Sunday, January 4, 2009

Free Music from CompassionArt

The album won't officially be out til January 27, but you can already download songs from CompassionArt's multi-artist compilation, CompassionArt: Creating Freedom from Poverty, here for free or make a charitable donation.

The story of the album goes as follows:

It reads like a bad gag; what do you get when you leave 12 Christian songwriters in a remote Scottish house for five days? Answer: anything but a joke. CompassionArt: The Album is one of the most remarkable releases of recent years. Read on to find out how it all happened…

In January 2008 – after a year and a half of planning – Martin and Anna Smith were joined by 11 other songwriters for the first CompassionArt retreat. Next to a Scottish Loch a few hours north of Glasgow were these dozen writers who between them had written pretty much every song the church has been singing over the last decade.

A week later and the group emerged with a whole load of new songs that are bound to provide the soundtrack for the coming years; songs that answered the question 'what's faith got to do with poverty?'

Four weeks later and the writers were gathered in Abbey Road to record the best fifteen tracks from the retreat.

The twelve songwriters were none other than Paul Baloche, Steven Curtis Chapman, Stu G and Martin Smith of Delirious?, Israel Houghton, Tim Hughes, Graham Kendrick, Andy Park, Matt Redman, Michael W. Smith, Chris Tomlin, Darlene Zschech.


Each artist got to pick a charity that 1/24th of the royalties would go to. The remaining 50% will go to CompassionArt projects such as providing food, shelter, and education to orphaned children in the Watoto community in Uganda and providing funds for music and arts centers that support the world-famous Watoto Children's Choir.

In concert...
Chris Tomlin and Israel Houghton & New Breed will be at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, on January 23, for the Hello Love Tour.

Michael W. Smith will be performing, along with Billy Ray Cyrus (aka Hannah Montana's dad), Charlie Daniels, and Lee Greenwood, at the Six Flags in Jackson, NJ, on August 15, as part of the Freedom Concerts.

None of the artists are currently scheduled to perform in New York City.

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