Cyber Adventskalendar-Day Eight

Hello Friends,

I heard a fascinating thing on NPR yesterday.  John Schaefer hosts the show Sound Check and each day he has a guest add their top 3 Christmas songs to the playlist.  It's wonderful.  So in the spirit of the Christmas playlist here are 3 of my picks.  (Of course I can't narrow it down to just three so this may be an ongoing series.  Sure, less is more but more is always more too!). 

My all-time favorite piece is the Swedish piece Koppången by Per-Erik Moraeus and my favorite version is sung by the fabulous Anna Sophie Von Otter on her amazing album Home for Christmas .  She is fantastic and I love her rendition of Koppången-both in English and Swedish on the record.  But since it can't be found on youtube I think this is the next best version.  I wanted to sing this song at First Songs of the Season last year and let me tell you it is near impossible to find the sheet music in the USA!  I was finally able to get my hands on a lead sheet from the Minister of Music at a Swedish church here in NYC.  Whew!  Now I have multiple copies and will take it with me to the grave it's that great.  Almost makes me want to learn Swedish!

Another favorite Christmas record is Sting's If On A Winter's Night.  More of my top picks will be from this album but for today Soul Cake  is at the top of the list.  I love the tune dovetailing with God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.  Very cool.  A soul cake is a small, round cake traditionally made on All Saints Day to celebrate the dead.  The cakes, often referred to as souls, were given out to soulers (children and the poor) as they went door to door on Halloween saying prayers and singing songs.  When a cake was eaten it would represent a soul being freed from purgatory.  The cakes were spiced, sometimes filled with dried fruits and marked with a sign of the cross on the top.  (I'm already looking for a recipe!)  It's kind of morbid and fascinating at the same time.  The folk tune and lyrics was written down in the late 1800's and passed down.  Since it was a folk tune passed down in the aural tradition who knows who originally wrote it but it's a gem.  It really isn't a Christmas piece but it's great none-the-less and since it's paired with God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and talks about sharing with the poor then I say pass go and collect $200.

The Grinch Song just slays me and makes me smile every single time.  The text is amazing.  Dr. Seuss wrote the words and the tune composed by Albert Hague.  Boris Karloff was the voice of The Grinch in the movie but he couldn't sing so Thurl Ravenscroft sang the version that we know and love.  Unfortunately, he was left out of the credits (oopsie).

How about you friends?  What are your favorite Christmas tunes?

Cheers & Happy Singing!