tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71513861170282737522024-02-19T17:09:20.437+01:00Arenius FamiliaA diary that started with our work in Spain 2012, continued with Joakim's work at Lancaster Bible College, PA, USA, 2014, and again continues in St Petersburg, Russia, 2015, y otra vez en España 2016.
Joakim, Thorine, Stella, Ainahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585109212465888030noreply@blogger.comBlogger186125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7151386117028273752.post-22919295002851811082016-05-02T12:44:00.000+02:002016-05-02T12:44:19.998+02:00Vigo<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Joakim, Thorine, Stella, Ainahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585109212465888030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7151386117028273752.post-32402214988905007492016-04-29T12:50:00.000+02:002016-04-30T00:49:18.096+02:00Heading for Vigo<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Yesterday I almost tortured one of the great Madrid singers. Rebecca has a fantastic voice, that I wanted to record. I think we had fun, both of us, but I went "muy loco" every now and then. It is inspiring for me to record a new kind of voice and I guess I have my own way of trying to drag all energy out of that sound.<br />
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In the morning I went with Maria and Juan Marcos to attend a rehearsal of the Spanish Television orchestra, where Maria plays the violin. What a privilige! Rachmaninov and Prokofiev were on the agenda and that's just the best classical music!<br />
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Now I am on my way to Vigo . Next adventure!<br />
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Joakim, Thorine, Stella, Ainahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585109212465888030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7151386117028273752.post-88408367380993211752016-04-28T00:26:00.002+02:002016-04-28T00:26:42.345+02:00Week of recordings<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Today bronchitis stopped an american singer, living in Madrid, from recording with me. I was sad about that, because I really looked forward to it. But I got the chance to record Maria, an old friend who plays the violin for the spanish television orchestra. She got in the swing and heated up one of my songs with some gypsy style funk violin.<br />
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And yesterday I recorded Amos from Nigeria. Also an old friend with a great voice and great personality. He really knows how to give a song church feeling. A new blessing is Juanchis from Peru. A young singer whom I played around with in different songs, ending up having a very diverse recording session with challenges and laughs.<br />
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So what am doing? Working on a new CD, where I want to include a lot of friends, of course.<br />
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Joakim, Thorine, Stella, Ainahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585109212465888030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7151386117028273752.post-37279913317658960932016-04-26T14:34:00.001+02:002016-04-26T14:34:10.610+02:00More Madrid<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The first days here have been exciting. Unfortunately I lost the Internet for a while and could not write about it. But I am glad to be online again.<br />
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Last friday I met with the musicians of Coro Gospel de Madrid and had a great four hour session with them. I know their drummer, Samuel, since long, but now they are giving the 14 year old Dani a chance to play the drums and he is fantastic. It was so great to make music with all of them!<br />
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Saturday, the day after, all the singers and musicians were together rehearsing for an upcoming concert. The Madrid Gospel choir sound better every time hear them. There many new singers there, but also some of my old friends. </div>
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I was hoping to play the keyboards with them when they perform for the spanish queen. But unfortunately the royal concert was moved to a date when I have another concert in Sevilla. I guess the queen didn't know I was coming, huh? </div>
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This clip has a little of the choir and a little of a future guitar player:</div>
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<br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwLcsPf7T2GwJVZKsV7UF2A1jCr8bX2zymdAg8pqPqid0dkMixnb3HGfOonM9PqLJEO7AATao_y7YMnq2LFkQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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Sunday, yesterday, I had the chance to visit another choir here in Madrid, one that I never met before. I have heard about them many times, through my danish friend Nina Luna, and we finally got to meet. There are a couple of danes there so it was pretty easy to explain that I wanted the schedule of the day to include "fika", you know what I mean?</div>
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Gospel Blessing is their name, and they have a very generous attitude towards anybody who wants to join the choir. It was fun and inspiring to teach some new songs and make new friends. </div>
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Joakim, Thorine, Stella, Ainahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585109212465888030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7151386117028273752.post-5506662752747485242016-04-22T08:34:00.003+02:002016-04-22T08:34:56.894+02:00Day 1<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
As always I had problems with the travel. The train to the airport was late, and then the flight was delayed. But I am used to that by now.<br />
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I am very happy to have arrived in Madrid, and to stay with Nancy, one of my first friends from here and the director of the Madrid Gospel Choir. Thorine and my daughters know this place very well too, so they feel at home when I walk around here during our Facetime-conversation.<br />
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Today will be practice with the Madrid Gospel band.</div>
