was Sunday night worship for the young-adult subset of the church’s congregation, but it was also very much a rock show, one that has helped create a vibrant social world in this otherwise quiet desert town.
There has been enormous growth in the evangelical Protestant movement in America over the last 25 years, and bands in large, modern, nondenominational churches — some would say megachurches — like this one, 90 miles northeast of Los Angeles, now provide one of the major ways that Americans hear live music.
The house bands that play every weekend in High Desert Church — there are a dozen or so — scavenge some of their musical style from the radio and television. They reflect popular taste, though with lyrics about the power of God, not teenage turmoil.
They are not aiming for commercial success. Church-based Christian rock — often referred to as C.C.M., for contemporary Christian music — does not exist primarily to compete in mainstream culture; it exists first to bring together a community.
“When you start a church,” said Tom Mercer, 52, the senior pastor, “you don’t decide who you’re going to reach and then pick a music style. You pick a music style, and that determines who’s going to come.”
High Desert Church has a sprawling concrete campus that includes a lavish auditorium, a gym, classrooms and office space for its 70 employees. Once a traditional Baptist church, it moved toward nondenominational and evangelical Christianity in the mid-1990s and experienced steep growth. Now more than 8,000 people attend services here at least twice a month.
A number of factors encouraged the church’s expansion, Mr. Mercer and others say. For one thing, there are more people in Victorville to receive the gospel: since the early 1990s the region has been experiencing a population surge, as city dwellers have moved north from Los Angeles County, seeking lower real estate costs.
For another, in 1993 the church hired Jeff Crandall, the drummer for a Christian punk band called the Altar Boys, as its music director.
Mr. Crandall, 46, spent more than a decade crossing the country in vans, playing in churches, nightclubs and high school gyms, fighting the battle for a more progressive and aggressive worship music. “I knew that the future, even in the early ’80s, was with bands in churches,” he said. “I liked hymns as a kid, but I just didn’t see myself waving my arms and directing them. I’ve always been one of those guys who tries to figure his own way.”
A Band for Every Age Group
What he did was to pack the church with rock ’n’ roll. He organized a rotation of bands, so the volunteering musicians — drawn from the largely commuter population of Victorville and its surrounding towns — would not exhaust themselves by playing to multiple services. And then he let them play, loudly.
High Desert Church holds three different large services over the weekend for three different age groups, with music tailored to each audience: Seven (so named for the number’s positive associations in the Bible), the 18-to-30-year-old set that made up Mr. Day’s audience; Harbor, the 30-to-55 group; and Classic, for people 55 and over. The church also maintains even more bands for services at the junior high, high school and elementary school levels. Each band carefully calibrates its sound toward the pop culture disposition of the target age group.
Young people and future generations are in fact the fixation of High Desert Church, which has already broken ground on building a children’s ministry complex called Pointe Discovery, a $20 million project financed entirely by worshiper donations. “If I ask God’s people to give me $20 million,” Mr. Mercer said during an interview in his corner office, “when I stand before God someday, I don’t want to hear him say, ‘Dude, you wasted a ton of my money.’ I want him to say, ‘You did a good job.’ My definition of a good job is that it will impact people until Christ comes back.”
‘Hey God’
Praise-rock is at the heart of that impact. The teenagers and young adults at High Desert — those who haven’t been attending services since birth — tend to say they joined the church for the teaching and the community, and stayed because of the bands. But some are clearly more enthusiastic about the music itself.
“I started out in Harbor, but I moved to Seven because I liked the music more,” said Tony Cherco, 32, a recent arrival to the church who would not have been out of place in the East Village: he wore a long beard and large rings in his earlobes. “Between Pastor Tom and the music of Seven, I was like, yes!”
To generalize, the music tailored to the Seven service is modern rock, with a modicum of wired aggressiveness. (In its sets before and after the pastor’s sermon, the band does play some adaptations of hymns, including a power-chord version of the doxology. It was arranged by the worship minister Matt Coulombe to approximate the droning, locomotive style of the secular New York rock band Secret Machines, one of his favorite groups.)
The music for Harbor, meanwhile, resembles U2 from about 1985, while the Classic crowd gets a softer and more acoustic sound, like the West Coast folk-rock of the 1970s.
For the children, in both their Sunday school classes and youth group events, the music is pop-punk. The idea is to keep their attention with high energy, then to slide gradually toward contemplation.
