Humboldt Sufi Choir
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Words: Hazrat Inayat Khan
Words: “Toward the One, the Perfection of Love, Harmony and Beauty, the Only Being, United with All the Illuminated Souls, Who form the Embodiment of the Master, the Spirit of Guidance.”
This Universal Sufism invocation calls forth the Spirit of Guidance, inviting its presence to manifest in those gathered.
Text: Traditional Islamic
Melody: Allaudin Ottinger
Harmony: Shabda Kahn
Lyrics: “Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim”
Translation: “In the name of God, who is Mercy and Compassion”
This phrase is often spoken at the onset of any action, dedicating that action to God, whose inherent nature is mercy and compassion.
Text: Traditional Islamic
Composer: Allaudin Mathieu
Lyrics: “Allah Ho Akbar”
Translation: “God is Greater”
This holy phrase reminds us that God is greater than anything we can imagine; greater in beauty, in capacity to love, in strength, in dimension, in any attribute one can imagine.
Text: Traditional Latin
Arrangement: Taizé
Lyrics: “Magnificat, magnificat, magnificat anima mea Dominum.”
“Magnificat, magnificat, magnificat anima mea.”
Translation: “It magnifies, it magnifies, my soul magnifies the presence of God. ”
Source: Folk Tradition
Composer: The Holy Order of Mans
Lyrics: “Spirit I love you. O how I adore you! Lay my life before you…”
Sung to the Holy Spirit, this round reminds us to surrender to the One with love, reverence and humility.
Words: Isaiah 56:7
Composers: Parvati and Jaffar Baugh
Chorus: “My House shall be a House of Prayer for all people.”
Verses:
Hindu “Om Sri Ram, Jai Ram, Jai Jai Ram. Om Sri Ram, Jai Ram, Om”
Zoroastrian “Ahura Mazda, Ahura Mazda”
Buddhist “Namo Amida Butsu”
Jewish “Shema Yisrael Yahu’vah Elohaynu, Shema Yisrael Yahu’vah Echad”
Christian “God our Maker, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven”
Islamic “El Allah Hu, El Allah Hu”
This piece takes these holy phrases from the Hindu, Buddhist, Zoroastrian, Jewish, Christian and Islamic religions and joins them in harmony and beauty. It celebrates the essential nature of the Divine that permeates the depth of each of these traditions.
Words: Traditional Islamic
Composer: Allaudin Mathieu
Lyrics: “Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah
Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord”
The Arabic “Alhamdulillah” may be translated as “Praise God,” or “Praise the Lord.” This round cycles from the Arabic to the English. Compelled by the rhythm and the melody, it magically, precisely invokes the energy of this mantric holy phrase.
Words: Traditional Latin Prayer
Music: Taizé
Lyrics: Da Pacem Domine, Da Pacem Domine in Diebus Nostris”
Translation: “Give Peace, Lord….Give Peace now, in our time!” Somehow the choral beauty of this composition manages to take one to that very place toward which it aspires.
Mantra and Music Traditional Hindu
Soloist: Adrianne Werren
Lyrics: “Om namo Shivaya, Om namo Shivaya”
“Shivaya namaha, Shivaya namaho”
Taken from the Hindu culture, this Sanskrit solo invokes the presence and the adoration of Shiva, the limitless, unchanging, transcendent Hindu giver of wisdom, life and death.
Words: Traditional Islamic
Composer: Michael Harrison
Violin: Stefan Vaughan
Drum: Ananda Hazzard
This holy phrase is often spoken or sung as a protection practice in the Islamic world. The words can be translated “There is no power, majesty or might greater than that of God”. This haunting melody written by Michael Harrison evokes the feeling of a caravan traveling through the desert, perhaps at night, calling on that protection.
Primary Prayer and melody: Taizé
Counterpoint: Allaudin Ottinger Arrangement: Scott Sattler
Lyrics: O Lord hear my prayer, O Lord hear my prayer
When I call, answer me.
O Lord hear my prayer, O Lord hear my prayer
Come and listen to me.
