When Goldie met Prince (Harry)...

Caught the final edition of this excellent three part series fronted by drums n bass artist Goldie which gives a seriously fresh look at music in Britain today. Whilst all the young musicians were linked by sharing various challenges in their lives, the synergy as the band gels together to play their own material with such diverse cultural styles and in front of Prince Harry at Buck House was truly inspiring.

In addition to the band's journey, with realistically forthright criticism at the hands of their mentors, which included producer Guy Chambers (who co-wrote the Robbie Williams anthem 'Angels'), Soweto Kinch, Cerys Matthews and Ms Dynamite-eee, there were some stunning individual performances too. The really engaging aspect was the authenticity of the writing and composition styles ranging from classical music and musical story telling to, frankly, painful autobiographical disclosures.

There are a few days to watch again using the BBC iPlayer, give yourself a treat!

PB

Rob Bell in his own words...

Am grateful that George Luke, writer and radio presenter, recently chose to post this mini-interview he recorded when Rob Bell spoke at the Greenbelt Festival in 2009. It struck me both how prophetic it was back then to have predicted some of the grief Rob is getting now over his new book Love Wins and also what grounded perspective he has...

There have been some excellent blog posts in defense of Rob from both sides of the Atlantic:

Maggi Dawn's blog
Julie Clawson's blog
Sojourners' Blog
and one that made me smile:
Is Rob Bell a Universalist?

PB

And the greatest of these...

LOVE WINS. from Rob Bell on Vimeo.

Seems the fundies are already up in arms... I thought we were supposed to WANT hell to be empty?! Oh well, seems I must be a post-modern, semi-evangelical, universalist something or other...

PB

The Insatiable Moon...

The trailer for the New Zealand film The Insatiable Moon about to hit the UK shores, initial run from March 4th at The Empire Leicester Square in London. A fascinating synopsis for a film which deals with mental illness, religion, communities and relationships all in one package.

Turning out to be a special time for films, I'm still recovering from the excellent multi BAFTA winning The King's Speech and prior to that the wonderful Africa United.

P

Stand up, stand up for Emmanuel Jal...

An Advent meditation from 'ethical rap' artist Emmanuel Jal, endorsed by the peacemaking initiative The Elders, in support of We Want Peace. Emmanuel has appeared at the Greenbelt Festival twice plus the stunning biographical film about his life 'War Child' was previewed there. That turned out to be one of those Greenbelt 'moments', as, when the film show became very delayed, a member of the audience, Shaz Brown, volunteered to perform some of her stunning and earthy urban poetry while we were waiting, everybody there will remember how amazing that was...

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me... he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners.

Isaiah 61:1

P

Awesome Advent from Sufjan Stevens

A stunning version of my fave Advent hymn, love both the apparently haphazard and over the top production! This piece is on an amazing five CD collection Songs for Christmas. The enigmatic Sufjan also produced an incredible CD by another Greenbelt Festival favourite band who played there in 2009, The Welcome Wagon.

Welcome to Advent 2010!

PB

The shuffling first fifteen meme...

 

1) Turn on your MP3 player or music player on your computer.
2) Go to SHUFFLE songs mode.
3) Write down the first 15 songs that come up–song title and artist–NO editing/cheating, please.

1. The boy with no name – Travis
2. Are we alright? - Show of Hands
3. Bring 'em all in - Mike Scott
4. He never said - Martyn Joseph
5. Blood red sky - Seth Lakeman
6. Why does my heart feel so bad? - Moby
7. Superhuman touch - Athlete
8. I grieve - Peter Gabriel
9. Black swan song - Athlete
10. Also Sprach Zarathustra - 2001 Space Odyssey
11. Chasing cars - Snow Patrol
12. You (Live 2008) - After The Fire
13. Somebody told me - The Killers
14. '40' - U2
15. Walking into battle with the Lord - Chumbawamba

I supposed I am slightly puzzled this list is relatively contemporary yet my overall library is substantially more varied Intriguing that over 50% are bands that have played at the Greenbelt Festival over the years...

Thanks for the tag Phil, if you haven't been tagged yet, go for it anyway (that's you, that is!).

A secret chord...