On a Saturday afternoon in October a group for the junior high contingent, called Power Surge, which included four guitarists and two bassists, played in the church gym, rehearsing a version of the Jason Wallis song “Hey God.” Fifteen girls performed choreographed hand motions to the music, which sounded like pious Ramones:
The fountainheads are artists like Lincoln Brewster, a singer, guitarist and songwriter who began as a touring rock guitarist in the mid-’90s and later became music minister at several churches, before starting his own recording career. His highly melodic songs, as well as those by other Christian-rock artists like Chris Tomlin and Matt Redman, are performed here in nearly constant rotation.
Then there is Air One, a national FM radio network with 164 stations that serves as an index of the current Christian-rock movement and provides a playlist for many of the bands here. For the most part the groups at High Desert Church don’t write their own songs; they are high-functioning garage bands, playing cover versions. But they operate in a large, modern auditorium with top-quality sound, lights and video operated by young volunteers; there are smoke machines and overhead screens that announce the title of each song and its lyrics.
Staying Humble
Still, showmanship has its limits in praise-rock music. The musicians don’t want to distract themselves, or their audiences, from the higher purpose of serving God; in interviews they talked about not exuding rock-star charisma but instead remaining humble. “We’re not up there to have people say, ‘Wow, what an amazing band,’” Mr. Day said. His goal, he explained, was to play with excellence but to remain “transparent.”
“There’s a constant tension,” he continued, “between the audience and the people on the stage, all thinking, ‘O.K., music is a great tool, but the ultimate purpose is worship.’ And riding that tension is tough.”
The congregants also tend to respond fairly chastely. A performance at a Seven service may look like a rock show, with the audience dressed as fashionably as the band, but in some ways it represents an inversion of one.
The tall, solemn bassist Zac Foster, 15, played twice over the weekend: with the in-house high school praise band Fuel on Saturday, and with the Sunday morning junior high group as well. He has a six-string bass and a guitar strap with a large white cross on the front. And he is adamant about the idea of music as merely a means to an end.
“It’s structured, and we play well, but we’re still allowed to worship,” he said with a serious face. “Worship comes first. Music just falls into place.”
Bobby Stolp, 39, a drummer in several different bands here, agreed. “It’s all about the heart of worship,” he said. “God can enjoy a distorted guitar as well as a clean guitar. Especially when you’re playing it for him.”
August 20, 2007
God unrestricted in music, 2: rock and healing :)
Thanks to Reuters :)
BAND TRIES TO HEAL KASHMIR WOUNDS WITH ROCK MUSIC
By Sheikh Mushtaq
Sun Aug 12, 2007 4:03AM EDT
SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - The sound of a new rock band is soothing Kashmir which has been blighted by years of violence and a ban on entertainment by separatist Muslim guerrillas.
In a region where the boom of guns and bombs has drowned out all sounds for almost 20 years, a cacophony of melodies from guitar, drums and electric keyboards is now sweeping Kashmir's war-weary youngsters with a message of love and peace.
"Immersion", a five-member rock band that also includes a woman, says the purpose of its music is to try to erase the scars and trauma of young Kashmiris.
"They have suffered a lot and they are hungry for entertainment," Amit Wanchoo, the band's 28-year-old lyricist, told Reuters. "We are trying to heal their wounds."
Every word of pain and suffering Wanchoo pens is dipped in the blood of his own family -- his grandfather, a prominent social worker, was shot dead by separatist militants in 1992.
The revolt has killed tens of thousands of people since 1989 and rape and torture have become a way of life.
Any distraction from the violence was blocked by a separatist ban on cinema, music and concerts in a region with great natural beauty that once provided romantic settings for Bollywood films.
But with time, the militants' hold over daily life has lifted, a single cinema has reopened, traditional theatre and music are being revived and alcohol is available in a few shops.
"There was no source of entertainment, so we decided to form a music group which will entertain youth who grew up with violence," said keyboard player Bilal Matta.
The band, which began performing last year, says initially it faced threats, but accompanying a fall in violence now more people attend their shows.
Last month, hundreds of Kashmiri youths swayed to the band's music. One of the songs said: "We pray to God for a soothing rain of happiness."
Kashmiri rock band "immersion" performs during a show in Srinagar August 5, 2007. The sound of a new rock band is soothing Kashmir which has been blighted by years of violence and a ban on entertainment by separatist Muslim guerrillas. In a region where the boom of guns and bombs has drowned out all sounds for almost 20 years, a cacophony of melodies from guitar, drums and electric keyboards is now sweeping Kashmir's war-weary youngsters with a message of love and peace. Picture taken August 5, 2007. REUTERS/Danish Ismail
Overall violence has ebbed in Kashmir since India and Pakistan, which claim the region in full and rule in parts, began a peace process in 2004, officials say.
