music notes

CD celebrates a love of the land

A group of women across the country, including many Unitarian Universalists, have just released a new CD featuring songs celebrating their geographical surroundings. Entitled O Beautiful Gaia, Love Songs to Earth, the CD is a compilation of songs and music that reflects the women's love for the areas they live in. The songs were recorded by groups in three bioregions of North America, including Atlantic Canada, Atlantic New England, and the Great Lakes Basin.

The project was envisioned by musician and songwriter Caroline McDade, author of several hymns in the UU hymnal Singing the Living Tradition. The groups began meeting in 2002 to talk about their love and concern for their particular geography. Exercises included reading about the land and visiting different parts of it. After meeting several times, the women began to create words that expressed their feelings, words that were then set to music in collaboration with McDade. The different groups then recorded their pieces for the CD.

The project's goal was to get people to care about sustainability, according to the Rev. Penny Hackett-Evans, one of the Great Lakes Basin participants. The groups were intended to bring together women who would draw inspiration from one another and then use this energy to renew their bonds to the environment.

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