Joakim, Thorine, Stella, Ainahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585109212465888030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7151386117028273752.post-43928106858482584192016-04-20T22:33:00.001+02:002016-04-20T22:33:59.003+02:00April and May schedule<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The train will take me to the airport tomorrow morning at 5.30. Later in the afternoon I land in Madrid, where I start this trip. Nancy and my old time friends in Coro Gospel de Madrid are the first ones I meet. Then for the first time I will meet Coro Blessing, also from Madrid. Coming up is Vigo, Salamanca, Porto (Portugal), Sevilla (where my family will join me) and Valencia. This will be soooo awesome!!!<br />
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Joakim, Thorine, Stella, Ainahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585109212465888030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7151386117028273752.post-54956054037553680252016-04-12T15:32:00.000+02:002016-04-12T15:32:03.622+02:00Spain again<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
So… it's 2016. Last year was intense. Lots of traveling. I did many trips to St Petersburg, Russia, to be with Total Praise and St Petersburg Gospel Choir. There are many REALLY good things happening in Russia right now!<br />
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This spring it's time for a longer stay in Spain again. Me and my family will visit our old neighborhoods in Valencia. On top of that I will visit old friends and new friends in different parts of the country. And I will share some of the adventures on this blog.<br />
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I will also keep reporting in swedish on <a href="http://blogg.na.se/gospeljourney">blogg.na.se/gospeljourney</a>.<br />
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Hasta pronto amigos!</div>
Joakim, Thorine, Stella, Ainahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585109212465888030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7151386117028273752.post-22366356683180361742015-02-25T10:49:00.002+01:002015-02-25T10:49:27.365+01:00Pictures<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I am tired and grateful on my way back home. If you follow this link you can see a few pictures from this trip:<br />
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10205998254703698.1073741827.1480616673&type=1&l=1bb2f11245" target="_blank">St Petersburg February 2015</a><br />
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Joakim, Thorine, Stella, Ainahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585109212465888030noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7151386117028273752.post-484761289823236592015-02-24T19:58:00.002+01:002015-02-24T19:58:35.786+01:00St Petersburg Gospel Choir<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">After almost two weeks in St Petersburg I still don’t speak russian. And I have to say that this language will take a looooong time to master. But I hope to come bmany times to speak it. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Tomorrow I go back to Sweden. It will be great to see my wife and daughters again! But I am also a little sad to leave my friends here. We have worked hard together, not only rehearsing new and old songs, but also travelled a lot across this huge city to perform. We have also had many talks about gospel music in Russia -what it stands for, what it means to people and how it can be used to spread good news to more listeners. I sometimes think that this is what it was like when Joybells started singing gospel in the 60’s. There are many questions, but not so many answers, and you need to know where your heart is and why you do what you do. Because if you don’t know, you start focusing on the wrong things and in one way or another you run into trouble. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Total Praise is a great gospel group and they have a great leader in Nina! I believe that not only Russia, but many parts of the world need singers like this right now. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This week Nina will also start St Petersburg Gospel Choir -an opportunity for people of all kinds to sing gospel here. I am pretty sure that they will have a lot of fun, because I have met some of the people that will join. But I am also pretty sure that there will be problems in the beginning. So those of you who pray -pray for Nina, Total Praise and St Petersburg Gospel Choir!</span></div>
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Joakim, Thorine, Stella, Ainahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585109212465888030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7151386117028273752.post-91783123685751613702015-02-22T21:23:00.002+01:002015-02-22T21:23:30.045+01:00Sunday meetings<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Two services today. One was where I first came to meet Russian gospel singers -Logos church, and the other was the church of our bass player (maybe the name was "Spets", I am still not fluent in russian). In Logos I heard a choir doing traditional hymns in russian, and it sounded so beautiful. That is something we never hear in our part of Europe unfortunately.<br />
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In the afternoon we heard a great worship band, with a small teenage choir. Then we got a sermon from Valerij, who speaks a little swedish. He works at the university where they have started a new program for worship leaders, and I will visit them on Tuesday to make plans for the future.<br />
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Joakim, Thorine, Stella, Ainahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585109212465888030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7151386117028273752.post-12731667086370056602015-02-22T21:16:00.002+01:002015-02-22T21:16:38.681+01:00St Petersburg concert<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We have done seven performances in one week, plus practice everyday. My hands are red and almost swollen from the piano playing. But it’s worth everything!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The concert last night was in a church that has a lot of dance groups -everything from hip hop to jazz. It was a perfect auditorium for us and we felt that everybody in the room was there to celebrate from the first song. Total Praise sang seven songs and the mass choir four songs, and then we did some encores.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Nina announced the start of St Petersburg gospel choir, something very exciting that I hope to write a about a lot! It is open for anybody and many people have already shown interest.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I wish to quote the earlier bible verse -God is about to do something new!</span></div>
