Where Everybody's Crazy

Well, the week has finally come, and what a busy week it's going to be. Ian C is another of those interesting trailblazers where I work, who managed to get out to Tibet as an anthropologist to study the music out there. He's teaching us all about how to use music in mission, including transcribing and preserving local music, and adapting folk songs and both creating and helping others create "indigenous hymnody".

It's a busy week because on top of the full day of lessons - as opposed to the morning, which we're used to - we're also preparing for a performance on Friday. (I'm playing the dranyen in our Tibetan ensemble, and we're also singing Tunisian, Ugandan and other indigenous hymns.)

Oh, and I have to write a song. It's a bit of a cop-out, but I'm writing enka based on Psalm 6. Enka is the Japanese nationalisation of the universal Country and Western genre that tends to emerge in developed musical cultures. If your dog just died, your woman just left you and you're far from home, you'd end up singing enka. Now this is not exactly what people are likely to worship to, but I think I've ended up deciding that creating a Japanese worship musical culture is not going to happen in a week, and I might as well do something which demonstrates the principles.

I've got an intro, and that means the arrangement and the basis of the song is done; but I still have five days to write a song in a genre I'm not used to, and five full days of lessons to attend as well. Like I said, busy week.