Justin Appel

Dear Friends,

This morning, I would like to offer a small section of Psalm 126, one of the Psalms of ascent. This psalm recounts the suffering of exile and a heartfelt prayer for deliverance. This beautiful text expresses the pain of separation and of the desire for return and integration.

I have been thrilled to discover and learn a new setting of this text by the young Bulgarian-English composer Dobrinka Tabakova. The traditional Slavic chants of her Orthodox tradition seem to shine through, as well as the highly ornamented figures of Bulgarian folk singing, though all of this is well-enfolded into atmospheric, Western chordal underpinning. The result is quite moving.

“Turn our captivity, O Lord, as a brook in the south. They that sow in tears, shall reap in joyfulness. Going they went and wept, casting their seeds; but coming, they shall come with jollity, carrying their sheaves with them.” (Psalm 126: 6-7)

Turn our captivity, O Lord, Dobrinka Tabakova (https://youtu.be/Bqj3skpaiuc)

Yours in Christ,

—Justin