Monday, May 31, 2010
A Joyful Sound
This is a band I found while searching for medieval music. Now, they are an overtly pagan band with all of the trappings and, when they're using a language I can understand, the lyrics. For that matter I'm sure the lyrics I can't understand fall within the same category. So, as a good Christian lad I cannot recommend them on the basis of content. However, if you want some rousing, joyful music you could do worse.
Which is often the case, finding rousing, joyful music that is not Christian, I mean...and that bothers me. Not that a non-Christian should make joyful music, but that Christians make so little of it. I'm sorry if this makes me a heretic but worship music makes me yawn. Repeatedly.
Now, don't get me wrong. God is awesome, in the non-hang-ten sense of the word. He is deserving of worship, and the lyrics to many hymns are inspired. Certainly when focusing on the all-powerful creator of the heavens there is a place for the serene, the calm. However, there is also a place for joy and exuberance, but Christians seem to struggle with that other half. I don't know if it's fear of appearing sinful, or maybe they think God's peace manifests in an always tranquil demeanor. All I'm sure of is that I have been to many a church and hung out with many a Christian brother or sister, and, more often than not, the joy and excitement seem to be missing.
Once again don't mistake me. I'm not saying most Christians I know are unhappy, far from it. Let me explain it another way. Have you ever gotten up early in the morning as the sky was just beginning to lighten and the air was cool and crisp? Your senses seem heightened. You see every leaf, every blade of grass. You can smell the earth and its richness. Your body trembles with pent up energy and the whole world seems rife with a nearly magical potential. On such a morning you feel as if you could climb the highest mountain or swim across the ocean or just head out the door and run to the ends of the earth.
Have you felt that kind of joy? I have. On those days I whisper a thanks to God for his bountiful creation and for my ability to enjoy it. Every Christian should feel that way about his God's wonderful providence.
So, why do I have to find a pagan band to discover the music that embodies this?
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Listening to the band as you discribe the morning make me ready for an adventure. I agree about the music though, my biggest problem with Christian music is that it sounds like Christian music. If I didn't speak a work of english you could put a pop/rock song on and your typical "Wow CD" style song on and just by the feeling you get from the music I could tell the difference. I've tried to point out to people that there really is GOOD Christian music out there, a kind that can get you blood pumping while singing about the Blood of Salvation. I firmly believe the local Christian station here just plays all of the Wow CDs all day long and the DJ is always "touched" in a different way every time they here them. When I play something outside the Wow realm for the locals here they all love it and can't believe it's Christian. It's even artist that they play locally just not their touching ballad but a real song. I know there are a lot of bands out there that play different types of music, similar or at least as different as, the band you suggested, they are just niche and hard to find and don't find much of an audiance because of limited play. Keep searching though. Or heck, we could all learn some instraments and make our own!
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