Am tickled pink today... Wikio contacted me to say my blog had gone in to their music rankings at number 5! Plus they've given me the opportunity to publish a sneak peek before they release them:

1	Musicrooms.net
2	SoulCulture.co.uk
3	Alter The Press!
4	Lil Wayne HQ
5	St. Peter's View (BanksyBoy)
6	LondonJazz
7	Word Magazine blogs
8	Matrixsynth
9	No Rock And Roll Fun
10	Live4ever - The Brit Rock Daily
11	uncarved.org blog
12	Popjustice
13	PUT ME ON IT
14	Southern Hospitality
15	Slipped disc
16	Song, by Toad
17	We Are Pop Slags
18	On An Overgrown Path
19	Tom Service on classical music
20	The Chemistry is Dead

Music

Ranking recorded by Wikio

Africa United lifts the World Cup

Felt really privileged to see a pre-preview version of this wonderful film at Greenbelt 2010. At the time I thought this film delivers everything that Slumdog Millionaire failed to and then discovered it was from the same stable... oooops! Truly moving and redemptive it epitomises how a 'feel good' film should be.

P

Greenbelt Festival 2010 perspectives

 

Greenbelt is always a sea of surprises and stimulating encounters... 2010 was another great year and re-inforces my determination to never miss it!

Here are my initial responses:

Highlights:
1) Fr. Richard Rohr on the church
2) Watching the preview of the film 'Africa United'
3) Revd. Dr John Smith's talks which emphatically restated Greenbelt's original vision(s)
4) Shlomo's mainstage mini-set
5) The start and end of the communion service (i.e. unaccompanied singing with no band)

Surprises:
1) Giles Fraser on The English Civil War and the future of the Church of England
2) Martyn Atkins on Methodism and discipleship
3) Foy Vance bumped up to a mainstage set
4) How many talks I managed to attend!
5) Bumping into Clare Short and having a good chinwag

Lowlights:
1) The weather prior to the festival during set-up and the cold in the evenings!
2) Rock band style music in parts of the communion service
3) Many of the mainstage music acts
4) Confetti cannon during the communion service
5) Sensing 'beer and hymns' becoming more organised

Despite being involved as a contributor this year I did manage to attend a couple of Tweetups and was delighted to commune with some of my virtual 'friends' yet missed others altogether. Otherwise it was great to bump into friends from across the years and actually meet, for the first time, folk that I knew about and that knew me too, but until now...!

However, I do think Greenbelt needs to look carefully to ensure that aspects of the original vision that are still valid and distinctly 'Greenbelt' as some of this is in danger of being sidelined. I don't doubt the Greenbelt 'powers' will already be aware of this so I am not going to witter on here!

Greenbelt is for everybody... unless they're not keen on a bit of heaven?

Here's a perspective from a first time visitor: Do Christian Music Festivals Make You Want to Switch Religions?

And on the Greenbelt Blog today a gorgeous poem: 'If heaven (2)' by Rosie Miles

Something Welsh this way comes...

 

The other day I was rabbiting on about the importance of looking for things we don't always see at first... this fence is right opposite the house and directly in my line of sight from my desk for the last 8 years...

However my main revelation over the last decade, as a musician, has been to comprehend the 'art' of lyric writing. I am very aware writing is not my gift despite my new found outlet of this blog, however, the joy of discovering subtlety and beauty in a well crafted song has become a deeper joy than simply savouring the musical elements.

I know nothing about golf. Yesterday I followed a link on Martyn Joseph's e-mailshot to a special song he has composed about the forthcoming Ryder Cup in Wales... Now as a hardened music business person (joke!) I would normally make between 15 to 30 seconds of a piece and move on (true!). However this is an all the way through listen and, in my opinionated view, is exceptionally brilliant on many levels.

I love the poetry, the 'not stating the bl***ing obvious' approach, the joining of iconic and descriptive 'images' in verse all set to a flowing chord structure and strong melody. Whilst this piece doesn't 'convert' me to a golf lover the music and the lyrical clarity using a language that I understand as a non-golfer means I can lean back, close my eyes and simply enjoy! Nice...

Give yourself a treat, free download/listen here: Martyn Joseph - On This Celtic Morning

A year in the Sphere...

