Bring On The Brilliance - Joyous Rhapsody 2019

Music echoed, songs serenaded, dance movements shuffled! 

BW Monastery transformed into an arts and culture performance hall over the weekend of 7 – 8 December 2019 as musicians and singers belted out or performed Insightful Praises songs and music pieces wrote by the Monastery’s guru Teacher, Teacher Zhen Ru, at the Monastery’s annual concert “Joyous Rhapsody”. 

Into its third year and organised by the Monastery’s Arts and Culture Department, the concert was presented over three sessions to a total audience size of about 1,000 at the fourth floor Shrine Hall of the Monastery. It was a showcase of voice offerings by various performing groups within BW Monastery and cut across different age groups of children, youths, working adults as well as senior citizens. 

The three sessions opened with short opening discourses by the Monastery’s Venerables, who shared that Insightful Praises composed by our Teacher, harbour our Teacher’s kind intentions of making it easy for anyone to come close to Buddhism. And for those already learning Buddhism, singing Insightful Praises help strengthen faith as Dharma songs bring on emotions and align our hearts with the Buddha. These songs also provided an alternate and modernized conduit for the laity of today to express their praises and gratitude towards the sages through music and songs performed in modern times.

The concert saw high standard song renditions put up by the Monastery’s two regular Insightful Praises groups – Class One and Class Two, who belted out familiar songs including “If Tomorrow Is Our Next Life”, “Welcoming the Bodhisattva”, “Let’s Follow in the Steps of Manjushri Bodhisattva”, “Happiness” and “Flower of No Worry”. The newly set up Dharma song classes, which were only one to two years old, also belted out soothing Insightful Praises that had the entire audience singing along. 

Peppered amidst the above song items were also lively, energetic and youthful performances put up by the Monastery’s Children Buddhist classes as well as youth performing groups YAZERS and HeyDay. HeyDay was especially refreshing with their presentations of fusion music played out from Oriental and Western instruments such as the Er Hu, Yang Qing, Clarinet, Flute and Electronic keyboard, giving new modern interpretations to traditional Dharma music; while YAZERS was the highlight of the concert, with their very vibrant song and dance performance of the “Fight Song”, which had everyone moving and clapping along to the pulsating beat. 

BW Monastery’s Xin Pin Chinese Orchestra also performed three melodious pieces.  

In the finale, the Venerables once again came onstage to lead all performers and audience in making light offerings, a gesture in sought of wisdom, and along to the song of “The Supplication Mantra of the Manjushri Bodhisattva”. The concert closed on a high note with the gathering of all performers in a final song performance of “Serenading as We Walk in the Waves”. 

Joyous Rhapsody proved once again that music is a universal language that heals and moves!