Saturday, August 01, 2009

A Musical Treat: Two Russian Hymns

Eighty-two of us came together July 19th for the annual Christian Singing School held in Donetsk, Ukraine. The aim of the week-long school is to enhance congregational singing in Russian-speaking congregations. On our fourth day together, we held a public concert. The following videos are of Kostya's Ensemble, an elite group of singers, hand-picked by Konstantin "Kostya" Zhigulin, musical director of the school.



I Believe in Belief, written and composed by Kostya Zhiglin. The words of a Searcher, looking to find God, looking to find meaning in life. (Translation in progress at the YouTube site.)



Create in Me a Clean Heart: A favorite song with a new twist. Translated and arranged by Kostya Zhigulin. This version has a Slavic touch: Here transposed into a minor key with the voices coming in separately. We've sung this song better on other occasions, but still we trust that our efforts are pleasing to our Heavenly Father.

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