Welcome to Music for Life, enhancing the Armstrong concert experience. I'm your host, Ryan Malone. In today's episode, we will play highlights from a concert presented in Armstrong Auditorium on February 20th, 2022. The program was titled Finding Harmony and was presented by the world-renowned acapella male sextet, The King Singers. This program explored how music through history has bound humanity together and spanned the globe to feature a variety of cultures and languages. So stick around for this King Singers replay today on Music for Life.
The King Singers program Finding Harmony, presented in Armstrong Auditorium February 20th, 2022, was an astounding representation of an ensemble that has been around over 50 years. The program took them around the world and, by my count, had them singing in nine different languages. The group did a great job of introducing the audience to the various repertoire on the program, the backstories behind their selections, and how it fit into the Finding Harmony theme for the night. In today's episode, I'll leave a lot of their spoken introductions in, at least for the pieces that we're going to highlight in this program. Now, with the length of this podcast, we can't hear everything on the concert. And thankfully, I've already played some of these selections when I did the pre-concert episode promoting this event. So I'll opt for pieces on the program that we've not already heard on Music for Life.
Their program, Finding Harmony, was based on their album of the same name, and it described the unifying device of this program and album this way. It reads, Singing binds us together. From the Protestant Reformation in Europe during the 1500s to the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, there have been countless moments in history when songs have united nations, cultures, and causes. This is still the case in today's world. Finding Harmony is evidence that music has always been our common language, a unique collection of pieces that span the globe, including music that's too often forgotten. Each song is the key to a powerful true story about who we are and how we got here.
Their program started their journey in the U.S. with three songs related to the civil rights movement of the mid-20th century. They began with If I Can Help Somebody, which I played on our previous episode about the King Singers, so I will go ahead and play the other two selections from this set. This little light, this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine, this little light, this light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine, this little light, this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine on, let it shine.
This little light, this little light, I'm gonna let it shine. This little light, this light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. This little light, this light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, oh shine, oh let it shine. In my home, wherever I roam, Lord, I'm gonna let it shine. In my home, wherever I roam, Lord, I'm gonna let it shine.
This little light, this light of mine I'm gonna let it shine, this little time, this little light of mine I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine on, shine on Let it shine, shine on, shine on brother, shine on sister, shine, shine We just heard Stacey V. Gibbs' arrangement of This Little Light of Mine, followed by U2's MLK, arranged by Bob Chilcott. For the remainder of their first half, the King Singers took us through various parts of Europe in this program titled Finding Harmony. We're going to hear a selection from Estonia, as well as some incredible songs from Georgia. The first half ended with three songs from Scotland as well, two of which I've already played on our previous episode, promoting the King Singers concert, but I did not play Loch Lomond, which we'll hear in this next set. The Baltic states of Europe have a strong ancient singing tradition.
But in July 1960, at Estonia's National Song Festival, known as the Laurukinu, the Soviets had banned the country's much-loved song, Muisama on Minu Arn, which means, land of my father's, land that I love, fearing that it was too nationalistic. In spite of this, at the end of the festival, the 100,000 strong crowd spontaneously began to sing this forbidden song, defying the Soviets, who were powerless to stop so many people singing all at once. This moment is believed to be the first step on the road to Stony's independence 30 years later, the first step of what became known as the Singing Revolution. That is, the Eurasian country, not your very own state, where a unique style of singing in three parts has existed for over a thousand years, despite its turbulent history and through frequent wars and invasions.
And this tradition of acapella singing has helped Georgians to protect and preserve their identity as a living monument of their culture and heritage. We begin with Shen Ha Venahi, an ancient hymn with words thought to be by King Demetrius I, written in the 12th century. And in a moment we'll round out the group with a love song called Gachsov's Torpav. Do listen out for our dear two countertenors trying their best to yodel. It's something that's common in Georgian folk music, but less common on the streets of London. First though, here is a well-known and beautiful love song named after the town from which it comes, Tsinshara. Being hunted down, I was forced to leave their homes in a process called the Highland Clearances. We've just sung one of the most nostalgic songs from that time in the rapidly disappearing Gaelic language.
and written for us by one of Scotland's greatest living composers, Sir James Macmillan. It's called, Oh, how I long for the Misty Mountains. It's now time for one of the most famous songs from that period, although many people don't know the story behind it. The words to Loch Lomond are sung by a Scottish hymn, or the wife of a... She's just watched her husband being executed in London for his part in the uprising against the British monarchy. His body is being carried back to Scotland on a cart along the King's High Road as a warning to others.
while she has to travel back to Scotland along the low road. She knows that she and her husband will never meet again on the bonnie-bonnie banks of Loch Lomond, because he's paid the ultimate price for his treason against the British crown.
You are listening to Music for Life. I'm your host, Ryan Malone. This is KPCG. In today's episode, we are hearing highlights from a concert presented in Armstrong Auditorium on February 20th, 2022, a program titled Finding Harmony and presented by the world-renowned King Singers. We just heard the Scottish folk song Loch Lomond preceded by three songs from Georgia, the Eurasian country, and then before that, a popular tune from Estonia.
