Review/Thoughts on Fanm d’Ayiti | Nathalie Joachim and Spektral Quartet

Tonight I attended a concert hosted by Da Camera Houston, featuring Nathalie Joachim and the Spektral Quartet.  They performed music of Haitian Women -- melodies written or sung by Haitian women, arranged by Nathalie Joachim herself.  Joachim is a Haitian-American born in the US.  She studied flute at the Juilliard School, is a former member of Eighth Blackbird, and is an excellent singer.

Sitting in this concert, being in the middle of writing my big piece on "Christian music performance," I had these ideas I've been writing about swirling around in my head.  It was a good test to see if my theories hold up -- if joy, humility, truth, and love are the crucial qualities that I purport them to be, and if their authenticity can even be assessed or ascertained.  (My post on Christian performance is still forthcoming as of this writing).

Joachim gave an incredible performance.  It's easy to take for granted that what the performers are doing on stage is not at all easy; and it represents hundreds of hours of preparation, practice, planning, thought, and intentionality.  She sang well, and she sang from the heart.  She also sang with joy much of the time.

But some of the content of the performance ended up being the doorway to how to consider these things as Christian artists.  Some of the songs contained references to "Vodou" and Haitian paganism.  Vodou seems to be essentially polytheistic and pluralistic -- allowing the individual to pursue other beliefs (even Christianity) without it negatively impacting their practice of Vodou.  Of course, Christianity is NOT polytheistic, and the first two commandments prohibit the worship, serving, or bowing to any god beside Yahweh.  The gods of the pagans are described by God as being deaf, mute, and blind.  They are powerless and succeed only in incurring God's wrath and jealousy.

Interestingly, Joachim spoke of a church in her hometown.  In tonight's concert, she incorporated songs that were sung in that church, and they appear on the surface to be Christian.  These songs, arranged into a 3-movement suite, contained the best music of the night, in my opinion.  And there was a difference in how the lyrics affect the reader.  They are far more transcendent, life-giving, and hopeful.

So while she gave as honest a performance as she could, it was only as truthful as her worldview and the lyrical content allowed it to be.  Her joy, love, and authenticity were limited by her ideas of truth and what ultimately matters.  The music was beautiful, and it was beautifully executed.  But it only connected us to the eternal during the songs that spoke of God's faithfulness and goodness.

Ultimately, the content of the concert was more grounded in humanism and pagan spirituality than in the transcendent reality of Christianity.  I asked my friend Marshall recently what he thinks is unique about being a Christian musician.  He responded with "We must ask, why are we ultimately making music?  For Christians, it is ultimately to bring God glory."  His answer is entirely applicable here.  Without the goal of bringing God glory, music is left being -- in the most literal sense -- mundane.

Why Singing?

 "Why Singing?" was a question that was asked near the end of a sermon preached recently by one of my elders. The context was a sermon about Jesus as our "singing savior."  The focus of the sermon shifted from God's singing to our singing; and then the question was asked "why do we sing?"  Why don't we just get together and recite things? My brain started filling with my own answers as Pastor Mark began to elaborate. I work with singers for a living, and I've sat in probably over a thousand voice lessons.

Singers are funny people. The ones that endure multiple performance degrees learn to develop very thick skin. But aside from personality, the education side of singing is very unique and fascinating.  Singers have to learn to use an invisible instrument "by feel" and by trial and error. They have to learn what good singing feels like and put enormous trust in their voice teachers. Because of the almost abstract nature of the instrument, and because of the many misconceptions about singing that must be unlearned, vocalists come up with all sorts of interesting ways to describe the sensations of good singing. Here, in no particular order, are some phrases I've heard and used over the years (several of these are NOT pedagogical - just fun):

Singing is...

• sustained speech
• screaming in cursive
• just shouting
• a whole-body activity
• an athletic activity
• dependent on breath, which is dependent on opening oneself
• not easy
• easier than we make it
• relational

So why does God have us sing? Well, one way to put it is: singing is “enhanced” speech. It is also an aesthetic form of speech. It adds an additional layer of communication to speech. It carries words further than they would go in the form of mere speech — in a figurative sense, but also a physical one. Singing takes strength and energy. It requires the use of our physical bodies, and God is very much concerned with our physical bodies. We cannot conclude from scripture that the ultimate goal is to transcend physical bodies and no longer require the uses of our voices, our hands, our feet… On the contrary, we are to use our bodies as instruments of sacrifice and worship - now and forevermore. When we sing heartily and loudly, we are presenting our bodies as living sacrifices; we are expending real energy for God.

Singing also enables unified corporate chanting. I.e., singing is a tool that enables a group of different people to all make a unified sound together. When we recite a creed or a confession together as a group, we typically all recite it with our individual “speaking voices” and consequently, it sounds like a group of people.  Rhythmically we are together, but tonally we are not. Actual singing then adds the next level of unity by having everyone match pitch. In this way we can almost sound like one voice.

But then there is more! God has created this physical world and the physics of sound in such a way as to encourage the use of harmony. Yes, God encourages us to use harmony — because He made it in nature (see the overtone series), and He made it enjoyable to our ears. (And no, I do not believe this is merely the result of cultural conditioning). Why else might we say God encourages harmony? Well, we believe that it reflects God’s character. As Pastor Mark said in his sermon, God is three in one. He exists as the Trinity. Three distinct persons within One Being, with one will, accomplishing a single unified purpose. Singing in harmony also reflects the “many members, one body” characteristic of the church.

Let us daily practice singing, with the intention of letting our corporate worship on the Lord's Day be the pinnacle use of our voices.