Anyway, I was inspired tonight. I was listening to Ofra Haza (who you desperately need to listen to if you haven't before), and her beautiful song "Im Nin'alu" came on. I was curious as to what the lyrics meant. Here they are:
If there be no mercy left in the world,
The doors of heaven will never be barred.
The Creator reigns supreme, and is higher
than the angels
All, in His spirit, will rise
By His nearness, His life-giving breath
flows through them.
And they glory in His name
From the moment of genesis,
His creations grow,
Captivating and more beautiful.
The wheel in his circle thunders
Acclaiming His Holy name
Clothed in the glory of His radiance,
The six-winged cherubs surround Him,
Whirling in His honor
And with their free wings sweetly sing,
Together, in unison
The doors of heaven will never be barred.
The Creator reigns supreme, and is higher
than the angels
All, in His spirit, will rise
By His nearness, His life-giving breath
flows through them.
And they glory in His name
From the moment of genesis,
His creations grow,
Captivating and more beautiful.
The wheel in his circle thunders
Acclaiming His Holy name
Clothed in the glory of His radiance,
The six-winged cherubs surround Him,
Whirling in His honor
And with their free wings sweetly sing,
Together, in unison
Pretty sweet, right?
The actual song is in Hebrew, by the way. It's a gorgeous language. If you don't know me well, you might not be aware that I am obsessed with world music. I love different musical traditions and how unique they are to each part of the globe. As you may also have deduced from my previous writing, I also get super excited about different people celebrating the gospel, especially all over the world. Go down and look at what I have to say about Brother Yun if you missed it.
All that combines together into a weird idea: I would love to write songs.
I'd love to write them in other languages.
I'd love to write them in languages that aren't usually used in worship songs.
The thoughts kept coming.
What languages would those be?
Using Wikipedia, I came up with quite a few. And out of nowhere, I charged myself with a project.
By next Christmas, I want to have written an album's worth of songs in languages from places around the world, the main languages of the world. Do I speak any of them? Just a little Spanish and French. Do I know their styles well enough to emulate them on me and my little acoustic guitar? Definitely not.
But it's a challenge I'm willing to take on.
Here's the checklist:
1. Mandarin Chinese
2. English
3. Spanish
4. Hindi
5. Arabic
6. Russian
7. French
8. Portuguese
Can it be done? Stay tuned.
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