However, people are still killed in daily firefights and occasional attacks by suspected militants.
Encouraged by the response, the multi-lingual band -- which performs in English, Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi -- hopes to turn professional soon. The band members now hold shows in between doing odd jobs.
"They can mesmerize everyone, the whole audience listens to their music with rapt attention," Mohammad Saqlain, an "Immersion" fan, said.
The band, its members mostly dressed in jeans, T-shirts and overcoats, performs for NGOs, government agencies and charities. Only recently they began paid shows.
"We have also organized concerts to entertain and help orphans, the poor and the ailing," said Mahmmeet Syed, the band's only female singer.
Saying that they are "aiming very high", King Paul, the lead guitarist, strings his instrument before strumming to his favorite song -- "Will change the picture of the world, we the youngsters of Kashmir."
© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved.
BAND TRIES TO HEAL KASHMIR WOUNDS WITH ROCK MUSIC
By Sheikh Mushtaq
Sun Aug 12, 2007 4:03AM EDT
SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - The sound of a new rock band is soothing Kashmir which has been blighted by years of violence and a ban on entertainment by separatist Muslim guerrillas.
In a region where the boom of guns and bombs has drowned out all sounds for almost 20 years, a cacophony of melodies from guitar, drums and electric keyboards is now sweeping Kashmir's war-weary youngsters with a message of love and peace.
"Immersion", a five-member rock band that also includes a woman, says the purpose of its music is to try to erase the scars and trauma of young Kashmiris.
"They have suffered a lot and they are hungry for entertainment," Amit Wanchoo, the band's 28-year-old lyricist, told Reuters. "We are trying to heal their wounds."
Every word of pain and suffering Wanchoo pens is dipped in the blood of his own family -- his grandfather, a prominent social worker, was shot dead by separatist militants in 1992.
The revolt has killed tens of thousands of people since 1989 and rape and torture have become a way of life.
Any distraction from the violence was blocked by a separatist ban on cinema, music and concerts in a region with great natural beauty that once provided romantic settings for Bollywood films.
But with time, the militants' hold over daily life has lifted, a single cinema has reopened, traditional theatre and music are being revived and alcohol is available in a few shops.
"There was no source of entertainment, so we decided to form a music group which will entertain youth who grew up with violence," said keyboard player Bilal Matta.
The band, which began performing last year, says initially it faced threats, but accompanying a fall in violence now more people attend their shows.
Last month, hundreds of Kashmiri youths swayed to the band's music. One of the songs said: "We pray to God for a soothing rain of happiness."
Kashmiri rock band "immersion" performs during a show in Srinagar August 5, 2007. The sound of a new rock band is soothing Kashmir which has been blighted by years of violence and a ban on entertainment by separatist Muslim guerrillas. In a region where the boom of guns and bombs has drowned out all sounds for almost 20 years, a cacophony of melodies from guitar, drums and electric keyboards is now sweeping Kashmir's war-weary youngsters with a message of love and peace. Picture taken August 5, 2007. REUTERS/Danish IsmailOverall violence has ebbed in Kashmir since India and Pakistan, which claim the region in full and rule in parts, began a peace process in 2004, officials say.
However, people are still killed in daily firefights and occasional attacks by suspected militants.
Encouraged by the response, the multi-lingual band -- which performs in English, Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi -- hopes to turn professional soon. The band members now hold shows in between doing odd jobs.
"They can mesmerize everyone, the whole audience listens to their music with rapt attention," Mohammad Saqlain, an "Immersion" fan, said.
The band, its members mostly dressed in jeans, T-shirts and overcoats, performs for NGOs, government agencies and charities. Only recently they began paid shows.
"We have also organized concerts to entertain and help orphans, the poor and the ailing," said Mahmmeet Syed, the band's only female singer.
Saying that they are "aiming very high", King Paul, the lead guitarist, strings his instrument before strumming to his favorite song -- "Will change the picture of the world, we the youngsters of Kashmir."
© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved.
God unrestricted in music, 1: cool and devout :)
I got this from here and here and here :)
"(AP) SAUDI ARABIA MAKES FIRST MUSIC VIDEO
And the unusual message is: You can be cool and devout"
By DONNA ABU-NASR
Associated Press Writer
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates
August 13, 2007, 12:30 pm
The Arab world's hugely popular music video industry often features sexy performers in revealing clothes crooning about love.