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Joakim, Thorine, Stella, Ainahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585109212465888030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7151386117028273752.post-5436023271996278612015-02-19T16:11:00.000+01:002015-02-19T16:11:07.629+01:00New russian gospel<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Yesterday we had composition masterclass in the university which is located close the church where ”Total Praise” started as a choir. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">There are so many russian singers and musicians who are both talented and extremely well trained in the classical music trade. In my composition class we looked at what defines gospel music. My goal is not to trade classical for gospel. That would be a bad thing. But if you know both you can create a lot of exciting new music. The song ”Total Praise” by Richard Smallwood is a good example of music that is close to both gospel and classical. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">When the students have such high skills in the classical trade it often produces laughter when we try to arrange traditional gospel and they can’t help but squeeze in some influence from Mozart and the other old masters. Of course it’s cool to do that every now and then, but it’s also cool to laugh when it comes out by accident. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">At the end of the day we worked on three different new compsitions based on Isaiah 43:19 ”Look, I am about to do something new...” I would say that all three songs had great qualities and I hope you will hear them when they are finished.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Tonight is the second of the mass choir practices and saturday is the concert. </span></div>
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Joakim, Thorine, Stella, Ainahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585109212465888030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7151386117028273752.post-6004040985266818552015-02-17T21:45:00.000+01:002015-02-17T21:45:25.946+01:00It's a good life<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Dennis and Evelina had me over for lunch today in their apartment in the northern part of St Petersburg. Great food and some relaxed time to learn more about this city and my friends here. They had also invited Max, who is the organizer of many christian music festivals, which of course was very interesting. I learned a lot about how the economy in Russia affects the churches and musicians. Sometimes it is easy to get depressed when you talk about the things like economy and other things that media report about Russia right now. But when you look back at how God has always made a way out of no way you can not be depressed. Then you look at the future and realize that God will keep making a way. You realize the truth of the song that we were singing at the gospel workshop tonight "it's a good life, living with Jesus in my life!" </div>
Joakim, Thorine, Stella, Ainahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585109212465888030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7151386117028273752.post-20841244504748232512015-02-16T19:52:00.002+01:002015-02-16T19:52:41.876+01:00Crime and punishment<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Today I had the opportunity to do some tourism before the evening rehearsal. It’s a bit colder than Örebro, so I didn’t want to spend much time walking outside. But I did see the museum inside St Isaacs cathedral. It’s a beautiful building that you have to visit when you come to St Petersburg!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">As I learn more about the Russian-Orthodox church I realize I know so little about how complex religion and faith is. Christians, atheists, moslems and others have a need to define the truth and then tell everybody else what the truth looks like. When I learned about the history of some of the paintings in St Isaacs cathedral it was impossible to imagine that the people who used to have services in that place were praying to the God that is described in the bible, and whom I pray to as well. Is their truth the same as mine? Our traditions and cultural inheritance define us more than we want to admit.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Just a ten minute walk from the cathedral is the the place where Total Praise rehearse. I went from the gold and marble covered orthodox dome to a little studio on one of the back streets. But in that studio we were making music that was so shining it would make gold and marble look like dirt! </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We were all a little tired since yesterday, but this is such a good group of singers. They know when to rest their voices and when to give 100%. Less than one hundred meters from where Total Praise have their rehearsals is the apartment where the old woman in ”Crime and punishment” by Fjodor Dostojevskij was murdered. You get to know a looooot of things you didn’t expect when you go to Russia to praise the Lord!</span></div>
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Joakim, Thorine, Stella, Ainahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585109212465888030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7151386117028273752.post-64578288821678152232015-02-15T20:57:00.000+01:002015-02-15T20:57:01.489+01:00Gospel Journey<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I have just started a new choir project in Sweden called Gospel Journey. In 2015 we intend to go to New York, but my vision is that our journey does not stop there. I hope that many people get the chance to experience the kind of gospel journey I did today.<br />
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Our journey today was back and forth across the very large city of St Petersburg to visit three church services. For a swedish person I guess you can compare to doing one service in Stockholm, one in Västerås and one in Örebro, all in one Sunday. I have said it before, but I need to say it again -the most amazing thing is when you feel in your heart that God is the same wherever you go!<br />
