Songs of Praise 50th Anniversary celebration

[natsumi]

awww i hope james didnt leave he's soooo adorable
and he has an amazing voice...well we'll see if we get any footages...and if hes not there...hmmm...

[TullyBascombe]

He also wasn't included in the album photo. It seems to me that the most common tim for Libera members to leave the choir is between the Spring tour and the Summer tour and I wonder if that doesn't reflect concerns about schooling. It's a shame to see a youngster with such a lively spirit leave Libera at such a young age.

[maartendas]

Just watched the episode in two parts on YT. FanInPlymouth thanks for uploading!
For me the highlights were Andrea Bocelli's Amazing Grace - that one really got me. And the hymn after that, To God be the Glory, because it took me back to the first time I visited St. Philip's, the Sunday after the Epsom concert, where we sang that as closing hymn (and I thought how cool it was to sing "Praise the Lord - Let the earth hear his voice / Praise the Lord - Let the people rejoice" together with the St. P's choir boys ) (even though it was an odd choice, considering it was still Lent )
In the end I'm not disappointed I stayed home, but it was fun to watch (some parts especially )

[natsumi]

when i watched the YT version of Song of Praise, i love how at the end, everyone goes "YEAH!!" and brings up their fist it'll be so cute if Libera did that during their concert

[sweetangel16]

Yeah, I also noticed that too . I agree with you, Natsumi. How we wish Libera would do that during their concert.

Charmaine

[natsumi]

YEAH!!! exactly!! lol it would show their funny side, but Libera is awesome anyways :DD

[symphonica7]

He is still with Libera! In fact, he has several solos/duets on the Christmas Album!!

Unfortunately that does not mean he is currently with Libera as Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas is a re-issue from PEACE. Corpus Christi Carol is another James/Ralph duet which was possibly recorded at the same time.

Mini-James was not on the USA tour in the summer nor the Songs of Praise show.

Yeah I fear the worst too. I am thrilled though to have another solo of him recorded. Since Epsom I rank him as one of the highest when it comes to Libera soloists. At least that's the memory I have of him.
Assuming he left Libera, I sure hope he continues to delight the world with his singing!

James is just a precious kid... He portrays and embodies pure innocence.....naivety...

[maartendas]

So, what's Samir's full name? When was he in Libera? I don't remember having heard of him before

(that's a random question for my 1100th post )

[Lauren]

So, what's Samir's full name? When was he in Libera? I don't remember having heard of him before

(that's a random question for my 1100th post )

Congratulations on your 1100th post!

Samir (Sam) Abouelfaid was born September 3, 1992 so he's only 19. Not sure when he started in Libera, but he's listed as singing on the 2005 Visions album, and he's in the pictures from the Korea/Japan April 2005 tour and Japan Oct. 2005 tour.

Inna has a nice site called Libera's World with pictures of the 2005 choir here -
http://liberasworld.blogspot.com/p/libe ... 05_26.html He's the first listed.

His twitter account says he works in radio with a link here - http://about.me/samab Sounds like he's doing very well for only 19!

[fan_de_LoK]

The off-topic discussion about voices ranges in choirs have been splitted and it is now locate here in the "Chat" section

[tom413]

On which photo Lauren ?

Edit : Ok, seen , this one :


Errr... I don't know

Thanks to the Philippine organizers, we can now safely conclude that this
mystery chorister behind Eoghan is Ciaran Bradbury-Hickey.

[JimmyRiddle]

Major revamp for Songs of Praise http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30070899

Hopefully it will have no impact on Libera's continued involvement with the program.

[Yorkie]

Major revamp for Songs of Praise http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30070899

Hopefully it will have no impact on Libera's continued involvement with the program.

I'm afraid that it will change the programme beyond recognition and will almost certainly doom it to being decommissioned. All in the sake of political correctness. Yet another victory for the BBC. I can't see much of a role for Libera in the new format.

The Telegraph

[TullyBascombe]

Didn't Songs of Praise start out as a multi-denominational show? I seem to recall that its first episode featured a Baptist church in Wales. OTOH one of the good things about using an Anglican format is that it encompasses both Protestant and Roman Catholic traditions.

[LuxVenit]

Meh, that's too bad. I don't know if what TullyBascombe said is true, about how it may have originally started out as a multidenominational format, but I hope it keeps its focus on the more traditional ones anyway. No offense to anyone here, this is my personal opinion and I have my reasons for it, but I cringed when I read that article and saw that one of the new format's episodes would feature a Pentecostal church. Again, nothing personal against anyone who here who might attend a Pentecostal-type church, but I don't really see much musical value in the types of services here. (Please correct me if I'm wrong).

I also find this quote interesting: "We want to appeal to a different Christian audience, who may not necessarily have seen themselves every week on Songs of Praise in the past. Sometimes you have to find a way of reaching out to that audience to say, 'this really is for you.'" Personally, I'm the opposite. For example, I'm fascinated by Catholic masses. I'm not Catholic, but I could probably watch hours of programming (if we had a program similar to SoP here) and still want more.

I dunno, maybe I'm weird? Or maybe I'm missing something.