About the Program

A World of Song is a choral feast of music selected from thirteen countries.  While many languages and styles are represented, a unifying theme in all the music performed is a connection in some way to folk music.  The International Folk Music Council has defined folk music as "the product of a musical tradition that has been evolved through the process of oral transmission."  Therefore, folk music in written form occurs usually only after numerous generations have had the opportunity to pass on the story.  I would state further that folk music almost always has at its root a sense of community. Through that sense of community, as expressed in music, we can learn much about the culture and the beliefs of a people. 

From early songs and hymns sung by hearty and brave American pioneers in search of a better life; to Jewish campfire songs which express an intense love for the homeland; to Celtic mouth music that was developed to imitate instrumental sounds by a people too poor to own the actual instruments; to Japanese and Chinese folk songs that express exquisitely the beauty found in nature; and to Kenyan songs that combine African melodies, harmonies and rhythms in such a way that it is impossible to miss the joy in the music – A World of Song will remind us that folk music is truly the music of the people. Commercial popular music is usually created to take advantage of current trends and is largely motivated by profits. Folk music endures because of its simple authenticity and because it can draw upon emotions that transcend time.

In a world too often divided by discord and strife, our music can remind us that peace, love, happiness and security are goals to which all reasonable people subscribe. Our final selection of the evening began its journey around the world on a mountaintop on a summer evening in 1955, when 180 teenagers of many races and religions locked arms, formed a circle and sang this song of peace.  Let There Be Peace on Earth expresses a profound idea in a simple manner and just as it has traveled from heart to heart for nearly fifty years, we hope it will touch your heart tonight.

       - Michael O'Neal

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The Michael O'Neal Singers: P.O. Box 1008, Roswell, GA 30077
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