I started this blog in June last year (2009) and included code to record statistics 6 months ago. It has been an interesting journey, have learnt a great deal and would have chosen my categories differently if I knew then what I know now! I have found it immensely cathartic to record my thoughts before recursive brain whirr destroys my grey matter, that has been a personal and tangible benefit. I have to confess writing does not come easy to me so the discipline has been good. It is clear that the posts where I have been as original as possible and made the effort to knuckle down and get on with writing without letting 'it' take over have yielded the most response.

So here goes, a double statistic celebration, my first year on Blogspot:

1 Why modern worship songs are crap - my most read post ever!

2 BBC Radio 4's 'Soul Music' on Dido's Lament featuring Jeff Buckley

3 The 'Sunday's Coming' video depicting consumer style worship stuff

4 My review of Peter Gabriel's 'Scratch my Back' concert at the 02 London

5 Let me through I'm an Anglican... not!

6 One of After The Fire's youngest fans comes up with a brilliant CD design

7 Back to Pub Sunday - how the pub gets it right whilst the church gets it wrong

8 Ashamed Anglican? Bravo Father Tim and shame on you Archdeacon of York - should have stood by your man

9 Art and music discussed 'There's got to be a better song than this'

10 Art and Christianity - Antony Gormley's 'Field for the British Isles'

11 Angels from the realms of... er, Norway! Breathtaking and truly wonderful music

12 After The Fire becomes International Rescue as ATF ring tone finds mobile in snow drift

13 Mumford & Sons, music to mend and inspire!

14 Great tidings of joy in the Brit film Nativity!

15 Whilst we allow poverty through inequality we are culpable for disasters like Haiti - Thank God for cancellation of Haiti's debt since

16 Brilliant article in blokes mag Esquire by Greenbelt Festival speaker Shane Claiborne

17 The Carbon Calculator revealing issues with Tory and Labour Green attitudes

18 Pete Rollins in full flow on camera - Insurrectionist Theology

19 YouTube video explaining the total idiocy of the Digital Economy Bill passed in the wash-up in the last Parliament

20 On maintaining the tradition of saying grace at mealtimes

And some of my sub top 20 favourites:

24 Art and Christianity - The transcendental music of Bach's St matthew Passion

27 The BBC's drama 'All the Small Things' really matters - Choirs and stuff

28 Explanatory chart and definition of Progressive Rock

51 My Memorable Musical Moments Meme - pieces that knock you sideways

59 Video interview 'Redeeming Culture' covering After The Fire's Bradwell church service

84 Baptism - When best laid plans fail, mystery can take over

91 Rob Bell's incredible talk about maturity at Greenbelt 2009

98 5 deeply de-Christian doctrines meme

107 Nova Scotia's incredible 'Ice Cream Church' near Halifax and also here (#118)

110 The Devil Inside - The unbelievable Christian Rock equivalent of Guitar Hero

Top referring blogs excluding Google, Facebook and Twitter

1 theartistandthetartist.blogspot.com (James & Maggie)

2 elizaphanian.blogspot.com (Revd Sam)

3 philipstreehouse.blogspot.com (Phil Ritchie)

4 evangelistchanging.blogspot.com (Joe Haward)

5 cyber-coenobites.blogspot.com (Archdruid Eileen)

6 diggingalot.org (Graham Peacock)

7 davidkeen.blogspot.com (David Keen)

8 theconnexion.net (Richard Hall)

9 churchmousepublishing.blogspot.com (The Mouse!)

10 joinbetween.blogspot.com (Jonathan Evens)

Spinal Tap meets Chequebook Worship

Yeah, right, on one level this makes me crack up... on another it is a really sad indictment of all that is bad in this style of 'popular' church... and it is not just my 'opinion' or even my 'taste' (although I have both in abundance). The irony that dated music is 'Contemporary' and that technology makes the message of the Gospel 'Relevant' is cleverly captured. However, the 'Medium' changes the 'Message'...