Allaha, Allaha, Allaha, Allaha…
Ruh Allah, Ruh Allah…
Translation: Allaha is the word for God in Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke. Aramaic is the root language for both Arabic and Hebrew. Ruh Allah means ‘Breath of God’ and is one of the names for Jesus written in the Koran.
This piece focuses on the hours following the Last Supper. Jesus is aware of the inevitability of the upcoming events and retreats to the Mount of Olives to pray, repeatedly calling upon Allaha. God’s response to his beseeching prayer comes in the form of the angelic host, seated deeply in his interiority, reminding him that his true Being is the very breath of God. In this way his prayer is answered.
Lyrics: Jelaluddin Rumi
Composer: Allaudin Ottinger
This poem by Rumi, the 13th century Persian mystic poet, uses the allegory of the Beloved as Wine, reminding us to search out the true nature of life, always with the help of the Beloved. The chorus “La Illaha il’Allah” helps us to remember that there is no reality but the Divine presence, that all is God.
Lyrics:
Drink the wine down, tip the glass. Drink with the Beloved.
Take this breath like it’s your last. Drink with the Beloved.
We’re a caravan, you see, moving towards our destiny. You must find the eyes to see.
Drink with the Beloved.
Chorus:
La Illaha il’Allah, La Illaha il’Allah
La Illaha il’Allah, La Illaha il’Allah
Go to the East or to the West. Drink with the Beloved.
You can’t escape this birth and death. Drink with the Beloved.
Drink the cup of loving down. This is truly drink and drown. What is lost, it shall be found.
Drink with the Beloved.
Chorus
So listen to the inner call. Drink with the Beloved.
The tavern masters rise and fall. Drink with the Beloved.
Watch the drunkards reel and spin. Feel the Presence from within, toasting to the dearest Friend. Drink with the Beloved.
Chorus
Composer: Paula Markham
Arrangement: Scott Sattler
Many in the Islamic world use the Arabic phrase “La Illaha il’Allah” or the Persian phrase “La Ellaha el Allahu” to remind them that all is of God. This piece, written by Paula Markham, a teacher of Universal Sufism, allows us to hold the concentration in English, Spanish and Russian as well.
Lyrics:
There is nothing, nothing, nothing only God, only God.
There is nothing, nothing, nothing only God.
Remember, remember, remember.
Remember, remember, remember.
No hay nada, nada, nada sólo Dios, sólo Dios.
No hay nada, nada, nada sólo Dios.
Recuerde, recuerde, recuerde.
Recuerde, recuerde, recuerde.
Nichevo nyet, nichevo nyet, tol’ko Bog, tol’ko Bog.
Nichevo nyet, nichevo nyet, tol’ko Bog.
Zapomnyit’, zapomnyit’, zapomnyit’.
Zapomnyit’, zapomnyit’, zapomnyit’.
Composer: Michael Stillwater
Initially taken from a Sufi Dance, one of the hundreds of Dances of Universal Peace, this song reminds us to pursue the balanced heart that manifests both the yin and yang, the feminine and the masculine elements of life.
We have since learned that this piece was composed in 1985 by Michael Stillwater and can be found on his CD “Voices of the Heart: Choral Chants of Devotion.” https://innerharmony.com/store.php
Lyrics:
I am one with the heart of the mother,
I am one with the heart of Love.
I am one with the heart of the Father.
I am one with God.
Ave Maria (‘Hail Mary’ in Latin), Kyrie Eleison (‘God is Mercy’ in Greek)
Composer: Allaudin Mathieu
Sung first in Arabic, then in Latin, then in Hebrew and Sanskrit, this composition by Allaudin Mathieu calls upon all who hear it to let peace be with them and come through them, filling them with love, harmony and beauty.
Lyrics:
As-salaam alaikum Shanti,
Dona nobis pacem Shanti
Shalom Aleichem Shanti
Om Shanti Om Shanti Om
Translation:
As-salaam alaikum Peace be with you in Arabic
Dona nobis pacem Peace be with you in Latin
Shalom Aleichem Peace be with you in Hebrew
Om The divine sound filling the whole cosmos, in Sanskrit
Shanti Peace in Sanskrit