Saturday, April 03, 2010

Some music for tomorrow - Blind Lemon Jefferson - "He Arose from the Dead"

(NB: If you're reading this on Facebook, you can read this post in full on my blog). I went to a unique musical event last night to mark Easter, a Good Friday "Tenebrae" service at Portaferry Presbyterian Church - which included a certain Lambeg drummer creating an awesome sense of the thunder and earthquake that ripped through the earth and sky when Jesus died. The room was plunged into darkness and then the rumble of the Lambeg got louder and more intense to an almost ear-splitting crescendo. An amazing experience - and a great credit to Mark, to Neil McClure and the New Quay Singers who had the vision to make it all happen.

Just as impressive, but in a very different way, are the simple hymns and folk songs about Easter. Robert Lowry, son of Killyleagh emigrants, wrote the marvellous hymn "Christ Arose". For a simpler, acoustic sound, here's a bit of Blind Lemon Jefferson (1893 - 1929) playing a great old song for Easter Sunday - and another for every day of the year.



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