The King Singers ended their first half with those Scottish folk songs and began the second half with a set titled The Musical Reformation, featuring hymns and motets of 16th century Europe. We'll hear one of those numbers, William Byrd's mournful Sivitas Sancti Tui. After that, the King Singers sang a song from South Africa and then a hauntingly beautiful Yiddish song, both of which we heard on our previous episode promoting this concert. So in this replay episode... To stick with other highlights from this concert, I'll skip to their final set, where they veered from their Finding Harmony album selections and went into other well-known King Singers repertoire. These songs were not printed in the program, but would be announced from the stage. And that means none of this set was played in our previous episode that I keep mentioning. So I'll play a lot of this set as well. It begins with Casey Musgraves' Rainbow. Then we'll hear Alice in Wonderland, text by Spike Milligan, music by Alan Clare, and arranged by Gordon Langford. After that, the traditional Mexican full tune, Se Lito Lindo, arranged by Jorge Cosato. The set ends with Honey Pie by Paul McCartney, arranged by Paul Hart.
Again, first we'll start with William Byrd's Sivita Sancti Tui, the translation of which reads, Your holy city has become a wilderness, Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem has been made desolate. After that, we'll go into these more modern selections. I'll also keep a lot of the spoken introductions the King Singers gave to these pieces so you can hear how they set them up. for most of this evening's programme, so by now we hope we've found sufficient harmony to be able to dive into a little other corner of our library for some surprises from our close harmony repertoire before we finish. And we couldn't be in this part of the world without giving you something with a tiny bit of a country flavour, so that was, of course, Rainbow by the great Casey Musgraves. Now for something from right at the beginning of The King Singer's history. It was written for us, or arranged for us, by a man called Gordon Langford, who arranged many of the songs on our very first album, and this is an interesting take on the brilliant story of Alice in Wonderland, reworking the song by Spike Lee.
I broke its head, off with its head. And that's exactly what you do. One summer's day, the worries that I told, all about stumps in the tea.
I said that we were done finding harmony, but this next song is so appropriate for what we've done today that we thought we had to include it. Not just because we had delicious Mexican food for lunch, but also because we were reminded during that lunch that this song was once used to advertise tortilla chips in this country. It also gives me a moment to tell you a little bit about our 501c3 charitable foundation that we've got here in the States. It's called the King Singer's Global Foundation, and it aims... to do everything it can to try and harness the power of music and singing together to effect positive change all over the world. Now, you can read all about what we're doing with it on our website, but if you'd like to make a donation, I promise you that no gift is too small, or indeed, too big. This next song...
This next song has sort of become an official second national anthem in Mexico. Not only is it sung at times of disaster, like when people are looking for earthquake survivors in 2017, but also when Mexico did surprisingly well in the Soccer World Cup in 2018. I hope there aren't too many Mexicans in the audience hearing me say that. This was sung in the stadium as well. It's called Cielito Libro.
Hey!
Of course, one more song, and no King Singer's concert is ever complete without something by The Beatles. And so, here is a story of someone who, there's a man, he's in Liverpool, his girlfriend, quite rightly, because why wouldn't you want to come across to the US, comes across to the US to try to become a film star in Hollywood. He is very sad and waits in really Liverpool for her, perhaps to come home and to entice her, he sings her this song. This is Honey Pie. Honey Pie, you are driving me crazy. I'm in love that I'm lazy. So won't you please come home?
Oh, honey pie, my position is tragic. Come and show me the magic of your Hollywood song. You became a legend of the silver screen. And now, darling, you make me weak in the knees. Oh, honey pie, you are driving me frantic. Sail up past the Atlantic to be where you belong. Sail up past the Atlantic to be where you belong. Come back to me, honey pie.
Drive me crazy. Drive me crazy.
You are listening to Music for Life. I'm your host, Ryan Malone. This is KPCG. In today's episode, we have heard highlights from a concert presented in Armstrong Auditorium on February 20th, 2022, presented by the world-renowned King Singers, a program titled Finding Harmony. We just heard pieces from their final set of the program, which veered away from the Finding Harmony theme to give some of the more traditional expectations from a King Singers concert. We just heard several selections from their second half, starting with a 16th century motet by William Byrd, and then jumping right into a more modern set of King Singers favorites, Rainbow, Alice in Wonderland, Celito Lindo, and at the end of that set, Honey Pie, which also concluded the program for the evening. But the King Singers did provide us with an encore, and we'll end today's episode with the encore they performed on the Armstrong stage.
This is Oh, I Can't Sit Down, the Gershwin hit arranged by the former King singer himself, Bob Chilcott. I hope you enjoy. Mr. Vomity, nothing's driving me. Oh, I'm going to town.
Oh, I can't sit down. Oh, I can't sit down. Today I am gay and I'm free. Just about nothing trouble can be. Oh, I'm going to die.
Keep it going. Keep it going. Keep it going. You have been listening to Music for Life, a production of KPCG 101.3 on the FM dial in Edmond, Oklahoma. From the Herbert W. Armstrong College campus, I'm Ryan Malone. Thanks for joining me.