Rob Bell summed this up so succinctly when answering a question on Mega Churches at Greenbelt 09:

The problem is that a large massive group of people who have gathered for an hour a week can easily deceive themselves into thinking that's 'Church'. But Church is a sort of revolutionary movement of people who have the body and blood at their centre who see themselves as we are here to break OUR bodies and to pour out OUR blood for the healing of the world. And what can easily happen is the 'show', the hour on Sunday, the big exciting thing, can easily become a surrogate for actual community...

Listen to the full version on Greenbelt website.

P

Let me through, I'm an Anglican...

If, like me, you are NOT a member of the Anglican / C of E clergy, a fairly stalwart church goer, even serving on various committees, then I expect you are pretty fed-up with most of what is going on in Anglican world. Part of the trouble is that it all seems so inward looking and therefore exactly opposite to how we are supposed to be as followers of Jesus, caring for the poor and challenging the status quo... I, along with many others, simply don't get what's happening!

Today I heard a friend recite the famous poem, 'The Vicar of Bray' which implies that fickleness has been around for a while amongst clergyfolk and I will return to that later.

I am now struggling to recall the innocence of my faith... at the moment so much of what has just transpired in the recent Synod seems to bear little relationship to real church. Additionally, the recent research which revealed the sermon is the 'best bit' of a church service even skirts the point that church services, generally, are very, very naff!

I know there are some churches that are exploring new ways of enhancing worship (Fresh Expressions being one such initiative) and I think that is brilliant, however, where the church is really part of (or becomes) the surrounding community that is what really encourages me to think all hope is not lost. Ok, there was a Synod presentation about Mission covering Fresh Expressions and there was Revd David Gamble's interesting 'offer' from the Methodists, which actually hid both a reproach and a challenge of priorities.

But whilst endless debates continue about all the current obsessions (whichever way you look) then us 'lay' folk lose more faith, both in the established church and the clergy. The trouble is the whole system is run by differing strata of... yet more clergy, ranging from humble deacons to Archbishops. That immediately means there are issues to deal with including:

• Inequality: This is usually manifest in the clergy / non clergy divide.
• Superiority: Why do C of E clergy give out the impression they are 'above' other ordained clergy/pastors in other denominations (except, maybe, Catholics priests?!!)?

And there is the theology! I am an avid reader and love listening to audiobooks. I have enjoyed many great talks at Greenbelt and at other 'thin places'. Those talks capture you within the first few minutes, frankly the 'sermon' style in most churches, regardless of Biblical content, simply does not challenge or inspire and is a mixture of platitudes and anecdotes.

At the risk of sounding old (rather than mature, of course!) I used to love going to conferences and gatherings where we listened to a proper preacher and sang our hearts out! I now learn the evangelical nature of those meetings is seriously frowned upon by Anglo-Catholics and Liberals... it seems faith has to be liberalised, have more doubt, more skepticism, no longer enjoyed, kept to one denomination and it seems we are not even allowed to describe ourselves as a 'Christian' anymore. Don't completely dis the evangelicals, though, they come in many shapes and sizes!

This leads me to my final point: why is the church so demonstrably partisan? It seems the C of E thinks it is different to 'free' churches and the mounting divide between those declaring Catholic 'tendencies' and steadfast C of E communicants is hardly new? The Vicar of Bray actually kept his post through a series of major varieties of governance, perhaps, after all, he was more of a servant to his flock than the humour in the poem implies as he 'cheerfully' reversed his principles?

I have never felt I was one denomination or another, despite worshipping in various denominations as geography dictated. I cannot understand why some folk filling forms with 'C of E' in the 'Religion' field? Surely we are simply Christians? So why does it feel as though I have to declare I am Anglican / C of E? Nope, that is never going to happen!!!

P

Pete Rollins... insurrectionist theology

Greenbelt Festival darling Pete Rollins in excellent form... love the pub tour idea! h/t Mike Todd

PB

Art and Christianity Part Five - Poem

This my final post on the Art and Christianity meme commenced by Jonathan Evens.