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The evangelical churches here don't have the traditional church buildings that are common in Europe. Those beautiful old buildings are exclusively for the russian-orthodox church (except one that was taken over by baptists a long time ago). This means that the outside of an evangelical church (which could be a hotel, a movie theatre or other hall) is usually not very inspiring, but the inside is what matters. The sound is usually good for gospel, such as Total Praise, and the not-so-churchy kind of room seems a little friendlier for those who are not used to going to church. Most important are the people, as always, and we met a lot of great people today.<br />
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Four sisters from one of the churches joined us to sing two gospel songs in the morning. After the service they spoke with us and it sounded like everybody was mad at everybody. They were yelling all kinds of russian insults at each other. I thought. But I am slowly learning that the russian language has a different melody than the languages I already know. The truth was that they were super excited about what had happened and shared different ways the Lord had been blessing them during the music. So it was actually awesome! :)</div>
Joakim, Thorine, Stella, Ainahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585109212465888030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7151386117028273752.post-50338644690048234502015-02-14T18:59:00.001+01:002015-02-14T18:59:15.583+01:00Day 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Day 1 was only arrival day, so I start at day 2. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Today we sang six songs at United church. </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">They do their weekly service on saturdays in the swedish Lutheran church, next door to the swedish embassy. Their swedish pastor, Andreas, could not be there today, but still I am grateful for how he has helped myself and Total Praise in preparing these two weeks.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I have visited this church before and they always have a very relaxed and welcoming atmosphere. Zjenia, who was leading the service, said that every time Total Praise come to visit United they leave everybody with a feeling of wanting more. I agree, and to be honest that is why I am here. When more people want more there will be more! Could that be a new slogan maybe? It looks cool so I will keep it in the blog: </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">When more people want more there will be more!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Thanks United church for great fellowship and a great service! </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Tomorrow we will do church-hopping, three services in one day.</span></div>
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Joakim, Thorine, Stella, Ainahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585109212465888030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7151386117028273752.post-88889025146160449552015-02-14T18:56:00.004+01:002015-02-14T18:56:44.720+01:002015 blogging<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Again I re-open this little diary that we started when we went to Spain as a family in 2012. Last year I used this forum when I was teaching at the college in Pennsylvania, USA. Now I wish to share my thoughts and experiences from two weeks in St Petersburg, Russia. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">My church in Sweden (<a href="http://www.immanuelskyrkan.net/"><span style="color: #0225a3; letter-spacing: 0px;">www.immanuelskyrkan.net</span></a>) has a sister church in Viborg, Russia (the church on the rock), where Nina Elisheva used to be the music minister. She now leads the gospel choir Total Praise in St Petersburg. My swedish church sent me here to be part of their music mission for a couple of weeks. We will do concerts and services. I will also do workshops for the public, where I teach gospel singing and playing. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">As usual I will share my thoughts on this blog in english so that russians, swedes and others can understand. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Thank you for keeping me and my Russian friends in your prayers!</span></div>
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Joakim, Thorine, Stella, Ainahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585109212465888030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7151386117028273752.post-17781506262028363002014-05-13T09:15:00.003+02:002014-05-13T09:15:34.869+02:00More pics<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10203762407008903.1073741825.1480616673&type=1&l=754a3afb93" target="_blank">Pictures from March/April 2014</a><br />
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Enjoy!</div>
Joakim, Thorine, Stella, Ainahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585109212465888030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7151386117028273752.post-80972361880581237342014-04-29T21:48:00.001+02:002014-04-29T21:48:22.953+02:00About life<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Almost everyday, during the past month, I have had conversations about the big things in life, related to music and faith in most cases. The students at the college are preparing themselves for their place in life after school. America's place in world politics affects everybody in different ways. European and american worship music is building bridges between cultures, but for some reason sometimes building walls instead. So many topics have been discussed the past weeks and I have met so many wise people who make me grow as a person.<br />
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The 55 swedes who visited from Stockholm Gospelchoir festival turned out to be a very mixed group and I found myself discussing everything from holy spirit quickstep to communion-to-go. Very refreshing. New York is always full of surprises and it is both fun and educating to experience them with friends.<br />
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The students at the college have showed me that the young american generation have a lot more interest in what's going on in the rest of the world, than I thought before coming here. I will blog separately about that.<br />
