Album Notes

Everything you hear on this CD, WorldSong's third album; from the hard-edged, impossibly close harmonies of Eastern Europe to the all-stops-out passion of the African protest song began with, and was made from, silence.

Leopold Anthony Stokowski, the British-born American orchestral conductor responsible for the musical arrangement for Disney's Fantasia, once addressed an audience at Carnegie Hall, New York with the words "A painter paints his pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence." This begins to describe something of how it feels to be part of WorldSong as a new song is introduced and coaxed into life by our inimitable musical director Una May Olomolaiye.

The process of building a new song is the stuff of magic. Around 50 people from all walks of life congregate in a community hall in Coventry, England for 2 hours on a wednesday evening. Many would be strangers but for WorldSong. Indeed, even though the choir has been going since 1997, it remains unlikely that any one member could put a name to every other member. Even so, we are united in harmony.

No written music is given out. Only a handful of the choir can read music, most have no formal musical training. Words are rarely circulated, as their presence on paper held in front of one can act as both a physical and mental barrier to the process of absorbing the song into one's being. All songs are taught by ear and by repetition, following the tradition with which many of these songs would have been handed down through generations.

Into the eager silence, Una May's beautiful voice rings out with the first phrase of the new song; perhaps only a couple of bars, a word or two. It may be the melody of the piece, it may be the bass or a harmony. The choir echos it back. adjustments are made and the phrase repeated as we begin to get a feel for the mood of the piece. More is added and the process is repeated, a little at a time. Once the first few seconds of one part have been collectively absorbed, Una May will introduce a different part.

Then comes the real magic, when two or more of the newly learned parts are sung together for the first time. The moment when the choir first hears and is instrumental in, the interplay and the harmony of the parts is always unpredictable and often exquisite. The reaction is physical; goosebumps on the skin, hairs standing at the back of the neck. More often than not the choir will burst into spontaneous applause and cheers in pure celebration of the liberating experience of singing in harmony with fellow human beings. The phrase " the whole is more than the sum of the parts" is never more apt than at moments like these.

It is through this process that the songs on this album were first introduced to WorldSong. With practice and Una May's guidance they are shaped and honed to a performance standard but, every song has the same origin. Every one was Made From Silence.