Last Saturday, another historical day for CSS because Fr. Cyprian Consiglio visited our very own CSS here in Shah Alam. So who is he? Cyprian Consiglio, a Camaldolese monk, musician and teacher. He resides near Santa Cruz, California when he is not on the road. He travels extensively internationally, performing concerts, teaching and leading retreats. Musically he is a singer, a guitarist, a composer, recording artist and producer. (
quote from his blog)
It all started when I was surfing CDM’s website searching mass schedule when I come across an announcement says “Music, Prayer and Reflection by Fr. Cyprian Consiglio….” well that’s nice, I thought with no intention to go for the concert. Then on Sunday, while reading the church bulletin, again I saw the same announcement, this time the words seems glowing and I can feel the words calling my name “Amanda.. Amanda.. marilah pigi tinguk siaa”, I keep the bulletin and ignore it since I was in mass (Shhh.. urang sembahyang). After mass, on my way to the grotto, I pass through the notice board and again saw… “MUSIC, PRAYER & REFLECTIN….”, but now it’s not mere words but an A3 size poster with a priest sitting with a guitar. Okay. I have to go this thing, the concert was on Thursday 8.30pm, so I text all my housemate & CSS exco on wed night, whether they want to join me to the concert. On the event, Kendy, Ros, Recca, Zyzy, Decimus & Elvin joined me.
After hearing the sweet sounds of Fr Cyprian, I forget the discomfort of the hot steamy SFX church area. It is a pleasure to attend the concert, so inspiring, tidak menyesal la. Then I bought his 2 Album, each cost RM 35/-, “My Soul’s Companion” and “Echo of Your Peace”. So, people, if you’re interested in getting his song for free, you can copy from me or other EXCO, capacity of 108MB. (Mmg cetak rompak, but can’t find it here in Malaysia.. as some of the songs.. very controversial...)
And here is an excerpt taken from Fr. Cyprian’s blog…
...After the concert at SFX that night (St Francis Xavier Church as opposed to SFA, St Francis of Assisi) there was an unusual number of folks wanting me to sign their CDs. There are always a handful but this time, even though the church was mobbed, it seemed way out of proportion. While I was singing away a group of 8 or 9 young people approached me, a little shyly, one or two of them wanting me to sign, some just wanting to stand there it seemed. They had such beautiful birght faces that I really wanted to bask in their presence, so I started a conversation with them. I could tell from looking at them that they were neither Chinese, Indian or Malay and I found out soon on that they were all from the island of Borneo, from the two states, Sabah and Sarawak, in the north quarter of the island that are known as Eastern Malaysia. The southern rest of the island belongs to Indonesia. (More and more the whole idea of borders between so-called countries seems so arbitrary, especially the ones super-imposed by the colonials.) In the course of chatting with them and asking them questions, I ascertained that they are all Catholics and that they all live together, and that turned into an arrangement for me to come to their place on Saturday for lunch and music. After a wonderful Saturday morning trek through a jungle park named Gassling Park with a friend of his, Jeff, Dr Pat's son, who has been my interpid chauffeur, running partner and dharma protector all week, drove me out to Shah Alam, an area about 20 km outside of KL. Shah Alam is home to the famous impressive Shah Allam sport stadium and also to UITM, the University of Technology MARA. This university is reserved to "bumis"--short for "bumi putras"-sons of the land, in other words, no Chinese or Indians, only ethnic Malays, who are all Muslim, but also through a kind of loop hole in the law, the indigenous peoples of Eastern Malaysia, since they are also technically "bumis." What makes the Eastern Malaysians feel twice out-of-place there is that not only are they not Malays, they are not Muslims, but mostly Christians. So one of the bishops on Borneo bought this house specifically for Eastern Malaysian Catholics to live together. Mind you, they themselves are only somewhat related geographically, but are from different states and different tribes and therefore different language groups themselves. They communicate mostly in Bahasa, but are mainly united in that they are all Catholic. These, of course, are also the main people affected by the ban on using the word "Allah," since that is the word for God in their language. It all got very concrete, and fascinating. These are little nuances about which most of us in the West would have no idea at all.
About 15 of them gathered to meet with me, soem whom I had not met yet. They all came pouring out of the house as we pulled up. One of the members of the group is a very talented artist named Kandy. He has already finished school, but while working toward making a living on his art he remains there in the house serving as the cook. I was told he was famous for "Kandy Soup," and I had asked for that specifically. They had a very nice meal of that and many other dishes laid out on the mats on the floor of the main room and we chatted through lunch, mostly us asking eachother questions. I think I had more questions for them than they for me.
Then after eating we spent most of the next hour and a half singing. They did a bunch of their songs for me, the words projected onto a screen from a computer, in a variety of languages, mostly in the "praise and worship" genre. These included at least one song in English that went like this: "Move a little bit for Jesus, you feel good (sic): bop-shoobop, bop-bop-shoobop," followed by some bahasa words: "Fewah, fewah, fewah-oh..." Then, "Twist a little bit for Jesus..." and "bump," "dance," etc., all with motions. They liked what they called "action songs." At one point they also sang a beautiful "Alleluia" in a pentatonic scale in imitation of an indigenous stringed instrument which I recored on my phone, and they also performed a dance for me. Two of the guys were pretty good guitarists, first just accompanying the group, but then I asked each of them to play a little something. The one, Zyzy, has been studying classical guitar and he did two nice pieces for us. The other, Rolland, did a Latin jazz piece, also very good. I did a little set for them too of the pieces that I thought they would like the most: "Sab Bhole" from India, "Lovingkindness" from Indonesia, and the my bluesy arrangment of the American Quaker "How Can I Keep From Singing," which Rolland played along with me. It was great fun. Jeff and I had had an agreement that he would pick me back up in two hours but if it wasn;'t going well I coul djust text him and he would come earlier. When he arrived we were singing and dancing, so he came in and we stayed another half and hour while we prayed together and they showered me with gifts, including a framed copy of one of Kandy's latest prints.
Soup of the day : 'Kendy Soup'
One of my favorite song is 'Loving Kindness', song that is based on a Balinese gamelan melody with a Buddhist text
Kendy the artist
Group photo is a must