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Joakim, Thorine, Stella, Ainahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585109212465888030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7151386117028273752.post-51393672201994011142014-04-27T01:19:00.002+02:002014-04-27T01:19:21.617+02:00Find music<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I have noticed in the last weeks emails that there are some who have been reading my blog, but not knowing so much about the music I do. It is encouraging for me, of course, to communicate with so many different kinds of people! But I am sorry that I don't take time to describe everything about Praise Unit and other things I do in every email response.<br />
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So today I just want to inform (for new listeners) that Praise Units music, and some music I have done with other artists, is available in all your usual places -Spotify, iTunes, Amazon and so on. Sheets can be ordered from my website, and some other places.<br />
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We are also on Youtube and here is a little sample:<br />
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Joakim, Thorine, Stella, Ainahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585109212465888030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7151386117028273752.post-79228113022227665892014-04-26T00:42:00.002+02:002014-04-26T00:42:16.829+02:00Home nr 1<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I think home is where my family is. Before we had children Thorine and I lived in New York, and that became our second home. Then I have have spent so much time with people in Germany, made many close friends and now my wife and daughters have many friends there too. So Germany is also a second home. Then we lived in Spain two years ago, and that became our second home. What will be the next second home? Norway? Russia? Pennsylvania? Somewhere in Asia?<br />
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Maybe from now on we will just stay in Örebro forever? I don't know what will happen. For me traveling or not traveling is not the most important. The important thing is go where God wants me, and to be convinced that Thorine agrees. I hope that we all will go back to Lancaster, PA, as a family. So that I can introduce my girls to all my new friends over there. We will have so much fun together, and I am so inspired to be more involved in the college. I want my daughters to see a place like LBC, and how they can grow there. And I want to be part of making the current LBC students grow as musicians and leaders.<br />
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But right now I am going to give in to jet lag and just enjoy being in home nr 1. Here!</div>
Joakim, Thorine, Stella, Ainahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585109212465888030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7151386117028273752.post-6874550718656633952014-04-24T02:46:00.001+02:002014-04-24T02:46:17.490+02:00More<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I have so many little stories that I started writing for this blog, but never finished. So I will continue blogging about my month in the US, even though I write from Sweden.</div>
Joakim, Thorine, Stella, Ainahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585109212465888030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7151386117028273752.post-48983914438537381292014-04-24T02:44:00.002+02:002014-04-24T02:44:39.749+02:00Praise Unit music<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I was of course curious about if and how the Praise Unit music would be received amongst the people I have met the past month in America. When I do my choir workshops in Europe I usually do a simpler style of gospel. The more different(?) style that Praise Unit performs is maybe more difficult to understand.<br />
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But the Praise Unit songs have actually given me many new friends. Jon from Washington D.C. drove up to have a chat with me, which I loved of course, and I know I will see him again. Artists from the conference weekend in Philly stay in touch with me and I am inspired to learn about new possibilities through working with people who are already in this music industry. Some of the students at the college seemed into the PU groove too, and that lead to some interesting conversations.<br />
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So I hope the next Praise Unit US tour is not far away. :) </div>
Joakim, Thorine, Stella, Ainahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585109212465888030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7151386117028273752.post-37318905076375079212014-04-23T12:30:00.003+02:002014-04-23T12:30:44.249+02:00Kyle's corner<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Soon I am heading for the airport and the plane that takes me back to my family! I can't wait to see them!!!<br />
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One of my last missions here was a radio interview I did in Philadelphia yesterday. The radio station found Praise Unit's music and want to spread it on the US east coast.<br />
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If the interview becomes available online I will try to remember to post it on my Facebook page and my website. It is part of a series of interviews called Kyle's corner.</div>
Joakim, Thorine, Stella, Ainahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585109212465888030noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7151386117028273752.post-5936054603081953732014-04-22T06:59:00.003+02:002014-04-22T06:59:29.689+02:00Go west<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Today I was reunited with Mia, who took over the choir in Salem after I left New York in 2001. She moved with her husband to western Pennsylvania and is now doing a great job with the music in her church. Last time we met Stella was ten months old, which means it's been eleven years. But we were catching up fast.<br />
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I did a workshop in her church, where I taught some of my songs and shared my european way of doing things. The room was full of singers and we had a lot of fun. Of course I work in different ways with things in the US, compared to the european countries. For example, I don't have to teach them how to annunciate the english words.<br />
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Today grandmothers were singing with their granddaughters and every generation in between. The variety of age groups also added to the nice atmosphere in the choir.</div>
Joakim, Thorine, Stella, Ainahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585109212465888030noreply@blogger.com0