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Community news
Some information of interest to all.
This
page contains some of the Christian activities and announcements not
directly related to Christian Light Radio. Scroll Down for more news.
What a Day - a new CD project by Robert Galea
 Seminarian
Robert Galea is finishing off the final touches of his new album
“What a Day”. This is an acoustic project which will be
launched by mid December. This unplugged project is unlike anything
Robert has done before. “What a Day” will have 13 tracks,
including a song he has been asked to perform at World Youth Day in
Sydney in July 2008 in front of His Holiness the Pope and an audience
of over 500,000 young pilgrims.
For more information please visit:
http://www.myspace.com/robgalea
http://www.robertgalea.blogspot.com
Hidden in the Host
An inspirational book by the Praise the Name of Jesus Prayer Group
The idea of publishing this book came to a number of women belonging to
the Charismatic Prayer Group Praise the Name of Jesus. They
got in touch with people from all the countries of the European
Union to ask them to spend ten hours of prayer before Jesus in the
Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist and to send any thoughts,
inspirations, prayers or teachings which occurred to them in
prayer. This book is a collection of these together with
beautiful pictures of the Host in the monstrance in Churches or Chapels
from all these counties. It is hoped that the book stemming from
love and devotion to Jesus in the Sacrament of the Eucharist will
arouse and strengthen such love and devotion in its readers. The
book could be a handy aid to prayer in the many chapels of adoration
being opened not only in Malta but all over Europe. If Europe
needs a soul as has been stated this devotion and love will help to
bring it back to Europe. This book wishes to help in this process.
Contact:
euchrist@maltanet.net
New CD – Agħmilni Bħalek by Fr Karm Debattista mssp
 Once
more we have another album by Fr Karm Debattista mssp who now is well
known for his Christian songs. This is, in fact, his seventh album. In
these last eleven years we can see a long way from his first album in
both the musical style and the quality. The improvement goes hand in
hand with the progress of contemporary music.
This new album is entitled Agħmilni Bħalek (Make me like you). Like all
the previous albums this is the name of one of the tracks and like all
the other albums it is the ninth track of the cd. When asked, Fr Karm
gave the reasons for this. He said that in the choice of the list of
songs for the first two albums (Fittixtek and Jum Ġdid) the title track
was put as number 9 by chance. So then, he kept on following this
procedure in the following albums without any particular reason at all.
In the message put in the album, Fr Karm refers to the spirituality of
the founder of the Missionary Society of St Paul to which he belongs,
Mons Joseph DePiro. In his writings and teachings as emphasis was
put on the importance of our transformation in Christ, to be filled by
him and to be like him. We can see this clearly in the titles of some
tracks like, Ibdilni Mulej (Change me Lord), Imla ’l Qalbi (Fill
my heart), Fi Kristu Biss (In Christ Alone), Ngħammar f’Darek (I
dwell in your house), Hawn f’Riġlejk (Here at you feet) and, of
course, Agħmilni Bħalek (Make me like you). Other particular songs to
be mentioned here are Niżfen Għalik (I dance for you) which style is
more Latin, Infaħħrek Mulej (I praise you Lord) and Ħenn għal Uliedek
(Have mercy on your children), the lyrics of which is taken from a
common Marian antiphon. However, we should mention here that in this
album we find also the songs written by Fr Karm for the occasion of the
new archbishop, that is, Kun tagħhom ir-Ragħaj (Be their shepherd) and
Hejju t-Triq għall-Mulej (Prepare the way of the Lord), two songs that
were launched in the beginning of January and were the first single of
the year 2007.
The musical style of this album is soft rock and acoustic, two styles
that go well together and make the album pleasant to listen. This is
the new style taken by Fr Karm even in the previous album Issa li
Sibtek (Now that I have found you). The album opens with the soft rock
sound of Imla ’l Qalbi which sets the tone for the rest of the
record. Track number 4, Fi Kristu biss, may be the only song that
cannot be termed soft. However, immediately following this is the
softest song of the album, Hawn f’Riġlejk, which balanced the
rest of it. Most of the songs in this cd are in the form of prayer,
speaking directly to God or Jesus. Most of the lyrics are
straightforward and simple and that makes it easy for one to
communicate with them personally and in groups. Fr Karm’s
melodies are catchy and easy to learn, but the arrangements raise the
songs to a wonderful sound.
The album was once more recorded and mixed at Tone Recording Studios by
Andrew Zammit. Besides, Andrew helped in the arrangement of the songs
and the lead guitar passages were all done by him. The drums were
played by Alex Debono, Noel Grech and Roger Camilleri. The electric
bass was played by Br. Bernard Falzon mssp, Edward Ellul and Andrew
Zammit. The rhythm guitar, the classical guitar, the mandolin and the
keyboard were played by Fr Karm himself. Peter Paul Galea (of Tribali)
played the percussions, while Jacob Portelli played the cello. Together
with these we mention as well that the backing vocals were done by
Andrew Cauchi, Mario Cucciardi, Dianne Portelli and Angela Spiteri. The
sleeve design was done by Br. Clinton Farrugia mssp.
This albumis available from Christian bookshops like Preca
Library, Media Centre and the Catholic Bookshop (Paola), as well as
from Damato or through the internet from the webpage:
http://www.karmdebattista.com A copy will be sent by post.
Robert
Galea – Closer
Robert Galea is a
seminarian reading for a theology and philosophy degree at the University of Malta.
While on this road towards priesthood he also
has a great passion to let the cry of his heart shout loud through his
music.
Following
the
tremendous success of his 3-track single ‘More of You’,
released in 2004, he
has been given the opportunity to record his latest project in the UK
under top Christian Music producer Neil
Costello (City of Gold, Spring Harvest, One Heart One Voice). With
musicians such as Mark Prentice (Delirious),
Neil Costello (Gloria Gaynor), Paul Evans (Tim Hughes and
Matt
Redman) and more, as
well as Robert’s “rich vocals” (Phil Loose ICC
Records), “transparent and real lyrics” (Chris York
EMI Christian Music
Group) and catchy tunes, this
project caught the attention of a number of international Christian
record
labels during his short stay in the United Kingdom.
“The
reason for this recording” says Robert “is not simply one
of expression or statement-making,
but a fulfilment of a desire to give people the opportunity to
understand my
love for God, and, more importantly, my meagre understanding of
God’s love for
us, and in doing so may begin to love Him too. I do believe that love
is very
contagious. My idea for this album, or for writing songs at that, is
nothing
than to help the so many who find it hard to ‘connect’ with
a God, who
sometimes, if not all the time, seems so far away.”
Robert
firmly believes that the Christian Music industry in Malta, though selling a considerable
amount of records every year, deserves a boost in quality and needs to
be taken
so much more seriously. “Christian music has so much to offer,
especially with
today’s constant negative, atheistic messages being sounded by
secular music.
There are so many great Christian musicians and songwriters out there,
and I
know this is just the beginning of something awesome in contemporary
Christian
music.”
‘Closer’,
Robert’s
debut album contains 10 worship songs which were all written or
co-written by
Robert himself. The songs on this record are published by Daybreak
Music, and
the album is being distributed in the UK and
the rest of Europe (apart from Malta
that is) by ICC Records. It is being supported
by APS Bank.
‘Closer’
is available from all leading record stores,
as well as Christian bookstores around the island. For more information
visit www.thatsworship.com.
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