"True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice."
-- The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Composed by Cathy Moklebust / Copyright 2013 Choristers Guild
Performed by The Olson Bell Choir with Mary Beth Ions on Violin

Peace in Our Time: III. Tribute

"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they alway fall -- think of it, always."
-- Mohandas K. Gandhi

*Resistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience, firmly founded upon ahimsa (total non-violence). The word satyagraha is a synthesis of the Sanskrit words satya (truth) and agraha (holding firmly to).

Composed by Cathy Moklebust / Copyright 2013 Choristers Guild
Performed by The Olson Bell Choir with Mary Beth Ions on Violin

Peace in Our Time: II. Satyagraha*

"If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other."
-- Agnesë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu (Mother Teresa of Calcutta)

Composed by Cathy Moklebust / Copyright 2013 Choristers Guild
Performed by The Olson Bell Choir with Mary Beth Ions on Violin

Peace in Our Time: I. Compassion

We Will Follow

Holy Crap, I recorded this ON MY PHONE.


This song is from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1882146913/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=quiddle-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1882146913">African Guitar Styles</a> by Folo Graf.

Afro Twist & Jive

Another African Guitar song. I'm making a goal to record something on a regular basis and share it, even if it's not perfect.

On this song, I experimented a little more what the iOS Garageband had to offer. However, I think running an acoustic guitar through a crappy mic into an amp emulator is not the best idea. I'm not as happy with the final sound as I was on the last song, but I learned a lot in the process.

This song is from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1882146913/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=quiddle-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1882146913">African Guitar Styles</a> by Folo Graf.

Soukous Maringa

Gave myself an hour today to record something. Got this done in about 40 minutes. Called it good enough.

When I first started playing African guitar styles, this was the first really challenging song I encountered. The style was alien, yet beautiful. I practiced it as often as I could until that opening line flowed off my fingers. (Not perfect in this recording, but close enough) Something about the flow and blend of the first two guitar parts drove me on and on until I really got it.

Once I learned this one, new songs came more easily to my fingers and I was off on my journey.

The third guitar part was not from the book I learned from. A friend of mine came up with the basic sound while we played together and I added the harmony.

This song is from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1882146913/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=quiddle-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1882146913">African Guitar Styles</a> by Folo Graf.

Cutaway

This is a live recording of the Olson Bell Choir (which I direct) playing Cathy Moklebust's Bwana Asifiwe. It's a great song with difficult syncopation and rhythms. It's also a perfect illustration of how much the choir has grown over the past several years.

The drums and other percussion were not miked for this recording but they're still audible- let your imagination fill them in a little bit.

Bwana Asifiwe

Got a new microphone: the Apogee Mic. It's a condenser mic that plugs in via USB or directly into an iPhone or iPod using the dock connector. It's basically about the best thing ever.

Here's what I was able to record on my first go round. It's the best take I got, but in my defense, it was long after midnight when I recorded this.

This song is from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1882146913/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=quiddle-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1882146913">African Guitar Styles</a> by Folo Graf.

Mampama

Another song in my studies of African Guitar stylings. The first two guitar parts exhibit "polychordal harmony" (a term that that I'd never heard of until reading the notes for this song) in that the chord changes occur two beats apart and makes for beautiful interplay between the parts.

 Recording in Garageband on iOS has gotten much easier, so this time I focused on making longer recordings and relying less on looping- I think that keeps things more interesting.

This song is from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1882146913/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=quiddle-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1882146913">African Guitar Styles</a> by Folo Graf.

Gbongo-Wass

The Olson Bell Choir performs "Will You Come and Follow Me (The Summons)" as arranged by Susan T. Nelson. Rather than having a flute play melody, we had The Ensemble (one of our choirs) and the congregation sing verses and (on the last verse) our band joins in! The lovely voice singing lead vocals is our church's own Amanda Powell, who directs The Ensemble and leads Alive360, our global service. Her feature in this song is a slightly unfair in this recording, because it overshadows the excellent work of The Ensemble and our congregation, but this is a recording direct from our sound system and not the natural environment of our Sanctuary.

I made some changes to the original arrangement to allow for all five verses to be sung and I think it worked out quite well. The experience was moving.

The Summons

I recorded this once before and accidentally deleted it from SoundCloud. The first recording used the Everyday Looper app on my iPhone and was fairly rudimentary. I've gone back and made a more expansive version of it.

There are three "Maringa Wan Way" songs published in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1882146913/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=quiddle-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1882146913">African Guitar Styles</a> and this recording uses parts from the first two variations. The best part of "Maringa Wan Way" is that each of the eleven different parts can be played on top of each other. At most, there are four guitar parts playing at once in this recording.

Maringa Wan Way

Guitarist. Saxophonist. Harmonica-ist. Penny Whistler. Piano hack. Bell Choir Director.

Music for me started with the sax lessons in middle school. Everything else... just happened.

Quiddle

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