I am so excited to be sharing the news that Baha’i Blog has just hit the huge milestone of publishing our 200th Studio Session, yes that’s right, our 200th Baha’i Blog Studio Session! (And it’s also kind of cool that this happened in the year that Baha’is around the world will be celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Birth of the Bab, the forerunner to Baha’u’llah, the Prophet founder of the Baha’i Faith).

If you haven’t heard of Baha’i Blog Studio Sessions, then I encourage you to check it out, but basically it’s an initiative where we invite Baha’is and their friends around the world, to come into a studio on location, and then we film and record an original song which must be based on the Baha’i Writings or letters of Shoghi Effendi, or the Universal House of Justice (though we have made some rare exceptions to this rule such as this tribute to Mona Mahmudnizhad by Tom Francis singing a cover of Doug Cameron’s “Mona With the Children”). We then make these videos and audio recordings available weekly on our YouTube Channel and SoundCloud page for everyone to listen to and be inspired!

We started Baha’i Blog Studio Sessions about three years ago, partly inspired by a letter from the Universal House of Justice which stated: “We long to see, for instance, the emergence of captivating songs from every part of the world, in every language, that will impress upon the consciousness of the young the profound concepts enshrined in the Baha’i teachings.”¹

So far we’ve published songs from 36 global locations in 28 different languages, and I’m always blown away by all of the wonderful talent and songs that exist in communities worldwide! We couldn’t have come this far without the help of so many wonderful souls who have not only taken part by singing in the Studio Sessions, but to all those who have helped in so many different ways, from picking people up from a train station, to helping to edit the videos. We’d really like to thank EVERYONE who has helped so far, in making this wonderful contribution to the arts a reality!

As many of you know, music and the arts are of significance in the teachings of the Baha’i Faith, and the Baha’i Blog team has been working hard over the years to help encourage and celebrate the arts in its various forms. So it’s no wonder that we’re super excited about this achievement, and we thought a good way to celebrate these 200 songs would be to list one example of each of the 28 languages we have represented so far, and then list one example from each of the 36 locations as well.

Thanks again to all those who have made this a reality, and thanks to all of you who continue to listen to our Studio Sessions and support Baha’i Blog and what we’re trying to do!

We’d love to hear about how you’ve been using Baha’i Blog Studio Sessions in your own home or community in the comments section at the end of this post.

Before we begin the list, a special mention goes to our most viewed Studio Session called “No One But Thee” by Calla Kinglit, which is based on the Writings of the Bab and which was filmed and recorded in Toronto, Canada.

Here are examples of the 28 languages featured on Baha’i Blog Studio Sessions so far:

01. Albanian

02. Arabic

03. Bislama

04. Chinese (Mandarin)

05. Dutch

06. English

07. Finnish

08. French

09. German

10. Greek

11. Hindi

12. Italian

13. Japanese

14. Mongolian

15. Persian

16. Portuguese

17. Romanian

18. Russian

19. Samoan

20. Serbian

21. Spanish

22. Swahili

23. Swahili (Congolese)

24. Swati

25. Swedish

26. Welsh

27. Xhosa

28. Zulu

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Now here are examples from each of the 36 locations we’ve filmed and recorded in so far, listed in alphabetical order:

01. Arequipa, Peru

02. Auckland, New Zealand

03. Belgrade, Serbia

04. Brisbane, Australia

05. Bristol, the United Kingdom

06. Chicago, USA

07. Durban, South Africa

08. Essen, Germany

09. Frankfurt, Germany

10. Genoa, Italy

11. Gold Coast, Australia

12. Helsinki, Finland

13. Hluboka nad Vltavou, the Czech Republic

14. Key West, USA

15. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

16. Lisbon, Portugal

17. London, the United Kingdom

18. Los Angeles, USA

19. Madrid, Spain

20. Manzini, Eswatini

21. Melbourne, Australia

22. Nashville, USA

23. New York, USA

24. Paget, Bermuda

25. Paris, France

26. Paita, New Caledonia

27. Phoenix, USA

28. Port Vila, Vanuatu

29. Prince Edward Island, Canada

30. San Francisco, USA

31. Stockholm, Sweden

32. Sydney, Australia

33. Tilburg, The Netherlands

34. Toronto, Canada

35. Vancouver, Canada

36. Washington DC, USA

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Well that’s it for now, and we hope you’ve not only enjoyed the Baha’i Blog Studio Sessions series so far, but have found them useful as well. Don’t forget to let us know how you’ve been using Studio Sessions in your own home or community in the comments section below, and thanks again to everyone for your support!

You can find out more about Studio Sessions from this article.

Watch Baha’i Blog’s Studio Sessions series here on our YouTube channel, and don’t forget that you can also listen to the series here on our Soundcloud playlist as well.

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1. Letter from the Universal House of Justice to all National Spiritual Assemblies, 12 December, 2011 [↩]