Album Notes

"Listening to the Chants by Blase Bonpane is an experience you can look forward to every day. Blase makes this mystical music immediate and accessible to us in our daily lives (where we need it most)." Martin Sheen

"The heartfelt reverence in Blase's voice, the hope and simplicity he learned from the struggles of the poor, combine for tremendous power, both for listeners who remember the old liturgies, and those who will hear this type of prayer for the first time." Mimi Kennedy

Blase Bonpane studied chant for eight years in the seminary prior to his ordination as a priest at Maryknoll, New York in 1958. Chant grew as a spiritual catalyst in his daily life as a Maryknoll Father in the midst of Guatemala's civil war during the 60's. Chant has continued to serve Blase in his role as director of the Office of the Americas, an organization he and his wife founded in the early eighties dedicated to international conflict resolution. He has found the chant sustaining, always there, always renewing, always joyous. "The chant is a welcome response to the hype and stress of daily life. It brings us to a spiritual center," says Blase. Blase's solo renditions of these chants give unique clarity to the Latin and enable the listener to chant along with them!

The Los Angeles Weekly identified Blase Bonpane as the most underrated humanist of this decade. Blase has worked on the ground for peace in many countries, principally in Central America, in accord with the mission of the Office of the Americas, to abolish the war system and establish an international peace system.

The third edition of Blase's book, Guerrillas of Peace, was published in May of 2000 by toExcel Press. His radio commentaries, Guerrillas of Peace on the Air, were published in the Fall of 2000 by Red Hen Press. His Opinion pieces have appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and many other publications.

Blase has served on the faculty of UCLA, California State University at Los Angeles and at Northridge, and Los Angeles Harbor College. He has lectured at over one hundred other universities. The Department of Special Collections of the UCLA Research Library has established the Blase Bonpane Collection of his published and unpublished writings together with tapes of his lectures and a complete file of his radio program, Focus on the Americas.

Blase's rendition of the chants reflects conviction and repose born of fifty years of familiarity, unlocking their beauty and bringing them alive with his heartfelt performances.

Mr. Bonpane has dedicated the Chants to his wife, Teresa, and to his children, Colleen Maria and Blase Martin.