Singing Sanctuary

With Leo and Sundara

Accompanied by harmonium and guitar we’ll sing devotional songs in English. These original songs are based on prayers and sayings from spiritual traditions around the world. No prior experience is necessary. Arrive a little earlier if you like for a cup of tea and some time to connect before we begin. No need to book in advance.

About these songs

Sundara and I have been leading singing events together since we met in 2003 in the Findhorn community, an eclectic spiritual community in the north of Scotland. We started with the songs of Taize, an ecumenical Christian monastery in France. Although Findhorn is not a Christian community, these simple and easy-to-learn songs were very popular there because they expressed a universal spirituality that many people could relate to.

These songs gave us a taste for the beauty of singing together in a devotional spirit. Devotional singing isn’t a new thing, but it’s one of the many ancient-yet-essential things that we’ve lost in the modern world.

We also explored gospel songs and the Harmonic Temple songs of Nickomo Clarke, which take sacred phrases from many traditions and set them to four-part harmony. We kept learning new songs and sharing our favourites.

And then a few years ago, Sundara started singing bhajans, the devotional songs of India. She taught herself to play the harmonium and I joined her with the guitar, and we found that the music could support people to drop into a devotional way of singing together without feeling self-conscious. We’ve been singing those songs ever since, and have led many “Kirtan” evenings here at The Dragon Sanctuary.

But a niggle started to arise. What about songs in English? How could we write songs that were equally devotional but sung in our own language? We’d experienced that with the few Taize songs that we’d sing in English, and with gospel songs and some of the English-language Harmonic Temple songs too. Sometimes singing in your own language can make the experience even more powerful.

So Sundara wrote about half a dozen songs and we’ve found a few from other song-composers that we love, and we now have a small set, enough for an evening at least!

There’s a fine line to be walked with these songs. Singing in one’s own language can be potent, but it can also be fraught. No-one likes being told what to think or feel, and for some of us the legacy of church hymns can make us wary of this sort of singing. And some “new age” songs can be a bit “cringey” (as our teenage daughter would say).

The songs we’ve found are (we hope) devotional without being didactic, heart-felt without being hammy. Just like the best devotional songs, they help you get out of your mind and into your heart. Like the bhajans, we sing them with the harmonium and guitar. For this, our first evening, we’ll sing about six of these songs, over an hour and a half. We hope you will want to join us!