Ridvan, also known as the Most Great Festival, celebrates Baha’u’llah’s time in the garden of Ridvan on the outskirts of Baghdad in 1863 when He publicly declared His station as a Manifestation of God. The Ridvan Festival is 12 days long and is also the time of year when Baha’is elect their governing bodies.
In 2015, Elika Mahony lovingly released “Rejoice with Exceeding Gladness”, a free downloadable song dedicated to the Festival of Ridvan. Elika also generously shared the song in 6 different languages, as heard in this music video.
Over time, Elika has translated and recorded the song in more and more languages! The total now include: English, Swahili, German, Chinese, French, Italian, Spanish, Arabic, Japanese, Swedish, Portuguese, Russian, Mongolian, Hindi, Thai, Ukrainian and Malay! A playlist of all languages has been put together and published on Elika’s YouTube channel.
Some of the talented musicians involved this initiative include Elika Mahony, (English and Italian), Ali Youssefi (Spanish), Auntieclaire Rezin (Swahili), Tracy Chen (Chinese), Sonbol Taefi (Arabic), Eric Harper (Portuguese), Angela Owens (Japanese), Sofie Wensbo (Swedish), Varya Sanina-Garmroud (Russian), Uranbileg Gantumur and Misheel Ruhiya Sanchir (Mongolian), Kanda Khiangamorn (Thai), Vasanthi Shenoy (Hindi), Karina Kalter (Ukrainian) and Nishana Lynn Rajan (Malay).
Elika has also made an instrumental version of her song available so that you can sing it in any language. The songs can also be downloaded or streamed from Elika’s website.
Lyrics & Quote
Rejoice with exceeding gladness, O people of Baha, as ye call to remembrance the Day of supreme felicity…
Baha’u’llah
She has also made a video of the song solely in English which you can watch on her YouTube channel.
For more information about Elika, please check out her website: www.elikamahony.com
In her innermost heart, Sonjel is a stay-at-home parent and a bookworm with a maxed out library card but professionally she is a museologist with a background in English Literature. She currently lives on Prince Edward Island, an isle in the shape of a smile on the eastern Canadian coast. Sonjel is a writer who loves to listen to jazz when she's driving at night.
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