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[Back to index of December 2008 articles] Bifrost Arts Aims to Bring Back Singing By Virginia D. Myers “There was a time we used to sing together after church,” says Isaac Wardell. Everyone sang. “Not even just religious people. People in bars. People who want to have a good time on a Saturday night.” So on a recent Thursday night, Wardell gathered a couple of dozen people in the transept of Ascension and St. Agnes in downtown Washington, and they sang, together, hymns Wardell and his group, Bifrost Arts, have created from old tunes and lyrics, set with a fresh, “retraditioned” voice. The evening, billed as a “Hymnsing,” wove music and mass together, and included an intimate Eucharist service. Listening to Wardell’s clear, open voice resting on the traditional instrumentals and harmonies of three fellow musicians – playing stand-up bass, banjo, guitar and vibraphone – is like being transported to Old England, with its traditional tunes and sweet, clear melodies. Even a classic hymn like Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing takes on a Celtic lilt, and the Kyrie tune Wardell wrote is haunting. It’s not because Wardell hails from the British Isles; he is from Tennessee, through he’s lived in San Francisco, Switzerland, Texas and most recently New York City. Currently enrolled in a master’s program in sacred music studies at the University of Wales, Wardell’s musical influences are wildly disparate: high liturgical German baroque, gospel and southern roots. His musical partner, Mason Neely, who helps write some of the hymns, spends half his time in London, and brings an orchestral chamber-pop element to the group. Currently, both men are touring the U.S. with Bifrost. After growing up evangelical, with parents he calls “part of the Jesus freak hippie movement,” Wardell, 29, discovered baroque music as a student at Covenant College. “I really had things figured out,” he says, remembering how he was convinced he’d found the most legitimate way to make music for the church. Then he got involved with an African American congregation. “I was the only white guy in the band where we were singing southern gospel music,” he remembers. “I thought now this is the real thing. This is what’s really authentic.” Next he discovered sacred harp singing in Appalachia and was similarly inspired. “It was not a matter of there being one specific musical tradition that God favors more than another,” he says. “What I was liking about each of these traditions. . . was that everyone sang together.” Wardell created Bifrost Arts after a small event he’d organized in New York City presenting and sharing sacred music in a secular venue. There was so much talent and interest at the event, that he and his friend the Rev. Joseph Emery Pensak were inspired to create Bifrost as a non-denominational, non-profit entity to encourage similar sessions. Wardell is artistic director; Pensak is executive director, and supports the group from his position as campus minister at Reformed University Ministries in Connecticut. They named their endeavor for the Norse legend, a bridge (called Bifrost) that connects heaven and earth. Wardell hopes to bridge the gaps between like-minded people beginning to make new sacred music in small groups. Rather than rely on an organ, or, at the other end of the spectrum, a rock-n-roll band, Bifrost offers a low-tech, accessible alternative that he hopes will appeal especially to young adults in their 20s and 30s. The result feels a bit like the old folk masses from the 1960s and ’70s, but the music is more complex, with more orchestral elements. As Bifrost tours the country, the four touring members are usually joined by 15 or 20 musicians from the host church, making the event more community-oriented. Bifrost itself changes personnel constantly – it is not a band, but a concept through which musicians flow in and out. Some 200 people have contributed in various ways; a CD will be available in March (and is already sold at Hymnsings), and a songbook allows people to carry the music with them after Bifrost has moved on. More than anything else we want to give the church the resources and the tools, we want to start a dialogue about looking at our music as a way to make something beautiful for our own hearts and for the hearts of the lost, says Wardell.
[Back to index of December 2008 articles]
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