Lovely religious music for this atheist?
October 12, 2008 12:35 PM Subscribe
I was raised in two churches with strong musical traditions. I'm no longer religious, but I still have a deep love of hymns, especially a capella hymns. I want to make a CD featuring some lovely religious music. One song I've found that typifies what I'm after is Hayley Westenra's version of "Whispering Hope". Can you suggest other songs of this kind? (They don't need to be a capella, but lugubrious Mormon Tabernacle Choir stuff generally bores me.) Pop is okay, as long as it's pretty. iTunes availability preferred.
I always liked "As I Went Down in the River to Pray", at least the one from O Brother, Where Art Thou? Starts simple, ends strong, and nice pure a capella throughout.
posted by Rhaomi at 12:50 PM on October 12, 2008
posted by Rhaomi at 12:50 PM on October 12, 2008
Off the top of my head, Alison Krauss and company has some a capella hymns/gospel songs. The only ones I know are off the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack: Down to the River to Pray and Go To Sleep You Little Baby.
posted by spiderskull at 12:50 PM on October 12, 2008
posted by spiderskull at 12:50 PM on October 12, 2008
Fernando Ortega has some beautiful hymns on the CD "Hymns and Meditations."
posted by belladonna at 2:18 PM on October 12, 2008
posted by belladonna at 2:18 PM on October 12, 2008
Response by poster: Yes, "As I Went Down to the River to Pray" is a perfect example of what I'm after. More please! :)
posted by jdroth at 2:31 PM on October 12, 2008
posted by jdroth at 2:31 PM on October 12, 2008
Response by poster: (Plus I'll check out the other suggestions.)
posted by jdroth at 2:31 PM on October 12, 2008
posted by jdroth at 2:31 PM on October 12, 2008
Ave Maria by Aaron Neville. Not sure if it is exactly what you are looking for, but it beautifully sung by him.
posted by JujuB at 2:44 PM on October 12, 2008
posted by JujuB at 2:44 PM on October 12, 2008
You might want to check out this site. I would specifically suggest Vox One and Naturally 7 and Sweet Honey In The Rock (as someone said earlier).
Also check into Alison's Krauss's stuff in general. It's unfortunate (or maybe fortunate) that people only seem to know her from "Oh Brother...", but she is so much more than that.
posted by FlyByDay at 2:57 PM on October 12, 2008
Also check into Alison's Krauss's stuff in general. It's unfortunate (or maybe fortunate) that people only seem to know her from "Oh Brother...", but she is so much more than that.
posted by FlyByDay at 2:57 PM on October 12, 2008
I enjoy sacred heart singing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Harp). It's very raw and beautiful. I own this CD:
http://www.amazon.com/Rivers-Delight-American-Sacred-Tradition/dp/B000005IVY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1223850678&sr=1-1
posted by acrasis at 3:32 PM on October 12, 2008
http://www.amazon.com/Rivers-Delight-American-Sacred-Tradition/dp/B000005IVY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1223850678&sr=1-1
posted by acrasis at 3:32 PM on October 12, 2008
I'm a fan of this a cappella version of Lord of the Dance.
Also, try Baba Yetu (it's on the top of that page, and free!), arranged by Christopher Tin and performed by Stanford's wonderful a cappella group Talisman, for the computer game Civilization IV. It's the "Our Father" in somewhat broken Swahili.
posted by losvedir at 4:50 PM on October 12, 2008
Also, try Baba Yetu (it's on the top of that page, and free!), arranged by Christopher Tin and performed by Stanford's wonderful a cappella group Talisman, for the computer game Civilization IV. It's the "Our Father" in somewhat broken Swahili.
posted by losvedir at 4:50 PM on October 12, 2008
Washington Phillips (Wikipedia) sang beautiful, haunting gospel songs accompanied only by his zither (the exact type of zither is unknown and the subject of some debate).
He recorded some tracks in the late 1920s. Sixteen of them survive today; they're all on iTunes, and also on this CD.
His music gives me shivers -- his delicate falsetto croon in "I Had a Good Father and Mother" gets me every time.
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 5:00 PM on October 12, 2008
He recorded some tracks in the late 1920s. Sixteen of them survive today; they're all on iTunes, and also on this CD.
His music gives me shivers -- his delicate falsetto croon in "I Had a Good Father and Mother" gets me every time.
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 5:00 PM on October 12, 2008
See kellykessler's version of "Back He Flew Away" on Mefi Music.
posted by winston at 6:14 PM on October 12, 2008
posted by winston at 6:14 PM on October 12, 2008
I think you should do an iTunes power search with Artist set to Glad. My favorite of theirs is Awesome God, but they have *many* others you may want to check out.
Also, a long time ago I purchased several CDs from this organization which does acapella hymns (note, I bought them in a store, that site was found with Google). I don't see them on iTunes though. My favorite songs of theirs are: "Give Thanks", "When I Call", "I Love You Lord", "Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee" and "All Creatures of Our God and King" (plus several of their Christmas hymns, such as "Not Just Any Night").
Purely FYI NSync's acapella version of "O Holy Night" is my favorite Christmas hymn.
Now I'm going to go check out all the other recommendations up thread, maybe I'll find new stuff I like!
posted by forthright at 8:21 PM on October 12, 2008
Also, a long time ago I purchased several CDs from this organization which does acapella hymns (note, I bought them in a store, that site was found with Google). I don't see them on iTunes though. My favorite songs of theirs are: "Give Thanks", "When I Call", "I Love You Lord", "Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee" and "All Creatures of Our God and King" (plus several of their Christmas hymns, such as "Not Just Any Night").
Purely FYI NSync's acapella version of "O Holy Night" is my favorite Christmas hymn.
Now I'm going to go check out all the other recommendations up thread, maybe I'll find new stuff I like!
posted by forthright at 8:21 PM on October 12, 2008
I strongly suggest you find some music from the Russian choral tradition. It's very old and very deep.
Here's one cd. Listen to track one and tell me you don't get a feeling of frisson.
posted by alexei at 10:16 PM on October 12, 2008
Here's one cd. Listen to track one and tell me you don't get a feeling of frisson.
posted by alexei at 10:16 PM on October 12, 2008
A second vote for Anonymous 4. I suggest you look at their Gloryland album.
posted by onhazier at 7:45 AM on October 13, 2008
posted by onhazier at 7:45 AM on October 13, 2008
I meant to come back and post this answer a couple of days ago, but completely forgot until this popped up on my playlist again.
Check out IIIrd Time Out - Swing Low Sweet Chariot. I actually think the recorded version is better, so you might want to just listen to it in the Itunes store.
posted by diamondsky at 3:33 AM on October 17, 2008
Check out IIIrd Time Out - Swing Low Sweet Chariot. I actually think the recorded version is better, so you might want to just listen to it in the Itunes store.
posted by diamondsky at 3:33 AM on October 17, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by misteraitch at 12:47 PM on October 12, 2008