Originally published January 9, 2015
What a delight to be with our wonderful Mongolian family again. Heart Sounds first entered the country in 2003 with a team of two, Frank Fortunato and Paul Neeley. A major breakthrough came in the first songwriting workshop with them. Prior to this, they had very few worship songs of their own. And, there was no use of the traditional instruments or song forms of Mongolia for worship. This first project sparked a number of new songs, including some with Mongolia’s indigenous sounds.
After several years of subsequent projects, Mongolia now has a large repertoire of new worship songs. Previously, we only knew of Ganaa, one of Mongolia’s most well known Christian composers. This year’s project is a recording of 18 new songs written by new composers, musicians, and worship leaders.
Furthermore, Ganaa and others have formed Mongolia’s first National Worship Council. This project is part of Heart Sounds' long term mission to support the National Worship Council’s efforts among their people.
Geoff Logan served in overseeing song production, enlisting the help of two friends, Zach Annette and David John. They produced very good accompaniment tracks of a wide range of styles, including indigenous sounds of Mongolia. This was a first for Heart Sounds to produce the tracks by a team of USA producers/musicians. All songs were created from demos sent by our Mongolian friends.
Ken Davidson then spent five days in Mongolia tracking all of the vocals. The spiritual vitality of the Mongolian church was once again experienced, beginning each morning with typical Mongolian “style” prayer and worship. We were quite amazed with the amount of vocals captured in three very full days of recording.
Another highlight for Heart Sounds was to record traditional Long Song which will be featured in a song sung by Altagerel (note his picture with the National Worship Council shown below).
These songs will be greatly used in Mongolia and beyond!
National Worship Council (Left to Right: Navchaa, Altangerel, Ganaa, Tuvshee)
Pastor Naraa
Ochma
