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Man touching tree bark

I Love You Lord (Laurie- Klein) featuring the Portsmouth Gospel Choir recorded and produced by Joffy James

So last blog I looked at the expression “fingers crossed” and found that its origins may be found in Christianity – so what about “touch wood”?
Wikipedia states that it is apotropaic or protective magic intended to turn away harm or evil influences, as in deflecting misfortune. So touching wood, or merely stating that one is doing so is done to avoid “tempting fate” after making a statement you wish to come true. Interestingly in USA the expression is more likely to be “Knocking on wood” or “knock on wood” as in the Eddie Floyd classic soul song (Eddie, incidentally, is still alive aged 85)
Some believe the origin of the expression can be traced to ancient Celtic peoples, who believed it called on spirits or gods of the trees. Others believe that it comes from Christianity and relates to the wood of the cross of crucifixion. A more modern theory from folklore researcher Steve Roud suggests it derives from a form of tag called “Tiggy Touchwood” in which players are safe from being tagged if they are touching wood.
I personally avoid the expression as I am not a fan of anything that could be construed as superstitious, which leads me nicely (I hope) to next week’s blog which focuses on fear.

Quote of the week

We Can Do Anything featuring Lucy Stimpson-Maynard from the album “Precious” recorded and produced by Ross Gill

When I was at Junior school in Gillingham, Kent if you wanted to call a truce on a game e.g. not be caught in a game of chase you would cross your fingers while at the same time call out what I thought was “fan lights” but which I now discover was “fainites.” Fainites was apparently first recorded in the original Notes & Queries in 1870: “Fains or Fain it – a term demanding a truce during the progress of any game, which is always granted by the opposing party.” The word itself derives from the 14th- century “feine” or “faine”, itself deriving from the Old French se feindre meaning “to make excuses, hang back, back out (esp. of battle)”. The “nites” part may have originated in “faine Sir Knight”, a medieval truce in non-mortal combat or jousting.
Anyway, when I moved to Portsmouth I was astonished to find that instead of “fainites” children shouted out “creamies” which may in fact have been “crees”. Crossing fingers is also sometimes considered as an excuse for telling a white lie or invalidating a promise being made. Of course it is also commonly used to wish for luck. Whatever its use I always thought that saying “fingers crossed” was simply a superstition, however I discover that it may have its origins in Christianity.
“Plansponsor” states “Crossing fingers dates to a pre-Christianity belief in Western Europe in the powerful symbolism of a cross. The intersection was thought to mark a concentration of good spirits and served to anchor a wish until it could come true. In those days, people would cross their index finger over that of someone expressing a wish to show support. This eventually evolved into one person crossing their fingers on their own.
In the early days of Christianity, when Christians were persecuted for their beliefs, to recognize fellow Christians, people developed a series of hand gestures, one of which involved forming the fish symbol by touching thumbs and crossing index fingers. Christians also would cross their fingers to invoke the power associated with Christ’s cross. In 16th-century England, people crossed fingers or made the sign of the cross to ward off evil.
What about the expression “Touch wood”? Ill look at that one next week.

Quote of the week

Give Us Your Heart Lord” by Lucy Stimpson- Maynard from the album “Where Would I Be Without You”? recorded and produced by Ross Gill

Last week’s blog finished with this question – “Has Mustard Seed Songs sampled or been guilty of sampling or plagiarism”?
Well, I have always tried my best to avoid both, however not with complete success! I once sang a song to a dear friend, Laurie Brokenshire (https://risen.org.uk/?p=1312 ) who told me that it was great but that someone called Harry Dixon Loes had got there first in 1920, as the tune was “Blessed Redeemer”!! So, I kept the words but changed the tune which became todays’ featured song “Give Us Your Heart Lord” – first sung by Lucy Simpson- Maynard and then featured in “Risen! The Musical”.
Re sampling – I remember sitting with my son, James at the Fernham Hall, Fareham during Mustard Seed’s first musical “His Story”. When the song “The One Whose Name Begins With J” (which featured in last week’s blog) started playing James gave me a big nudge and said that the intro was Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition”. I knew that, but had no idea that our MD at the time, Chris Backhouse, had decided to sample it and add it to the performance. I was a bit embarrassed but not that much as it sounded great!
As a young person three of my fav songs were:
Sam and Dave’s “You don’t know like I know” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB_gwY02724
Wilson Pickett’s “In the Midnight Hour” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il-usrZxGns
Jackie Wilson’s “Higher and Higher.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIy6X4VTWpk
I just loved the brass break in all three. Mustard Seed’s “Uplifted” also has a brass break which I have to admit was heavily “influenced” by the former three- plagiarism – well I can tell you that I would definitely need to settle out of court! Do you agree?
Uplifted

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“The One Whose Name Begins With J” featuring the Mustard Seed Soul Band from the album His Story Live (unreleased) recorded and produced by Ross Gill.

