It's Advent Sunday this weekend, the beginning of the church year for Christians in the West. A time for personal reflection, looking back over the year, and for a sense of hope, looking forward to the celebration of the birth of Jesus. And so our music this week carries a message of hope, with folk hymns from Sweden and England, an organ work and Advent cantata from J.S. Bach, and to start, Johnny Cash bridging troubled waters. Read Transcript
Fr Stan Fortuna is a Catholic priest and a founding member of the Community of Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, an order established in the heart of the South Bronx in 1987. But he is also a musician known worldwide as 'the rapping priest'. Even after 20 years it's not a title he's totally comfortable with. "It sounds like, 'Oh, the chihuahua in the pet store', you know what I mean, but there's nothing novel about it because it's essentially all about the gospel."
With his salt-and-pepper hair and long grey robes, Fr Stan cuts an unlikely figure on stage. But as soon as he opens his mouth, it's clear this rapping priest is the real deal. He grew up in New York City becoming a professional jazz musician. But in his early adulthood he dedicated his life to God and became an ordained priest. While studying for the priesthood in Spanish Harlem, Fr Stan discovered the style he calls 'rhythm and rhyme' and noticing its similarity to jazz improvisation, decided this was a musical form he could work with.
We look back at Remembrance Day with a hymn sung at services around the world and a favourite in Australia, 'O God, Our Help in Ages Past'. An Isaac Watts hymn with music by William Croft it was first published 300 years ago in 1708. We'll also take in the Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe's evocative orchestral piece 'Small Town' which features the Last Post threading through the work. And with a United States President-elect raised in the African-American church, we look ahead with songs of hope from that tradition including one from the preacher's son, Sam Cooke, 'A Change is Gonna Come'. Read Transcript
This week, the poetry and stories of three Sufi mystics - Rumi, Hafiz and Nasruddin Hodja - are set to blues, folk and country music improvisations. The speaker is Ashley Ramsden, founder of the School of Storytelling in England, who travels the world with his spoken-word performances. The musician is David Bates.
Friday 7.35pm
Presented by
Geoff Wood
Friday 05 December 2008
The Torres Strait islands, nestled between the tip of Australia's Cape York Peninsula and Papua New Guinea, are home to almost 6 000 people. A part of Queensland since 1879, the islands have their own languages and culture stretching back thousands of years. Christianity came to the Torres Strait in the 1860s, but it was the London Missionary Society which made the biggest impact when they arrived in 1871, an event celebrated every year on 1 July as The Coming of the Light. In the 1920s American Pentecostal groups began to appear, and today denominations such as the Assembly of God exist alongside older churches like the Anglicans.
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11am AEDT
Bush Telegraph
with Michael Mackenzie
An entertaining look at rural and regional issues around Australia
