Christmas deserves to be celebrated with song

By D.S. Martin and ChristianWeek | December 1, 2007

Even for those who don't know Christmas like Christians know Christmas, it's the one time of year celebrated with its own songs.

We're the ones with the most reason to celebrate and make music. Perhaps as we do so we'll find people a little more receptive to what we have to say. Here are a couple of new Canadian Christmas CDs worth checking out.

On Heavenly Night, Kelita's new Christmas album, the title track is a beautiful ballad she wrote 15 years ago. It is simply arranged with Kelita's smooth, flawless voice over a chiming piano.

"Pray for the babies where soldiers fight / That they might know peace for just one night," she sings.

In her soulful romp through Jesse Winchester's "Let's Make A Baby King," Kelita shows she understands the gospel blues of such masters as Mavis Staples and Shirley Caesar from the inside out. The B.B. King-inspired guitar licks suit the song well, too.

Sometimes she tries to turn familiar carols into funky blues or jazz pieces, but I feel this conflicts with the spirit of the songs. Kelita's carols are best when she stays closest to their traditional structure as she does in "O Little Town Of Bethlehem" and "Silent Night."
Different arrangements of familiar pieces can work well. I love the Sam Phillips minor key arrangement of "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear," for example, which Bruce Cockburn used for his Christmas CD. But that's because it augments the mood of the carol.

Even though eight of the 13 songs Kelita included on Heavenly Night are familiar, I prefer the contemporary songs. They have a natural freshness about them, without watering down the message of Christmas.

Jacob Moon's new seasonal CD is a gem. The Hamilton folk-singer knows who he is, and gives us a finely-textured Christmas album, strong on keyboards and guitar. This Christmas includes eight traditional carols, a couple of which are not well known. He happens to have selected a different set of carols from Kelita's.

Jacob Moon's take on carols is quite straight-forward. His rendering of "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear" is close to how one might expect to hear it. There are interesting embellishments throughout, but he trusts the music to carry us through the CD.

It seems that each song is interpreted organically on its own terms rather than having a style thrust upon it. A rhythm and blues groove dances through "Rise Up Shepherd And Follow" and "Go Tell It On The Mountain," but, of course, both of these pieces were originally spirituals.

There are two songs where a string section dominates—"I Saw Three Ships" and "In The Bleak Midwinter"—and yet they don't veer from the album's overall tone.

"Go Tell It On The Mountain" also features strings along with Mike Janzen's jazzy piano.

"O Come, O Come Emmanuel" builds slowly with strength and depth. Tony Lind's tasteful electric guitar makes it seem as if we're only now discovering how the carol should sound.

The fine musicianship, rich harmonies and artful arrangements make This Christmas shine. Although it is the carols on This Christmas that hold the album together, the title track, co-written with Glen Soderholm, is also a delight: "This is the timeless mystery / That will not fade from our memory / That you are God with us, Emmanuel."

He doesn't pretend our lives are all tinsel and lights though, as he continues: "In our lives of sorrow and regret / And every battle on the road ahead / Still you have not left us alone / This Christmas."

Neither CD falls into the trap of catering to a mainstream audience by including shallow seasonal ditties. Both Kelita and Jacob Moon show their readiness to explain to any Charlie Brown who wants to know, what Christmas is all about.