Carols?

December 24th, 2022| Topic: RaMbLeS | 0

Every Noise At Once is an explorable, listenable acoustic map of over 1300 genres of the world of music. It is related to Spotify and last year they analyzed Christmas carols/songs.

As Christianity Today reported the other day:

Jesus is the reason for the season. But he doesn’t show up much in the top Christmas songs played on Spotify.”

Daniel Silliman, journalist, historian, and news editor for the magazine reported that the most-played Christmas song around the world was Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You” (1994), followed by Wham!’s “Last Christmas” (1984), and Ariana Grande’s “Santa Tell Me” (2014). None of them mention Jesus.

Other top songs do make some oblique references to the religious aspect of the holiday, but most stick to love, the weather, mistletoe, Mr. Claus, and an occasional chestnut or sleighbell.

The most popular Christmas song to mention Jesus in it is Boney M.’s “Mary’s Boy Child/Oh My Lord” (1978), which comes in at #71. It is followed by Nina Nesbitt singing “O Holy Night” (2018) at #79, and Josh Groban and Faith Hill performing “The First Nöel” (2007) at #90.

This is all global data. There are differences between countries (and within them between ethnicities), revealing differences in musical taste, majority religion, holiday tradition, and the spread of Christianity by the 4M’s: missionaries, militaries, markets, and migrations.

Silliman:

In Greenland, the top Christmas song to mention Jesus is in Danish, while in Vietnam, it’s an English rendition of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.” In Russia, the true meaning of the day is heralded by Diana Ross, who sings that “On Christmas Morn New Hope Is Born,” while in Qatar, the most popular Christian Christmas song is a hit from the Philippines that places Jesus at the center of the celebration.”

How about that? Qataris like a song in Tagalog about Jesus. (Or is it the Filipinos living in Qatar who do?)

Anyhow, here it is:

Kikislap ang pag-asa
Kahit kanino man
Dahil ikaw Bro, dahil ikaw Bro
Ang star ng pasko

Hope will shine once again
Within everyone
Because of you, bro. Because of you, bro.
The star of Christmas.

I’m guessing “bro” is Jesus, and though I like him referred to as the “star” (for me at least, the hero/champion, not the astronomical body), I’m not sure whether such a casual familiarity with the Lord of the universe is called for. “Bro”???

For He [God] rescued us from the domain of darkness,
and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son [Jesus],
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth,
visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—
all things have been created through Him and for Him.
He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
Colossians 1:13–17

And he doesn’t even get a mention in the most popular carols sung on the day of his birth on the earth he created!

(At least the Qataris call him “bro”!)

But one day he will be named alright!

… at the name of Jesus every knee will bow,
of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and that every tongue will confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:10–11

And of his kingdom, there will be no end …

… to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore.
Isaiah 9:7

A blessed Christmas, y’all!

SOURCE: Christianity Today