first cd launched

For the few dozen believers in this North Africa nation, a team of four installed the first known professional-quality studio and probably recorded the first known Christian CD. The HSI team partnered with local believers and music missionaries. For security, names have been changed and actual locations have been eliminated.

studios for indigenous worship

Promoting indigenous worship in the emerging congregations of the 10/40 Window areas has been the singular focus of the AD2000 Movement Worship and Arts Network from its inception in 1996. Early in its brief history Track leaders identified the potential of recording studios as one of the means to capture local music and encourage ethnic worship. As interest in the "studios for indigenous worship" grew, Track leaders learned of needs and opportunities in other parts of the 10/40 Window, and discovered how newer, inexpensive equipment could expand way beyond the limitations of the four-track minidisk units.

esther

A remarkable new chapter in the studios project began with Esther (not her real name). An accomplished musician, Esther had been in Africa for several years, playing in a national symphony orchestra and then in a professional local ethnic orchestra. Not only had she become bilingual, mastering the Arabic language, but bi-musical, learning indigenous instruments while playing in the ensembles. Along with her strings background, Esther was also a seasoned classical pianist.

While offering her talents to the Lord playing professionally as the only Western and non-Muslim in these orchestras, Esther also desired to offer her music skills to encourage God's people, and she led worship with a guitar or keyboard at gatherings of missionaries or with the few local believers. God began to stir Esther with the desire to see the few national believers grow in their worship using their own music. But as no known composer or musicians had come to Christ yet in her area of Africa the only available tunes were local Arabic translations of songs imported from the English-speaking world.

Little did Esther realize how strategic her role would be to help further indigenous worship. Drawing on her years honing her musicianship, as well as her years playing in professional Arabic ensembles, Esther had developed an "ear" for the local sounds, the micro-tuned local scales, and developed an appreciation and fondness for non-Western African music.

Eventually Esther met a young pastor who had started writing Arabic lyrics. She encouraged him to keep writing with the view toward starting ethnic worship songs for the few small house churches in the country. Not knowing any Christian local musician or composers to collaborate with, Esther took on the role of setting the pastor's lyrics to African-sounding melodies. What emerged were authentic local tunes that the believers eagerly learned and incorporated into their worship.

In mid-1999, Esther shared the desire some of her Arabic musician friends had to record their worship songs. There was only one problem. Doing so would place them in great danger to record in a local commercial studio. The only alternative was travelling huge distances to record in other countries. A few weeks later, the decision was made to pursue an African studio.

digital audio workstation (daw)

Three Christian recording engineers with a heart for missions heard about this project and offered to join the team. Two of them had gained considerable experience producing CDs with the Roland VS digital recorders and the team decided to install a Roland VS16-track system. One of the three, who was a pilot, decided to get preliminary field experience and flew cheaply to Central Asia to visit two of the pilot studios and do some further training of the musicians.

pre-arrival requirements

A list of pre-arrival needs went to Esther and her leaders in Africa. First on the list was the need for a musician that would get initial training on the Roland system and how to use the other accessories coming for the studio. God provided a talented worship musician and computer whiz who had just joined the church planting team in the capital city. Next, a demo tape was requested to orient the engineers in the types of songs that would be recorded, along with a rough English translation of the songs. Esther mobilized seasoned missionaries who knew local music styles, as well as some Arabic singers and a few weeks later the demo tape arrived. She went the extra mile and sent her music sketches and studio computer notations of the tunes were made for printing in the forthcoming CD liner notes. Esther also sent suggestions for the arrangements and orchestrations and with that the engineers studied microphone placement and related details. The final request was for a place to record, a room that needed "blanket" coverage, top to bottom to block out street noise. The local vocalists and instrumentalists practiced earnestly in preparation for the upcoming recording.

arrival

Shortly before departure, a replica of the studio was assembled and all equipment tested. Everything then was tightly packed into three pieces to check and one carry-on. When the team arrived at the airport, the delays and battles to get to Africa began. Storms in Paris, difficulties getting "stand-by" seats, missed connection in Paris, lost luggage en route, let the four know this was not vacation time. When they finally got to their destination, they found Esther was ill. Within a short time, all of the luggage arrived and Esther began to recover. The team sensed people were praying.

They found later that people's prayers most likely got them through customs without hassle. Much concern and prayer went up concerning getting everything into the country. At the customs counters a friendly agent asked about the content of one luggage item. When he heard it was microphone stands and that the four were musicians he waved them through. The four moved very quickly toward the exit quite startled that everything got through in just seconds.

The first evening local missionaries and Christian workers came together for a dedication service of the studio equipment, and Esther led in a very moving time of worship and intercession.

The engineers set up the recording base temporarily in a vacant office located in an 80-year-old mission school building. Following directions carefully, the local leader had covered every inch of the room, wall-to-wall, floor to ceiling with multicoloured blankets. The room looked like a gigantic patchwork quilt. The team found out later that several believers endured cold nights, donating all their blankets to deaden the noisy room for the recording.

recording begins

Esther started laying down instrumental tracks. She moved easily from lute to cello, guitar to keyboard, as well as some percussion. She sang scratch vocals to guide the instrumentalists to record the remaining instrumental parts. Then the three local singers added the mostly unison and solo vocals. One of the three was the young pastor who had written the lyrics. Esther continued to work day and night as music director, guiding the recording of the instrumental and vocal parts.

Two of the engineers, also worked tirelessly at the controls of the Roland DAW. The third engineer had his video camera along to document the event and capture interviews of the singers. All three singers had remarkable stories of their conversion and are the only believers in their all-Muslim families. "All-night shifts" were done to do the initial mixes. The Ensoniq workstation keyboard that came as part of the studio had preset alternate tunings including four microtonal Arabic scales for future local recordings. We also prepared final revisions of the computerized notations of the songs for printing.

Within a week all the tracks were recorded and post-production mixing began in earnest. When not mixing, the engineers did a mini crash course for several people showing the features of the Roland DAW and guided the team through a simple two-track recording. One engineer stayed back a few more days working with Esther to do final mixes and address other production concerns.

plans for cd #2

While walking the streets of the capital city from time to time the team heard the sounds of modern "world beat" music straining the small speakers strung up in tiny shops. The music blended Arabic instruments with intricate rhythms wedded to the relentless western pop/rock drumbeat. An idea emerged to plan CD number two, and aim for the youth listener, emulating the contemporary sounds of the radio. While visiting a music store and testing an oriental keyboard, complete with amazing sounds synthesizing local instruments, as well as those very pop Arabic rhythms in the auto accompaniment banks of the keyboard, the burden and excitement for volume two increased. With careful lyrics and themes, perhaps the newly installed studio could plough new ground linking eternal truths to the blended radio sounds and melodies. We prayed that God would anoint Esther and the young Arab pastor to collaborate again for CD number two. The Arabic believers and missionaries expressed their joy to be part of this effort, participating in the first worship CD in that land, the first fruits of the initial professional studio in that part of Africa.