Enigma is our twice monthly Sunday evening group for teenagers, and aims to combine Christian themes with the maximum of fun. Some time ago, the young people decided it would be fun to have a go at writing a song.
They started by creating new words for a well-known pop song, but later thought they wanted to do something completely original. Pretty soon they had two or three original songs and they performed these in church with the backing of some local professional musicians. People liked the songs and so they wrote more, each song based on some aspect of the themes they had been discussing at their meetings. Now, in November 2007, the songs have been captured on a CD, and very good it is too. It’s called SOLE (for ‘Sing Out Loud Enigma’), and offers over 30 minutes of catchy music.
Here are some samples of what's on the disc:
Heart, Soul and Mind Gotta Friend Gethsemane The Jesus Song The Rockin' Rabbi
The costs have been sponsored by several of our village businesses, for which we are most grateful. Selling at £5 per CD, we hope to raise as much as £1000 from the first production run, which will be donated to charity. Hereford diocese are helping us publicise the CD to press and radio, and we hope the project will be of interest to other churches and youth groups. Writing and rehearsing the songs has been an absorbing activity for the young people, followed by the challenge of going to the recording studio and ‘getting it right’.
The CD contains both the finished song performances, and the instrumental backing tracks we used to rehearse with the young people. The reason for including the instrumental versions is to encourage other youth groups to experiment with them, perhaps writing their own words and performing for their own audiences.
What have we learned? First that the creative potential of young people is huge, and only needs a little help to emerge into impressive results. Second, that a project like this enables us to tap into huge resources of local good will – among villagers, local musicians, and other critical helpers such as the studios and producers. Finally, that just when you think you’ve run into a snag that’s a show-stopper, a little prayer goes a long way!
By the way, the songs are great. Everyone who’s bought the disc complains they can’t get the tunes out of their head! Don’t say we didn’t warn you!