Songs of Praise on Silver jubilee in priesthood
View(s):‘My God Loves Me’, a collection of spiritual songs in English, sung and compressed in to an album by Rev. Fr. Angelo Wijewickrama OMI was released on the occasion of his Silver Jubilee as an Oblate religious recently.
‘My God Loves Me’ the collection of amazing popular hymns, begins with the Trinity Song, ‘Father in my life I see’. The hymns include psalms, acclamations, and deep spiritual thoughts based on the Holy Scripture. This high-spirited album of spiritual songs will move all listeners to experience God’s immense love and grace in their very lives all the time. The sole vocalist here is Fr. Angelo. He is accompanied here by Ave Maria and Maristella choirs in Negombo.
Fr. Angelo has been a composer, vocalist, and a musician, since his career in the seminary even as a student aspiring for priesthood and religious life. His compositions are numerous. There are popular catchy tunes composed by Fr. Angelo for religious cassettes, compact discs, radio programmes, and for hymnals, to be sung on various religious occasions, during the last two decades or so.
Fr. Angelo with his innovations and initiatives produced his first audio cassette with three hymns and three theme songs titled ‘Arunalu’ while he was a scholastic brother at the Oblate Scholasticate at Ampitiya in Kandy in early nineties. This audio cassette was produced under the patronage of Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Fernando OMI, who was the Superior of the Oblate Scholasticate at that time. All six tunes there were composed and voiced by Fr Angelo himself.
In the year 1996, he produced his second audio cassette titled ‘Pahan Sith’, under the patronage of St. Vincent’s Home at Maggona. This collection of religious songs was musically composed by veteran popular musician Gration Ananda and Fr. Angelo. Veteran songstresses Latha Walpola, Anjeline Goonathilake, songsters Gration Ananda, Priya Suriyasena, Anil Barathi and Edward Jayakodi, together with Fr. Angelo, mixed their melodious voices to the harmonious hymns of this collection.
A few years ago, St Vincent’s Home Maggona released a cassette of Lenten hymns, titled ‘Kalwariye Donkaraya’. Father Angelo too had some compositions included in this collection. One of his tunes there was ‘Mama Pipasa Wemi Saminde’. This hymn was musically directed by veteran musician Mervin Perera, and sung by Fr. Angelo himself.
Fr. Angelo too had produced another Compact Discs with a collection of already popular Sinhala hymns, titled ‘Dev Mawta Bathi Gee’, which was released under the patronage of ‘Madu Shrine’, in Sri Lanka. Most of the hymns in this CD were sung by Fr. Angelo to the accompaniment of popular songstresses Nirosha Viragini and Shanika Wanigasekara.
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