Baha’is believe in the power of prayer and you’ll find Baha’is and their friends, throughout the world, getting together to pray. This is often referred to as a ‘devotional gathering’ or ‘devotional meeting’, and they happen in diverse settings, whether in cities or villages. These gatherings are open to all and are intended to embrace that attitude of prayer and practice of devotion that is universal to all religions.
Baha’i Blog’s Studio Sessions series just reached the massive milestone of having published 400 Studio Sessions!
For those of you unfamiliar with our Studio Sessions, it’s a musical initiative where we invite Baha’is and their friends in different parts of the world, to come into a studio to sing an original song based on the Baha’i Writings or letters of Shoghi Effendi or the Universal House of Justice (though we’ve made some rare exceptions to this rule such as this tribute to Mona Mahmudnizhad by Tom Francis where he sings a cover of Doug Cameron’s “Mona With the Children”). We then make these videos and audio recordings available on our YouTube Channel and SoundCloud page for everyone to listen to!
Studio Sessions started around five years ago and we were 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.”
Letter from the Universal House of Justice to all National Spiritual Assemblies, 12 December, 2011
We’ve recorded songs in 44 locations in 33 different languages, and we could not have done this without the help of so many wonderful friends! We encourage you to check out the Studio Sessions playlist, and in the meantime, we’ve listed one example from each of the 44 locations, followed by one example of each of the languages represented.
We’d love to hear about any of your favourite songs and how our Studio Sessions have touched your life, so please let us know in the Comments section at the bottom of this article.
Now on with the music!
Here’s one example from each of the 44 locations listed in alphabetical order based on where they were filmed and recorded:
01. Arequipa, Peru
02. Auckland, New Zealand
03. Belgrade, Serbia
04. Brisbane, Australia
05. Bristol, United Kingdom
06. Chicago, USA
07. Durban, South Africa
08. Essen, Germany
09. Frankfurt, Germany
10. Genoa, Italy
11. Gold Coast, Australia
12. Hamilton, New Zealand
13. Helsinki, Finland
14. Hluboka nad Vltavou, the Czech Republic
15. Johannesburg, South Africa
16. Key West, USA
17. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
18. Lisbon, Portugal
19. London, the United Kingdom
20. Los Angeles, USA
21. Madrid, Spain
22. Mahikeng, South Africa
23. Manzini, Eswatini
24. Melbourne, Australia
25. Nashville, USA
26. New York, USA
27. Paget, Bermuda
28. Paita, New Caledonia
29. Paris, France
30. Perth, Australia
31. Phoenix, USA
32. Port Vila, Vanuatu
33. Prince Edward Island, Canada
34. San Francisco, USA
35. Santiago, Chile
36. Seattle, USA
37. Stockholm, Sweden
38. Sydney, Australia
39. Tilburg, the Netherlands
40. Toowoomba, Australia
41. Toronto, Canada
42. Vancouver, Canada
43. Washington DC, USA
44. Willikies, Antigua and Barbuda
Now here are examples of the 31 languages featured on Baha’i Blog Studio Sessions:
01. Albanian
02. Arabic
03. Bislama
04. Chinese (Mandarin)
05. Dutch
06. English
07. Finnish
08. French
09. German
10. Greek
11. Hindi
12. Iban
13. Italian
14. Japanese
15. Mongolian
16. Persian
17. Portuguese
18. Romanian
19. Russian
20. Samoan
21. Serbian
22. Sotho
23. Spanish
24. Swahili
25. Swahili (Congolese)
26. Swati
27. Swedish
28. Urdu
29. Welsh
30. Xhosa
31. Zulu
We hope you’ve enjoyed the Baha’i Blog Studio Sessions series and that you’ve have found them useful as well!
Watch the entire Baha’i Blog’s Studio Sessions series here on our YouTube channel.
Thanks again to everyone for your support, and don’t forget to let us know how you’ve been using Studio Sessions in your own home or community and if you have any favourites in the Comments section below.
Naysan is passionate about using the arts and media to explore the teachings of the Baha’i Faith. Back in 2011, Naysan started up the Baha’i Blog project, channeling his experiences in both media and technology companies to help create a hub for Baha’i-inspired content online.
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They’re in my playlist and have used them in my devotionals. So uplifting songs. Wondering how from Singapore can add to the list though? :).
Jes (March 3, 2022 at 10:41 PM)