I had a lot to pray about tonight. I will spare you the details. Prayer comes easier sometimes and harder at others. I love to meditate, but I am not a meditative person. I try using candles, background music, mantras (including the rosary of course), but it seems on nights like tonight when I need to pray the most, when I want to meditate the most, it becomes the hardest for me to do so.
As a result of my recent addition of Pandora radio stations to my arsenal of music, I discovered a piece of music that I had never heard before, which is one of the truly neatest things about listening to Pandora. The work is by Gavin Bryars and is called "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet". It is a symphonic mantra the likes of which I have never experienced before.
While he was working on a film about homeless people, some of them spontaneously broke into drunken song. Some sang bits of opera, others sang ballads, and still others folk songs. One old tramp who was not drinking, sang the religious song, "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet". While this particular footage never made it into the film, Gavin retained the tape. In what can only be called a truly inspired turn of events, he created a loop of the tramp singing the hymn and allowed it to repeat over and over again. He noticed that the tramp's simple singing had a tremendously powerful effect on those working in his studio. He determined to create an appropriate accompaniment for the tramp's simple singing.
In a musical odyssey that began with the original filming in 1971 and ultimately culminated in this 1993 version, Gavin created an incredible work that stands on its own as a hauntingly beautiful choral symphony, but also serves as an absolutely wonderful way to enter into prayerful meditation. My words here cannot possibly describe the beauty of this work, or its power to move one into prayer and meditation. I offer this perhaps less as a review and more as a personal recommendation.
If you are like me, and if you find that your prayerful meditation comes only with great difficulty at times, I offer this wonderful piece of music. And, even if your goal is not to be moved to prayer, the simple song of this old tramp, who never lived to hear the result of Gavin's work, will move you to contemplate your life more deeply. Gavin concludes his own notes on his work with the following:
Although the old man died before he could hear what I had done with his singing, the piece remains as a restrained testament to his spirit and optimism. The rhythm of his vocal line may be erratic and there is considerable irony in the relationship between what he is singing, and his circumstances at the time. But for me there is great poignancy in his voice and, though I do not share the simple optimism of his faith, I am still touched by the memory of my first encounter with what Grainger would call the "human-ness" of his voice, and through this piece I try to give it new life.
He does indeed. I know the simple singing of this tramp and the beautiful orchestration that this composer lent to it gave me new life tonight. May it give you new life as well!
