Sparks from the Fire

9/26/09

If you were to ask, I’d say that my most favorite singer at the moment on WatchfireMuic.com would be Inspirational singer and Broadway actor, Terron Brooks.

I’ve been putting together a database of all the music of the WFM catalog that has required me to listen to every song from every artist we have.  This is a chore that I first met with some trepidation, but has actually resulted in a most wonderful listening experience over the past couple of weeks.  Like the by-line says, “We got great music!”

I’m very proud of what we’ve been able to put together these last few years and impassioned by the experience to find more of the great talent that’s out there.

Terron Brooks

One of our major finds is definitely the sweet, musical sound of Terron Brooks.  In the course of my job, it’s always, “Oh good, I get to listen to Terron.”

One of my jobs here at Watchfire is to guide you to the right stuff, so please pay attention because I’m now doing just that.  Baby, this man can sing.  And when the music pours out of his throat and inner being, you’ve just got to listen to the effortless sound.

It’s so clear that Terron is an actor.  He seems to always know what he’s singing about and what he is doing.  I believe that is what makes him so appealing – besides his innate talent and musicality.

I went to his site the other day and found an interesting page on it where he answers some fan’s questions.  I thought I might reprint a few to share with you some insights into this most charming and sincere young man.

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A minister I knew once questioned the depth or “the soul” of a song I wrote because it was “ a song of largely just Hallelujahs”.  Today I’d like to take a moment on this issue and look at the word “Hallelujah” in some depth.

Its etymology is from the Hebrew and means “Praise Jah” or “Praise God”.  Interestingly enough, it is a word that circumnavigates the globe and spans most languages.  When translated, the word “Hallelujah” (or sometimes “Alleluia”) remains the same: In Spanish it’s “Aleluya”, in Finnish and German it’s “Haleluja”, in French it’s “Alleluia”, in Estonian it’s “Haleluuja”, in Icelandic it’s Halleluja, in Slovak it’s “Aleluia” and on and on like that.  So it’s a word whose four syllables mean the same thing to most of mankind.  Say the word almost anywhere in Africa and they know how you feel.  Very few words translate that way.  Consider even the word “God”.  Even this word changes dramatically in its pronunciation and spelling in translation.  “Hallelujah” is truly universal.

I know of no other word in language or song that carries such joy, such celebration, such depth of spirit and soul.  With its four open vowels, it is a gorgeous utterance to sing and when sung alone or surrounded by itself and repeated over and over it is the epitome word of celebration in human language.  I find that when I’m writing a sacred song and I am most filled with the spirit of God, these are the words that spill out of me over and over as the melodies pour through me from God.  Over and over again, “Hallelujah”.  It happens so often that I have to rewrite the lyrics into other words, otherwise most of my songs would sing nothing but “Hallelujahs”.

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For five years my wife and I had a house at 9000 feet in the mountains of Colorado.  With relatively few neighbors, (I say relatively few because here in NYC we have 10 million) we lived on 5 unmolested acres of wooded land in a mountain paradise, in a house of picture windows, each one framing a gorgeous shot of the mountains that surrounded us.  Bear, elk, fox, deer and other various animal folk visited our yard every morning.  We had bear claw scratches on our wooden deck and outer door frames.  Fun for a couple of New Yorkers who visited regularly.

I had a second recording studio there that also looked out on nature and all its glories and my wife, Julia, ringed the house with bird feeders so that we were a regular mall for birds.  Instead of waking up in the morning to buses and sirens and NYC, we woke to the songs of birds.  And yes, we became bird watchers.

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