Skip to content
The Catholic Leader
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
The Catholic Leader
No Result
View All Result
Home Culture Arts & Entertainment

New melodies, ancient psalms at the heart of a new Church music project

byMark Bowling
19 October 2021
Reading Time: 5 mins read
AA
New melodies, ancient psalms at the heart of a new Church music project

Prayerful music: Jae Lah-Youn (left) from Brisbane’s Darra Parish performs alongside Emma Fradd at The Psalm Project launch.

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

YOUNG Catholic songwriters in Brisbane have blended sweet new melodies with ancient psalms to produce an album that just might shoot to the top of your driving playlist or prove popular at home or at prayer.

The Psalms Project is the work of Church agency Evangelisation Brisbane, that invited young songwriters to develop melodies to ten psalms and then produced these psalms with a full band with the help of a studio on the Sunshine Coast.

The result is a contemporary album, launched during an evening of prayer on the lawn outside St Patrick’s Church, Fortitude Valley on October 16.

The Psalm Project launch: A night of prayer and music.

With mid-tempo, reflective tracks, an up-tempo U2 guitar-styled number, even a chant – it’s an interesting collection that might challenge some traditionalists as an unfamiliar, even unwanted take on singing the psalms.

Others will find The Psalm Project accessible, uplifting and worth sharing.

Evangelisation Brisbane’s director Deacon Peter Pellicaan says the test for Church music is whether “it is authentic in its praise”.

“… the tradition of our Church, is that through the two thousand years there have been new songs written all the time, and new melodies to these same psalms,” Deacon Pellicaan told the Catholic Influencers podcast.

“Music has been the heart of the Church. The role of music in a Catholic context is to reveal the mystery of God and help people feel and experience the wonder of God’s presence in a way that music can do that no other art form can do.”

New project: Evangelisation Brisbane’s Deacon Peter Pellicaan performs at The Psalm Project launch.

The Psalm Project brings together a new collective of songwriters into the Church space under the mentorship of Emma Fradd, 31, who has been writing music since high school, with her music having taken her around the world.

Now working for Evangelisation Brisbane, she reached out to songwriters across the Brisbane Archdiocese.

Related Stories

Christine holds love of music and Church in perfect harmony

Where do we go when things get difficult?

Grow in love with Jesus with three-minute daily reflections this Lent

“The process was they came around to my house and I recorded the vocals and guitar or vocals and piano… and after that I sent it to Peter (Pellicaan) who is a very gifted musician and added a lot of other instruments – percussion, bass… after that we went and worked with a producer and produced together the finalised songs,” Ms Fradd told Catholic Influencers.

On song: Evangelisation Brisbane’s Deacon Peter Pellicaan speaks at The Psalm Project launch outside St Patrick’s Church in Fortitude Valley.

For young songwriter Georgina Devenish-Meares from Jubilee Parish, composing the melody for Psalm 42 (41) – ‘My Soul Longs For You’ (track #1) turned out to be a source of inspiration.


“The words of this psalm seem to be a necessary and constant prayer for me,” she said.

“Like a deer panting after water, there is a yearning to be closer to God and struggle to press on in joy when His presence feels far. Through it all, eyes to Him.”

For Maddie Luciani from the Emmanuel Community, writing the melody for Psalm 24 (23) – ‘To See Your Face’ (track #5) reminded her to seek God’s presence in all things and in all seasons.


“This is the spiritual journey we go on each and every day, searching for the one our souls long for,” she said.

“Through trials or joy, we are reminded in every season of life that we are not alone.

“Respond to the tug of your heart in each season, knowing God is with you as you pray in confidence, ‘Lord, this is the people who long to see your face’.”

Psalms: Jason Riosario from Hendra Hamilton Northgate Parish performs alongside Emma Fradd at The Psalm Project launch.

The Psalm Project is the first in a new venture called Encounter Catholic Music that Emma Fradd hopes will encourage songwriters in the Church and inspire a rethink about how music is used as a part of worship.

“We always need fresh music and fresh ideas and my hope is that this project will inspire others to contribute,” she told Christian community radio station 96five in Brisbane.

“I don’t want young people to feel shut out (of the worship space) – it does sound a bit cliched but it does happen and I want to see young songwriters stepping up.

“It’s our hope that all music within the Church can be beautiful; when someone walks into a church, imagine if the first thing they said was that the music helped them to pray and took them on a journey beyond themselves.”

‘The Psalms Project’ is available to stream on Spotify and Apple Music or can be purchased as a CD by visiting www.encountercatholicmusic.com

ShareTweet
Previous Post

Chinese bishop who braved Cultural Revolution dies at 99

Next Post

Helen and helpers lead little ones to God’s way

Mark Bowling

Mark is the joint winner of the Australian Variety Club 2000 Heart Award for his radio news reporting in East Timor, and has also won a Walkley award, Australia’s most-respected journalism award. Mark is the author of ‘Running Amok’ that chronicles his time as a foreign correspondent juggling news deadlines and the demands of being a husband and father. Mark is married with four children.

Related Posts

Christine holds love of music and Church in perfect harmony
QLD

Christine holds love of music and Church in perfect harmony

2 April 2022
Where do we go when things get difficult?
Faith

Where do we go when things get difficult?

8 March 2022
Grow in love with Jesus with three-minute daily reflections this Lent
QLD

Grow in love with Jesus with three-minute daily reflections this Lent

11 February 2022
Next Post
Counting blessings: “I’d always say, as parents and as a community, we plant seeds that will one day grow.”

Helen and helpers lead little ones to God's way

Amidst kidnappings and poverty, a Vatican cry for help for Haiti

Amidst kidnappings and poverty, a Vatican cry for help for Haiti

STEM students showcase their MAD solutions for social impact

STEM students showcase their MAD solutions for social impact

Popular News

  • Archbishop calls for prayers in “troubled times”

    Archbishop calls for prayers in “troubled times”

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • US bishops applaud San Francisco prelates pastoral response to Pelosi’s decades of abortion advocacy

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • 15 killed in Texas school shooting

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • From a humble start Albanese is sworn in as new prime minister

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Nuncio take in the sights of Queensland’s far north

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Search our job finder
No Result
View All Result

Latest News

Nuncio take in the sights of Queensland’s far north
News

Nuncio take in the sights of Queensland’s far north

by Staff writers
25 May 2022
0

Pope Francis’ delegate to Australia has found time for sightseeing during a busy trip to Far North...

Hong Kong

Cardinal Joseph Zen appears in court in Hong Kong on day of prayer for China

25 May 2022
15 killed in Texas school shooting

15 killed in Texas school shooting

25 May 2022
Archbishop calls for prayers in “troubled times”

Archbishop calls for prayers in “troubled times”

24 May 2022
Myanmar military burns houses, destroys a village

US bishops applaud San Francisco prelates pastoral response to Pelosi’s decades of abortion advocacy

24 May 2022

Never miss a story. Sign up to the Weekly Round-Up
eNewsletter now to receive headlines directly in your email.

Sign up to eNews
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Jobs
  • Subscribe

The Catholic Leader is an Australian award-winning Catholic newspaper that has been published by the Archdiocese of Brisbane since 1929. Our journalism seeks to provide a full, accurate and balanced Catholic perspective of local, national and international news while upholding the dignity of the human person.

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader
Accessibility Information | Privacy Policy | Archdiocese of Brisbane

The Catholic Leader acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of this country and especially acknowledge the traditional owners on whose lands we live and work throughout the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyChoose another Subscription
    Continue Shopping