Photo courtesy of the Baha'i International Community
I love reading quotations from Baha’u’llah, Abdu’l-Baha, Shoghi Effendi, and the Universal House of Justice. I usually have one book from each of them or compilations that include all of them in my reading pile along with my prayer book. But it wasn’t always that way. Continue reading
The Baha’i World Centre has announced the release of three new short films, companion pieces to A Widening Embrace, an innovative documentary film commissioned by the Universal House of Justice about the community-building efforts of the Baha’i world, as seen through the eyes of local populations. The three films are titled Nurturing Younger Generation, Exploring the Empowerment of Junior Youth, and Communities Learning to Advance Together. Their total running time is approximately 32 minutes. Continue reading
I want to describe a way of worship that I am familiar with. Perhaps you will recognize it. Continue reading
Many of you by now have hopefully seen our series called “Studio Sessions”, where we invite Baha’is and their friends from around the world into a studio to film and record them singing a song based on the Baha’i Writings. We then make these videos and recordings available on our Baha’i Blog YouTube Channel and SoundCloud page for everyone to listen to and download for FREE. (If you haven’t heard of Studio Sessions yet, you can find out more about it from this article), or by reading on.
In a letter from the Universal House of Justice to all National Spiritual Assemblies dated 12 December, 2011, the House of Justice 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.
A couple of years ago, Baha’i Blog featured a great Baha’i-inspired musical initiative out of Finland called Refuge, and now one of the participants of that initiative, Mea Karvonen, has just released her very own debut album entitled A Nightingale’s Cry.
A Nightingale’s Cry is an instrumental album of piano pieces inspired by the Baha’i Faith, and the tracks comprise of both original pieces composed by Mea, and also ones inspired by songs composed by other Baha’i musicians such as Tom Price, Jean Rebstock Murday and others which have touched her in one way or another, like the piece called Grace & Favor, based on an Iranian Baha’i song she’s been singing since she was a child. Additionally, Mea has also included a download of the sheet music to these songs as well, which is always great!
I recently caught up with Mea to find out more about her music and her debut album: Continue reading