Artwork: Antony Gormley - 'Field for the British Isles'
Drama: Film 'Chariots of Fire' (1981)
Music: J S Bach - St Matthew Passion
Novel: Victoria Hislop - The Island
Poem: Wilfred Owen - The Parable of the Old Man and the Young

I remember hearing this poem for the first time in an English Literature lesson. Although initially I didn't fully understand the depth of the text I could clearly tell the link to Abraham and Isaac from the Bible narrative. Then the teacher went on to explain that Owen's technique was to use both the biblical text as an analogy and also, significantly, as a subversive weapon to get his message across about the massive loss of life in the first world war. Then last year at Greenbelt 2009  Maggi Dawn, during her talk on Lent, quoted the last two lines which triggered the memory banks...

So Abram rose, and clave the wood, and went,
And took the fire with him, and a knife.
And as they sojourned both of them together,
Isaac the first-born spake and said, My Father,
Behold the preparations, fire and iron,
But where the lamb, for this burnt-offering?
Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps,
And builded parapets and trenches there,
And stretched forth the knife to slay his son.
When lo! an Angel called him out of heaven,
Saying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad,
Neither do anything to him, thy son.
Behold! Caught in a thicket by its horns,
A Ram. Offer the Ram of Pride instead.
But the old man would not so, but slew his son,
And half the seed of Europe, one by one.

I find this deeply moving in both the way Owen adopts the language and meaning of Scripture as well as having the courage to speak out so challengingly in an era when it would have been shunned...

Text copied from here.

Putting money where mouths are... for Haiti

Delighted us old rockers, After The Fire, (or ATF) have been approached to play not one, nay, two fundraisers next weekend to raise money for the needs of the folk in Haiti:

Jan 29th 2010 - Haiti Fundraiser - ATF plus two Bands £5 min donation
Essex Youth Camp - Mersea - CO5 8SX - Doors Open 7:30pm

Jan 30th 2010 - Haiti Fundraiser - Touchstone, The Puritans and ATF £5 min donation
St Paul's Catholic College - Burgess Hill - RH15 8WA - Doors Open 6:30pm

Spread the word!

P

Not on my watch... please?

Although I have commented on a couple of blogs I have been uncomfortable about many of the things that have been written this week concerning the devastating tragedy in Haiti. And, of course, it has been surprising to see the extent of the reaction to right wing evangelist Pat Robertson's insensitive statement concerning Haiti. As a result 'pat robertson' has overtaken the word 'haiti' to become the top 'trend' in Twitter.

Singer songwriter Martyn Joseph rebuked Mr Robertson's previous ludicrous 'political' suggestions in a witty ditty he performed at the Greenbelt Festival in 2006 (warning: expletives NOT deleted!). However, in the context of the extreme reactions to Robertson's claims about the Haitian people, Martyn's piece could now be seen as judgemental and, despite its pithy, prophetic brilliance, by posting it I fear I may be seen to be demeaning the seriousness of the Haiti situation.

From our distance we naturally respond with a mixture of horror and abject helplessness. Giving money and fundraising are tangible, it is certainly uplifting to hear how the donations are mounting up after fears of compassion fatigue. There is a small yet positive step we can all take that just might make a huge difference by signing the petition to drop the debt Haiti has with us of $890,000,000:

HELP HAITI - DROP THE DEBT

If the debt was dropped this would make a long term difference to the poverty in Haiti. Whilst the debt remains in place Haiti will always be kept at arm's length and effectively their people will be held in poverty by 'us'. This will mean the potential for suffering and a casualty toll on a massive scale all over again at a later date. Whatever faith or belief we have can we allow that to happen? We could try blaming God, Satan or someone else (again), but we are the ones with the keys to implement prevention rather than catastrophe...

What matters now...

Seth Godin is attempting to break all previous records by providing a new e-book to download for free on his Blog site and inviting everyone to virally market the message of its availability. I think this is a really interesting experiment in itself with the added bonus of receiving the excellent ebook.
Essentially the book is a collection of inspiring short thoughts and anecdotes from some high profile authors including Seth himself, Acumen Fund CEO Jaqueline Novogratz, business guru Tom Peters and Greenbelt Festival speaker Karen Armstrong.

Wonderful stuff!

P

Congregational musicianship...

A great way of disposing of worship groups/bands, just give everyone a Ukulele instead!

The very wonderful Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain in full flow at this year's Proms. Suggestion inspired by the Ongoing Adventures of ASBO Jesus 768: