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Aaraadhanaa Ho (We worship you)

Beating Time

AARAADHANAA HO (We worship you)
CD produced by South Asian Concern (020 8770 9717)

South Asian Concern's aim is to equip Christians to be more effective in outreach amongst South Asians! This can be done partly through showing how heartfelt songs of praise to God are not a Western preserve. Aaraadhanaa ho is 'a resource pack for multicultural worship, 22 songs with a mixture of language and musical styles, original compositions and old favourites'.

The very first track, 'Ishu', has 'Jesus, you are my Lord' repeated in Hindi, Gujarati, Tamil and Bengali, with the rest of the song in English. This, and the wide variety of vocalists and instruments, reinforces the glorious Bible truth that we are 'all one in Christ Jesus', an urgent message in these days of racial conflict.

Aaraadhanaa ho fulfils the most important consideration: the lyrics enable worship of God 'in spirit and truth'. Themes such as creation, the uniqueness of Jesus in the shedding of His blood and His victory over death, God's love and the Holy Spirit are rejoiced in throughout. Jesus is praised as Saviour, Good Shepherd, Redeemer and Lord. Encouragingly against the grain of a lot of modern song writing, 'negatives' such as human sin and the need for the new birth, the attacks of Satan and the temptation of the world: 'I am so weak and I shake with fear/Come Lord and take control of this boat ... There's darkness of worldly possessions/Greed is here and everywhere/You saved your disciples on the lake/In the same way, help me reach safety.'

As for the music, if you like semi-acoustic guitar, piano and synth alongside your tabla, sitar and dholak, and can forgive some slightly questionable intonation, then this is for you. I found I was humming the title track in the shower this morning, so it's catchy too! It's a real East-meets-West experience, and one gets the image of real brothers and sisters in Christ, of all hues sitting down together in a circle, worshipping God together. I recommend getting a copy for your church and learning some of the songs together, especially if there are Asians in your community and you are looking to reach out amongst them more (and we should be!). Yahova ki hamd ho (Praise the Lord)!

Neil Richardson, Watford