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Featured in: Highlighting Australia
As a proudly Australian initiative, we’re excited to showcase a collection of Australian stories, music, tributes and more.
It’s always a joy to hear about the fruits of Baha’i Blog’s Studio Sessions so we were especially delighted to learn how participating in this initiative dovetailed into recording an EP! Jonathon Bryan, whose song “Generous and Able” has already been released, went on to record an EP with that same name and we’re thrilled to chat with him about it!
Can you please tell us a little bit about yourself?
Hello! My name is Jonathon, and I live in Perth, Australia, having moved over here a few years ago from Tasmania where I grew up. My parents are both musicians, so music was all around me when I was younger–whether it was us kids tagging along to their gigs from time to time, or dad teaching guitar students in the lounge room after school. One of my earliest memories was being held by my mum while she was singing in a multicultural choir. My main (and most favourite!) instrument is the flute.
Could you tell us a little bit about your album Generous and Able?
Generous and Able is a collection of Baha’i Writings put to music. Most of the songs are for guitar and voice, and I’ve enjoyed having the opportunity to include lots of different accompanying instruments in building up the songs during the recording and production process, as well as featuring other vocalists on some of the tracks. I’m hoping that a lot of the songs lend themselves to being played and sung by others together in devotional settings.
What inspired you to create it?
I performed two songs for Bahai Blog’s Studio Sessions a year or so ago, and thought: wouldn’t it be great to have recorded versions to accompany the live ones when they get released, perhaps with extra parts and harmonies? This idea prompted me to try and compose some more songs to turn into an EP… and I started coming up with a bunch of ideas which turned into songs and momentum carried me all the way to an album! It was a super fruitful few months.
What’s something you’ve learned in recording the album?
During the composition process, having the Baha’i Writings as the starting point of the songs, and using the words as the constraint to help guide the structure, melody and rhythm of the song, proved to be a really helpful technique.
I recorded, mixed and produced the album myself, so I learnt a whole bunch about all of the technical aspects of that process (and am grateful to those who helped me with it)! Successfully completing the project has taught me that even though it’s really daunting and seems overwhelming at the start, and even when I get discouraged I’ve just got to take a break and come back to it later and keep pushing through and I’ll get there.
What do you hope listeners will take away with them?
I think the overall tone of the album is a reflective, uplifting and joyful one. So I hope that listeners take some of that spirit away with them. I’m a big believer in the power of music as a medium to express things on a deeper, more fundamental level than with words alone, especially for spiritual themes, and I feel blessed to be a part of that process.
Thank you so much, Jonathon, for taking the time to tell us about your album!
You can listen to Generous and Able on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
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Horizons is an online magazine of news, stories and reflections from around individuals, communities
and Baha’i institutions around Australia
Baha’i beliefs address essential spiritual themes for humanity’s collective and individual advancement. Learn more about these and more.
We recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their cultures; and to elders both past and present.
The views expressed in our content reflect individual perspectives and do not represent authoritative views of the Baha’i Faith.
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