| New CD with Joanne Hogg - Raphael's Journey |
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I am very happy to finally announce the release (as a download only at the moment) of a new CD I made with my dear friend Joanne Hogg. We have worked together for many years with Iona, but over the last 3 years or so Jo & I have been writing and recording together to make this wonderful CD a reality. Of course all of our friends of Iona are on it with some wonderful performances, as are some of my friends from Holland. Special guest is the amazing singer from Ireland, Moya Brennan who has performed some of her trademark haunting vocals on several songs. The CD has been released by Kingsway and can be downloaded from the following website: www.raphaelsjourney.com I am very excited about this CD, as it has been born out of close collaboration with Joanne. It has taken a long time to finish this, because we only had a limited amount of time together over the years. The good thing about it is that we had ample opportunity to relisten and rework what we had done. I recorded, arranged and mixed the album - so there are lots of violins and strings, drums and percussion, but of course also low whistles, Uillean pipes and Bouzouki by Troy Donockley, some great keys & guitarwork from Dave Bainbridge and some amazing bass playing by Phil Barker. I will upload some samples shortly, so you can have a listen. It is certainly worthwhile! This is what Jo has to say about the album (taken from the Kingsway website): "The concept behind 'Raphael`s Journey' was that many years ago, before I became a mother, somebody suggested doing a lullaby project and so I set about trying to write some lullabies with a friend of mine. Somehow, couldn`t really get into it and although we ended up with a bunch of potential lullabies, it never really came to anything. Time passed, and I became a mother....and then time really seemed to pass me by, very quickly. The inspiration was certainly there to write lullabies, but not the time, or the energy. In the first year after my first son was born, I only wrote one song ....which is on this album. As a parent, I soon began to realise that it`s more the grown ups who need lullabies! Life seemed so hectic....so many friends, both those with kids and without, seemed to be constantly dealing with a variety of pressures and stresses, hurts and disappointments. As I began to write again, the album concept in my mind was more of a "lullabies for grown-ups " sort of thing. there is a story in the book of Samuel in scripture about David playing the harp for the king when he was having a tormenting time. Through David`s music, God ministered healing and peace. That is my prayer for this music...that it could somehow bring something of God's tender love, compassion and healing to His children....kids and grown-ups! Around the time of recording final vocals I was reading a book about angels and their ministry. There was mention of an angel named Raphael who is referred to in the book of Enoch and was believed by some of the early christian mystics to have been the angel who came and moved the waters of the pool of Bethesda with a healing annointing. Not wanting to delve too much into the theology of it all... but just to share why the name was in my mind! Around this time, I got a message from a friend late one night asking me to pray for a critically ill baby....called Raphael. I spent most of that night awake, praying for this baby and asking God if perhaps he could send a mighty angel called Raphael to minister healing to this baby. during the night as I lay thinking about the journey an angel makes on God`s command, and also about the journey of this little baby...the words " Raphaels Journey " came to mind. It seemed to be the title I had been searching for and over the coming weeks God comfirmed this to me. Musically, this album is a collection of songs with a few instrumentals. Frank Van Essen has been working with me on this for several years not only as producer, but also co-writing and playing. There are beautiful performances from all my mates in Iona, gorgeous string arrangements from Frank, beautiful guest vocals from the amazing Moya Brennan and piano and vocals from myself......so, please download it and tell others about it." Joanne Hogg All the profits from Raphaels Journey will go to charities that help children in extreme poverty. These include: 'Adopt-a Child' - working in Guatemala, Albania and Egypt. 'The Uganda Jesus Village' - part of the work of freshfire ministries. 'Ray of Hope' - working in the amazon. |
