SOUNDS SACRED
(BETA SP, 53min., 2001)

Director/ Producer: Barbara Rick
Executive Producer: Pia Lindstršm


The Benedictine Nuns at the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, Connecticut. The cloistered order chants in Latin, eight times a day. We obtained rare access to their rituals, and have some magnificent sweeping shots of the divine office, as the chants are called. Among those who speak about the effects of the chant on body and soul: Mother Dolores Hart (former actress and co-star of Elvis Presley) and Mother Margaret Georgina Patton (granddaughter of General George Patton).

Native American and native New Yorker, Franc Menusan.
Menusan tells of the lore around sound and God's connection through nature against an urban backdrop. He tells of memorable sacred moments connected with the power of sound. "I've been in many situations where we've begun a song and suddenly from behind a mountain will come seven eagles and they'll fly beautifully around where we are all singing and then they'll just go back over the mountain and disappear. And the next day we start singing, and they'll come back." Franc is most poignant describing himself as an instrument: "My body's being utilized to play, but something else, much bigger, a much better musician than I is doing the music. I'm being played. Just like I'm playing the flute, someone's playing me." This theme of human beings as instruments is echoed throughout the program, by all faiths and cultures.

The Glide Memorial Methodist Church Choir in San Francisco sings to an eclectic congregation, which includes many homeless people and gays and lesbians. Some choir members are moved to tears during this performance. Interviews with them after the service are crackling with energy and enthusiasm.

Female Jewish cantor, Gerri Zeller from New Jersey, sings the sacred 'Avinu Melkeinu' and a heartbreaking lullaby by candlelight.

Gongmaster Don Conreaux, from Greenwich Village, New York gives viewers a 'gong bath.' Don plays bells, bowls, tiny cymbals, the conch shell, and the gong.

Soga Gakkai is a Japanese American Buddhist sect, which chants repeatedly the Lotus Sutra text. These scenes are particularly arresting because of the group's intensity and the complexity of their chants in unison.

Also included in the program are the following performances from the World Sacred Music Festival in Fez, Morocco:

Begum Parveen Sultana and Ustad Dilshad, Indian Raga Singers performing outdoors at the Ba'tha Museum in Fez.

Al Malhoun singing by the Ensemble Sidi Thami Mdaghri of Morocco. This group was shot in performance at the majestic roman ruins of Volubulis outside Fez. The six-foot horns and sickles are unlike anything most viewers have ever seen or heard.

The Whirling Dervishes of Konya are members of the Mevlevis confraternity founded in the 13th century by Sufi mystic Rumi. We shot them in sacred performance under the stars at an ancient open arena in the center of Fez.

The Wacana Budaya Gamelan from Indonesia play elaborate bells and xylophone type instruments.

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