On the Fifth Day of Christmas: 5 Must-See Carol Collaborations

My Christmas daybook for these 12 days of celebrating. We'll be spending Christmastide with some favorite short films and video clips. Join me, won't you? 

For an introduction read this post: Christmastide. You can see previous Christmastide Daybook posts from 2018 here.

Note: If you're reading this in email, the formatting usually looks much better at the website. Just click the post title to get there.

Watch:

  1. Holst: In the Bleak Midwinter - Arr. Kanneh-Mason, Per. Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Isata Kanneh-Mason

  2. The First Noel with Leslie Odom, Jr., feat. PS22 Chorus (2018)

  3. A Christmas Song in the Silo, Bruderhof

  4. “Go Tell It On the Mountain” (Holidaze at CMT), Charlie Peacock, Ruby Amanfu, Sam Ashworth

  5. Someday At Christmas, Stevie Wonder, Andra Day

 

Have you been introduced to the amazing Kanneh-Mason siblings? The first performance that caught my attention was Sheku Kanneh-Mason’s cello solo at the wedding ceremony of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle earlier this year. I didn’t realize Sheku is the third-eldest of seven prodigously gifted classical musicians. After you listen to this brother/sister duet of In the Bleak Midwinter (arranged by nineteen-year-old Sheku and recorded earlier this month at Abbey Road Studios), head over to this link: CBS Sunday Morning - The Kanneh-Masons The family that plays together. [H/T again (!) to Victoria Emily Jones at Art & Theology blog].

Here’s four more favorite Christmas carol collaborations. Enjoy!

 
“O Lord, thank you for the gift of music the rich tradition of carols we pass from generation to generation all throughout the world. Let such melodies penetrate my heart’s defenses, gently revealing old wounds unto their eventual healings, gently stirring eternal longings unto the restoration of hope. Amen.”
— adapted from "Upon Being Moved By A Song Or A Piece of Music", Every Moment Holy by Douglas Kaine McKelvey

Do:

Sing Christmas carols.

[from my post 12 Ways To Savor the 12 Days of Christmas]

The Anglican worship service sings only Advent hymns during the month of December.  We try to follow suit at home. Although -- I'm not gonna lie -- long about December 2 this year I caught Brian singing "Santa, Baby" in the kitchen one morning!  The Sunday after Christmas our church worships with a liturgy of Lessons and Carols, or in the words of our former beloved worship pastor, the last gasp of Christmas. With the frenetic pace of December, don't you love the idea of Christmas caroling at a nursing home or around an elderly friend's old upright piano during the last week of Christmas?

(See all Christmas Daybook posts from 2017 here.)

ChristmasTamara Hill MurphyChristmastide 2018, [Look.Listen.Pray.Do.], video, music