found-in-translation
FOUND IN TRANSLATION
CROSS-CULTURAL MUSICAL EXPLORATIONS OF THE BIBLE
In this unique concert, acclaimed Zimbabwean musician John Pfumojena and award-winning American pianist Delvyn Case reinterpreted traditional sacred music by drawing upon traditions from Africa, Western Europe, and the Americas.
Featuring one-of-a-kind arrangements for voice, mbira, and piano of gospel songs, African-American spirituals, and hymns, the concert celebrated the unique power of sacred music to foster Christian unity - while simultaneously challenging us to consider the ways the church has fallen short of its ideals.
Featuring Wayfaring Stranger, Abide With Me/Iwe Nesu, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, Were You There?, I Want Jesus to Walk With Me, Blessed Be the Ties That Bind, Take My Hand, Precious Lord
Originally presented in June 2024 in the historic chapel at Exeter College at the University of Oxford.
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“ It was BEAUTIFUL and MAGNIFICENT. In this age of divisiveness and hatred, this is good medicine (says the doctor) bringing people and cultures together to celebrate our shared creation and faith.”
Found in Translation was performed for a second time as part of the weekly chapel service at the London School of Theology in Oetober of 2024. To inquire about bringing this unique and powerful event to your church, school, or organization in the UK, contact Deus Ex Musica.
“What a rich worship experience! We were able to join in some hymns and spirituals, while also experiencing Delvyn and John’s deeply spiritual presentation, which crossed cultures and led us to worship. A rich experience, which I can certainly recommend to other colleges and churches.”
WATCH THE CONCERT
EXCERPTS
Blessed Be the Ties That Bind
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
John Pfumojena, known on stage as John Falsetto, is a Zimbabwean Composer, Musical Director, Mbira & Marimba Master, and Vocalist published by Warner Chappell Music (Warner Music Group); a distinguished Actor and Theatre Practitioner, and Associate Director of Tangle Theatre Company. He has been awarded the OBIE Special Citation Award (New York) for his work on the globally acclaimed play The Jungle, and is the recipient of an Honorary Award for Cultural Ambassadorship by the Zimbabwe Achievers’ Awards (UK). John’s musical work has seen him nominated for the Critic’s Awards for Theatre in Scotland (Enough of Him, play) for Best Music and Sound, and The Black British Theatre Awards (For Black Boys, play and Carousel, musical) for Best Musical Director and Best Supporting Actor in a Musical, consecutively. John composes and arranges music rooted in the marimba and mbira aesthetics of the Shona people from Zimbabwe, and his practice is concerned with intercultural collaboration and the bridging of cultures through creative exploration and performance.
Delvyn Case, Deus Ex Musica founder, maintains an international interdisciplinary career as a composer, conductor, scholar, writer, and pianist who specializes in the intersections of music and religion. His works have been performed by numerous Grammy-winning artists and by over 100 orchestras around the world. Over the past 25 years he has written numerous award-winning concert works that explore texts and themes drawn from the Bible and Christian theology, including his quartet “Psalms of Ascent”, for which he was named Distinguished Composer of the Year by the MTNA. He has written on the intersections of music and Christianity for some of the most prominent religious publications in the United States, and has spoken on music and theology at Yale, Harvard, Cambridge, and Oxford. He is the founder of Deus Ex Musica, an international organization that promotes the use of sacred music as a resource for spiritual formation, ecumenism, and interfaith dialogue. A graduate of Yale and the University of Pennsylvania, he currently serves as Professor Music at Wheaton College in Massachusetts.