Vox de Nube (Voice from the Cloud) - CD
Inspired Songs Sung by Nóirín Ní Riain and the Monks of Glenstal Abby

Includes 2 songs the angels gave to Joa Bolendas

CD includes booklet with complete words to the songs

$16.98

Under the light of the Voice from the Cloud we are drawn into God's own time.

- Nóirín Ní Riain

I recently discovered Vox de Nube. It has been a very long time indeed since I have listened to music that has so washed over my soul. I felt my heart simply open and leap to the heavens from which these inspired songs seemed to pour. I have never experienced anything quite like what I felt upon hearing Joa Bolendas' two songs - Praise to Mary/Glory be to you, O Christ and Vater Unser (Our Father). It was like hearing Love. And, I went back for more (several times - this is the first album I can recall since my early 20s where I actually listened to it 3 times in a row, nonstop). St. Brigid's Prayer brought tears to my eyes. There are several of Hildegarde's hymns, rendered with exceptional beauty, St. Bernards homily to Mary, "Star of the Sea" and much, much more.

This is heart-opening music - I hope you can hear it also.

Celtic Quest

Avalon a cappella

Audio CD

$14.95

Singers - Mary Thienes, Shea Darian, Amy Chevalier
Bodhran Drum - Suzette Nelson
Alto Lyre - Mary Thienes

"To find the grail,
Become the grail,
Serve the grail,
In birth and love, in work and play, marriage and death, communion and praise
In these our sacred days, so common to the touch,
May we become a Holy Vessel . . ."

- from "The Quest" by Shea Darian

Voices startlingly beautiful, harmonies intensely intwined, instruments played with a quiet mastery, and LOVE - a deep, deep LOVE for these traditional and new songs, for our dear Earth, for the joys and sorrows of human life - the musicians of Avalon a cappella have poured all this into a musical offering that will wash over your soul as a balm both peaceful and invigorating. These songs are rendered with the beauty and grace to sooth your soul and gladden your life. Beyond Outstanding!

Keur Moussa
Sacred Chant and African Rhythms from Senegal

Monks of the Keur Moussa Monestery

Audio CD

42 minutes

$16.98

I first heard this recording about 20 years ago when it was released on the old Musical Heritage label (anyone else remember those black and white record jackets that held some of the best and hardest-to-find music?). I was delighted to learn that it was back in print - and in a more popular format.

The sheer joy that the brothers of the Keur Moussa Monestery bring to their music is uplifting and inspiring. Add to this the sounds of koras (African lute-harps - the Keur Moussa makes thes koras which are renown througout the world for their quality), tabala (large camel-skin drums), and balafon (similar to a xylophone) and what results is a feast for the ears and heart.

The songs are a joyful wedding of Western liturgical chant with the rhythms and musical textures of Africa. Once you hear this music, you will not be surprised to learn that the brothers of the Keur Moussa Monestery wone the 1993 International Albert Schweitzer Music Prize - these men are masters of musical joy!

Women in Chant
Gregorian Chants for the Festal Celebration of the Virgin Martyrs and Our Lady of Sorrows

The Choir of Benedictine Nuns at the Abbey of Regina Laudis

CD - 60 minutes

Includes a 45 page booklet with stories of the 4 saints, discussions with the Abbess about the music and full translations of the sung texts

$17.98

This album - and this choir - surpasses every expectation I had before I heard it. I expect a Gregorian tribute to the Feminine Sacred. I also expected it to be beautiful.

Instead of a tribute to God's manifestation through different women, I found this extraordinary collection to be in itself a manifestation of the Sacred Feminine itself. The music, the rendering, the care of the subject go well beyond beauty - the song raised by the women of Regina Laudis becomes a vessel pouring out Love itself. As I listened, I kept coming back to how if felt as a child when my mother would bring a cool cloth to place on my fevered forehead. Then she would sit beside me, filled with care, quietly soothing me, lifting me out of my illness and into that deep, healing rest that comes when a fever breaks. This is what is given to us in this music - it is as though Our Lady herself bent to tend our suffering, lifting us into the safety of her Love, granting us Peace.

As though this weren't enough, the accompanying booklet is a treasure. The conversation with the Abbess reveals a depth of love-infused theology that I found heart-opening and heartening. The lives of the four Virgin Martyrs (Sts. Lucy, Agnes, Cecilia, Agatha) offer the deepest understanding of any I've seen in print - these women are seen as archetypes of the Divine Feminine: Virgin, Bride, Spouse, Mother. The discussion portrays their purpose in a way that also presents us with gifts from their lives. Finally, there are the Latin original and English translations of the chants sung by these women of grace.

This is music not to be missed.

Women in Chant - Recordare
Remembering the Mysteries in the Life of Jesus, Son of Mary

The Choir of Benedictine Nuns at the Abbey of Regina Laudis

Meditations: Mother Dolores Hart, O.S.B.

CD - 65 minutes

Includes a 53 page illustrated booklet with an outstanding discussion of the Rosary and chant, the history of the abbey and its impulse, and full text and translation of the sung text and meditations

$18.98

Recordare - "to remember." Here the Choir of Benedictine Nuns joins Mary, Mother of Jesus, in "pondering all things in her heart." These crystaline chants merge two traditions - the Gregorian tradition of the chant itself and that of the meditated Rosary, the beaded prayer that calls the petitioner to stand with Mary as she experiences the mysteries of her Son's life: The Joyful Mysteries from annunciation to finding her twelve-year-old son in the temple; the Sorrowful Mysteries, beginning with the Agony in the Garden and ending with the Crucifixion; and the Glorious Mysteries proceeding from the Resurrection through to Mary's Enthronement in Heaven.

These chants are not performances, but are the prayers themselves, and this infuses the music and the meditations with a life and depth that moves the heart. The multi-layered, living depth of the Rosary prayer/meditation is given yet another dimension by this beautiful choir. This is music that has the power to heal and move us forward.

The Christmas Star
Well-loved songs for the Christmas season from Advent to Three Kings Day to sing with your beloved children

Mary Thienes-Schunemann

A Naturally You Can Sing Production

Songbook and audio CD
Parent/Teacher Resource

BACK IN PRINT!!

$21.95

In olden times, when a person wished to express something sacred and holy, they were not allowed to speak about it, they could only sing. It was recognized that singing contained a higher power than speech and was a holy activity. There are still echoes of this ancient practice in some cultures of the world today. The memory is still present that how we use our voices to sing and speak can contribute to healing and peace, in our hearts and in the world.

- Mary Thienes-Schunemann

Tears filled my eyes several times as I listened to the CD that accompanies this extraordinary song book. It was not just that the music and singing were so very beautiful, nor was it that the songs were so well chosen, nor even that they brought back some of the best memories of my life. It was that Mary's music is all these things and something much more as well - The Christmas Star is quite simply a sun-drenched outpouring of hope and love. What could have been just one more nice collection of Christmas carols has, through her healing artistry and deep sensitivity, come into the world a gleaming, golden gift of life offered to our children and their children beyond.

I can't think of a better gift for your children, your family, yourself - a true celebration of the Light of Love kindled in the darkest season.

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