But the first clip to be fully produced in Saudi Arabia has a message of a different kind: You can be cool and devout.
The video is unusual because it was made in a country where the religious establishment considers music un-Islamic and bans it in public places. And the main cast includes a Saudi woman, something rare in a work produced inside the kingdom.
But in a sign of Saudi mpatience with the restrictions, "Malak Ghair Allah" or "You Only Have God to Count On" was a hit when it was launched at a popular mall in the western seaport of Jiddah last week. Hundreds of people showed up to watch it on a giant screen in the mall's main hall.
"People didn't stop clapping. Some had tears in their eyes," Kaswara al-Khatib, the video's director, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
In this photo released by FullStop Advertising, a behind the scenes photo shows the production crew and actors near a mosque in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia during the three days shooting of the music video clip 'Malak Ghair Allah' or 'You Only Have God to Count On' in July, 2007. The Arab world's hugely popular music video industry often features sexy performers in revealing clothes crooning about love. But the first clip to be fully produced in Saudi Arabia has a message of a different kind: You can be cool and devout. (AP Photo/FullStop Advertising/HO)
The video is expected to air on most of the Middle East's more than 30 music satellite TV channels this week. Despite fears among the Saudi clergy over the corrupting influence of music videos, the clip had implicit government approval. The credits thank "those who helped make this work a success," including the Information Ministry.
"You Only Have God to Count On" uses upbeat music to tell the story of a successful man who had strayed from the path of true Islam. He smokes, flirts with women even though he's engaged and doesn't join his colleagues at work in performing the five daily Muslim prayers.
Things slowly start to go bad: He has a flat tire and problems at work and his fiancee leaves him when she sees him talking to another woman. He then has a serious accident while recklessly driving his motorcycle. After herecovers, the man starts to pray, stops smoking, wins back his fiancee and excels at work.
Significantly, the man sports a hip goatee and doesn't grow the big, bushy beard favored by fundamentalist Muslims. He still wears T-shirts and jeans and sticks to his old friends, including a man who favors the much-frowned-upon ponytails.
"I wanted the youths to understand that it's not the looks that count. It's what inside that matters," al-Khatib said.
"The video also has this message: Don't give up and think, 'I sinned, therefore I'm going to hell,'" the director added. "Think that there's a God and he is always there to help you."
While there's no lack of production crews, dancers and singers in Lebanon, Egypt and other Arab countries that produce music videos, things are different in Saudi Arabia. The kingdom follows the strictest school of Islam that bans the mixing of the sexes and all forms of entertainment, including music in restaurants, concerts and movie theaters.
Al-Khatib, 37, who heads an advertising agency, has previously produced music videos, but this is the first that is an all-Saudi work. It was filmed along Jiddah's boardwalk on the Red Sea, a popular hangout for youths.
The lyrics of the song, performed by Muhammed al-Haddad, say in part: "If things go bad ... if your dreams have been lost ... you only have God to count on."
Al-Khatib said that for the lead female part, he had to get permission from the parents of Ruwaina al-Jihani before he could cast her in the role of the fiancee.
"They consulted with the extended family before giving their consent," said al-Khatib.
Al-Jihani appeared covered in the traditional black cloak and headcover, with only her face showing. One shot showed her all in white at her engagement.
Al-Khatib said that while music is controversial in Saudi Arabia, he has heard fatwas (religious edicts) from non-Saudi clerics who say music for a good cause should not be illegal.
Plus, al-Khatib said he wanted to give Saudi youths an alternative to music videos produced abroad but popular on satellite TV.
"The problem is not the music. It's how you utilize it," said the director.
"We wanted to talk to them in their own language," he added. "Instead of saying, 'Don't listen to music,' we're saying, 'Listen to music that's good for you.'"
___
On the Net: http://www.youtube.com/watch?vzotWQdYCRIM
Copyright 2007 by the Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
"(AP) SAUDI ARABIA MAKES FIRST MUSIC VIDEO
And the unusual message is: You can be cool and devout"
By DONNA ABU-NASR
Associated Press Writer
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates
August 13, 2007, 12:30 pm
The Arab world's hugely popular music video industry often features sexy performers in revealing clothes crooning about love.
But the first clip to be fully produced in Saudi Arabia has a message of a different kind: You can be cool and devout.