I was quite interested in the recent court case in New York in which Ed Sheeran was cleared of infringing copyright of Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” with his massive 2014 hit “Thinking Out Loud”.
It seemed obvious to me that the two are completely different songs apart from a riff which is apparently based on a well-known chord progression. An expert in these things explains much better than I can here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9rBN4UtkWQ
My understanding of plagiarism is that you are basically stealing someone else’s (in this case song) without regard for copyright. Sampling is where you use a part of a song – usually a riff -and have the permission of the original composer – or not as in the case of “Ice, Ice, Baby” by Vanilla Ice who used the bass line of the 1981 song “Under Pressure” by Queen and David Bowie and which went to court- with Vanilla Ice losing.
Influence is simply that – influence. So when composing, being influenced by a certain style of music -there is no issue with this – it is impossible to write a song without having first heard other songs which have a similar style.
While here I recently heard the Christian song “Goodness of God” (Bethel Music) which I think is great, but actually has a very similar chorus line to that of Bette Midler’s “Wind Beneath My Wings” as in “And I can fly higher than the eagle …..”
Have a listen –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iAzMRKFX3c starting 1 min 34 secs
And “Goodness of God”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-f4MUUMWMV4 starting 54 secs “Cos all my life You have been faithful”.
Has Mustard Seed Songs sampled or been guilty of sampling or plagiarism? – I’ll let you know next week- however today’s featured song might give you a clue!!!

Quote of the week

I hope that you enjoyed the wonderful performance of Malaki in last week’s blog. I said that BGT was not the first time that he had performed on a large stage and so for all those who enjoyed his performance last week – here is one more.
Also here are a few facts about him:
Malakai Bayoh was born in 2010 in London, England, United Kingdom and holds English nationality but his roots are in Sierra Leone as his parents are from there.
Malakai began his journey as a chorister at St. George’s Cathedral when he was 7 years old before attending Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School, where he joined the school’s prestigious Schola Cantorum.
Malaki has shared the stage with renowned singer Aled Jones and has performed at several iconic music locations including London’s Royal Albert Hall.
He has 32K followers on Instagram.

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Malaki Bayoh

I stumbled on this the other day and it is simply amazing. Malaki has a voice from heaven. Ok Britain’s Got Talent was not the first time that he had performed on a large stage but perhaps more of that next week – keeping the text short so that you have plenty of time to enjoy the video- I promise you will not be disappointed.

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Patrick with orphan children

Risen Christ Central Chapel

Last week I shared some photos and a video of children from the Risen Christ Central Chapel in Southern Nigeria receiving books featuring stories from the Bible. They had kindly been donated by Faith and Football. For those who are unaware of the connection between Mustard Seeds and the Risen Christ Central Chapel I promised an explanation this week.
On the death of his Grandfather (his father had already died) Patrick Oki was about to become Chief of his village in Nigeria. However the elders wanted him to denounce his Christian faith and return to the native religion which had been practiced before his Grandfather was Chief – this included human sacrifice. When he refused his life was in danger and so he sought asylum in England. It was in Haslar Detention Centre, Gosport that I first met Patrick some ten years ago. Unfortunately his asylum claim was rejected and he was deported to Nigeria where he had to re locate a long way from his village to stay safe.

Patrick told me that when he returned from England, he was ill for two years, not being able to walk or even stand; having been rejected and abandoned by his family and friends- he was left to die, with no one to care for him except his son Emmanuel. Sometimes they had no food to eat, and he even prayed for God to take his life- all this because he had denounced the religious tradition of his people to follow Jesus. Patrick said “I made a vow that if the Lord healed me, I would serve him all the rest of my life and one day the Lord sent a servant – Evangelist Lady Lizbeth who prayerfully joined hands with me and the Lord set me free. Praise the Lord I became born again to the glory of God.”
Patrick went on to serve God and is an unpaid Pastor in Cross River State, Southern Nigeria. His congregation was worshiping in a hired hall and looking after a number of orphans (see pic) Mustard Seed Songs raised funds to build a new church which was named The Risen Christ Central Chapel. (see pic)
Tragically Pastor Patrick died on Easter Sunday two years ago, but thankfully his wife Rev. Elizabeth took on the leadership of the church. It was Rev. Lilly that featured in last week’s blog when she received a package of children’s books (Bible stories) donated by Faith and Football
This week’s featured song is Patrick’s favourite “A Mustard Seed of Faith” sang here by the Portsmouth Gospel Choir and produced by Mustard Seeds’ Musical Director, Joffy James (Girling)

Quote of the week

There’s Going To Be A Party featuring Lucy Stimpson Maynard from the album “Uplifted” recorded and produced by Bob Ross

My dear friend, Mick Mellows who founded and runs the charity Faith and Football https://www.faithandfootball.org.uk/ kindly donated a number of children’s books that Faith and Football had produced. The books come in numerous sets that feature well known stories from the Bible told with age related texts. I sent them to the Risen Christ Central Chapel in Nigeria by what I thought was airmail, but it turned out to be classic snail mail which took an age to arrive, not helped by the chaos caused by their recent elections. However, in the end they arrived on the perfect day for them to be given as presents to the children- Easter Sunday!
The pictures show Mr Gabriel Eteng the treasurer of the Risen Christ Central Chapel handing the package containing the books to the Rev. Lilly Oki. The video shows how much the children appreciated the gift.
Mustard Seed Songs has been supporting the Risen! Christ Central Chapel for many years – if you are not sure of the story of how this came about, I will share with you next week.

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“One Day A Crown” featuring the London Touring Cast from the album Risen! The Musical recorded and produced by Ross Gill

Risen! featuring the London Touring Cast from the album Risen! The Musical recorded and produced by Ross Gill

I thought that during this Passion Week it would be good to share two clips from our Risen! The Musical. The first “One Day A Crown” centres on the events of Good Friday and the second Risen! – yes, you’ve guessed it, that centres on the events of Easter Sunday!
I was delighted to see that Revelation TV are broadcasting Risen! The Musical at 3.30 pm on Easter Sunday.
And here is an excellent video of the Easter Story written by J.John.

Quote of the week

Not much text to read this week as I would prefer you to spend the time watching and listening to this amazing talent!

Quote of the week