The video is unusual because it was made in a country where the religious establishment considers music un-Islamic and bans it in public places. And the main cast includes a Saudi woman, something rare in a work produced inside the kingdom.
But in a sign of Saudi mpatience with the restrictions, "Malak Ghair Allah" or "You Only Have God to Count On" was a hit when it was launched at a popular mall in the western seaport of Jiddah last week. Hundreds of people showed up to watch it on a giant screen in the mall's main hall.
"People didn't stop clapping. Some had tears in their eyes," Kaswara al-Khatib, the video's director, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
In this photo released by FullStop Advertising, a behind the scenes photo shows the production crew and actors near a mosque in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia during the three days shooting of the music video clip 'Malak Ghair Allah' or 'You Only Have God to Count On' in July, 2007. The Arab world's hugely popular music video industry often features sexy performers in revealing clothes crooning about love. But the first clip to be fully produced in Saudi Arabia has a message of a different kind: You can be cool and devout. (AP Photo/FullStop Advertising/HO)The video is expected to air on most of the Middle East's more than 30 music satellite TV channels this week. Despite fears among the Saudi clergy over the corrupting influence of music videos, the clip had implicit government approval. The credits thank "those who helped make this work a success," including the Information Ministry.
"You Only Have God to Count On" uses upbeat music to tell the story of a successful man who had strayed from the path of true Islam. He smokes, flirts with women even though he's engaged and doesn't join his colleagues at work in performing the five daily Muslim prayers.
Things slowly start to go bad: He has a flat tire and problems at work and his fiancee leaves him when she sees him talking to another woman. He then has a serious accident while recklessly driving his motorcycle. After herecovers, the man starts to pray, stops smoking, wins back his fiancee and excels at work.
Significantly, the man sports a hip goatee and doesn't grow the big, bushy beard favored by fundamentalist Muslims. He still wears T-shirts and jeans and sticks to his old friends, including a man who favors the much-frowned-upon ponytails.
"I wanted the youths to understand that it's not the looks that count. It's what inside that matters," al-Khatib said.
"The video also has this message: Don't give up and think, 'I sinned, therefore I'm going to hell,'" the director added. "Think that there's a God and he is always there to help you."
While there's no lack of production crews, dancers and singers in Lebanon, Egypt and other Arab countries that produce music videos, things are different in Saudi Arabia. The kingdom follows the strictest school of Islam that bans the mixing of the sexes and all forms of entertainment, including music in restaurants, concerts and movie theaters.
Al-Khatib, 37, who heads an advertising agency, has previously produced music videos, but this is the first that is an all-Saudi work. It was filmed along Jiddah's boardwalk on the Red Sea, a popular hangout for youths.
The lyrics of the song, performed by Muhammed al-Haddad, say in part: "If things go bad ... if your dreams have been lost ... you only have God to count on."
Al-Khatib said that for the lead female part, he had to get permission from the parents of Ruwaina al-Jihani before he could cast her in the role of the fiancee.
"They consulted with the extended family before giving their consent," said al-Khatib.
Al-Jihani appeared covered in the traditional black cloak and headcover, with only her face showing. One shot showed her all in white at her engagement.
Al-Khatib said that while music is controversial in Saudi Arabia, he has heard fatwas (religious edicts) from non-Saudi clerics who say music for a good cause should not be illegal.
Plus, al-Khatib said he wanted to give Saudi youths an alternative to music videos produced abroad but popular on satellite TV.
"The problem is not the music. It's how you utilize it," said the director.
"We wanted to talk to them in their own language," he added. "Instead of saying, 'Don't listen to music,' we're saying, 'Listen to music that's good for you.'"
___
On the Net: http://www.youtube.com/watch?vzotWQdYCRIM
Copyright 2007 by the Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
August 1, 2007
how can we be silent? [aka TeciGurl promotes BarlowGirl]
the band BarlowGirl speaks out about their new album, "How Can We Be Silent?"
http://www.christianitytoday.com/music/interviews/2007/barlowgirl-0707.html
http://www.christianitytoday.com/music/interviews/2007/barlowgirl-0707.html
November 26, 2006
hillsong in manila, 2: after dreaming, DO IT!
"DO IT!"
it sounds so simple but my friends and i really felt renewed, re-energized, and just raring to do what God is telling us in our respective lives :D
meggy says: "good night Lord! i luuuvvv yah more than life! and i'll DO IT! the dream has been reawakened."
actually, for me, embarrassing though it may be, God is again reminding me to continue my spiritual housecleaning :) as in, what i was supposed to do last nov (or late oct) 2004.
sorry it took so long God...
thank You for again giving me the dignity to say it first (what needs to be done) before You confirm it with Your word.
sorry for using my past spiritual-freedom-so-great-i-thought-i-was-going-to-die-because-my-soul's-chains-were-loosed experience as a lame excuse that i don't need any housecleaning anymore. actually, if i had such an unbelievable milestone in my life when i still coddled some false gods, WHAT MORE when i totally get rid of everything that's hindering my walk with God?
it's so ironic that my favorite prophet is Elijah...and that i really love what he said:
"How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal is God, follow him." --- 1 Kings 18:21
it's SO ironic because all this time i've been switching between God and self :( all the while completely embracing that above verse. (time to boink my head once again, figuratively only!....)
i was privileged to listen to preacher T. D. Jakes this early morning. He said the devil is not going to tempt us with what we're not supposed to have --- he is going to tempt us with what we're going to get anyway, but distorting the process (and the timing?)...satan is going to say, "this is your last chance," or "this is the only way," when in fact we simply have to believe that God is going to bless us, His children, with what we want and so much more.
i'm going to continue my spiritual housecleaning now after this blog entry :) i know it's the right thing to do; to throw away my false dead goddesses so i can fully embrace God. the. living. true. God.
but thanks to Pastor Jakes' preaching, not only is this the right thing to do, it's also something i WANT to do.
because i know that there is a proper process and order and timing to everything.
because i know one dream of mine is not going to happen today or tomorrow. but i claim that it will, and i believe that it will. just not now :)
because the enemy is tempting me with the same dream that i will be grasping anyway. but i choose to live according to God's will, His purposes for others as well as for me.
my heart is not deceived. my dream will come to pass. :)
but since it's not now, i'm not going to waste my time and effort dwelling and worrying on something that will happen anyway.
and i'm going to declutter so i can focus more clearly on GOD.
He has other purposes for me right now.
It is His will that i act now.
i also have dreams being enacted into reality now.
and i'm going to finish the rest of my spiritual housecleaning, NOW.
:)
it sounds so simple but my friends and i really felt renewed, re-energized, and just raring to do what God is telling us in our respective lives :D
meggy says: "good night Lord! i luuuvvv yah more than life! and i'll DO IT! the dream has been reawakened."
actually, for me, embarrassing though it may be, God is again reminding me to continue my spiritual housecleaning :) as in, what i was supposed to do last nov (or late oct) 2004.
sorry it took so long God...
thank You for again giving me the dignity to say it first (what needs to be done) before You confirm it with Your word.
sorry for using my past spiritual-freedom-so-great-i-thought-i-was-going-to-die-because-my-soul's-chains-were-loosed experience as a lame excuse that i don't need any housecleaning anymore. actually, if i had such an unbelievable milestone in my life when i still coddled some false gods, WHAT MORE when i totally get rid of everything that's hindering my walk with God?
it's so ironic that my favorite prophet is Elijah...and that i really love what he said:
"How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal is God, follow him." --- 1 Kings 18:21
it's SO ironic because all this time i've been switching between God and self :( all the while completely embracing that above verse. (time to boink my head once again, figuratively only!....)
i was privileged to listen to preacher T. D. Jakes this early morning. He said the devil is not going to tempt us with what we're not supposed to have --- he is going to tempt us with what we're going to get anyway, but distorting the process (and the timing?)...satan is going to say, "this is your last chance," or "this is the only way," when in fact we simply have to believe that God is going to bless us, His children, with what we want and so much more.
i'm going to continue my spiritual housecleaning now after this blog entry :) i know it's the right thing to do; to throw away my false dead goddesses so i can fully embrace God. the. living. true. God.
but thanks to Pastor Jakes' preaching, not only is this the right thing to do, it's also something i WANT to do.
because i know that there is a proper process and order and timing to everything.
because i know one dream of mine is not going to happen today or tomorrow. but i claim that it will, and i believe that it will. just not now :)
because the enemy is tempting me with the same dream that i will be grasping anyway. but i choose to live according to God's will, His purposes for others as well as for me.
my heart is not deceived. my dream will come to pass. :)
but since it's not now, i'm not going to waste my time and effort dwelling and worrying on something that will happen anyway.
and i'm going to declutter so i can focus more clearly on GOD.
He has other purposes for me right now.
It is His will that i act now.
i also have dreams being enacted into reality now.
and i'm going to finish the rest of my spiritual housecleaning, NOW.
:)
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