Raymond Arroyo, commenting on the odd choices for some of the music in the liturgy at Nationals Stadium, after listening to an absolutely awful conga version of an offertory hymn (including bongos and a some sort of steel kettle drum) just said that “the music in this liturgy, is out of character for papal masses of late. The music has a sort of amazon flavor to it!”
Funny and sad.
Update: That mass, musically speaking, was one of the oddest things I have ever seen. It was so multicultural that it ceased to have any culture whatsoever! There were so many different bad songs in different languages it served merely as a testament to how multi-culturally banal we are. Father Neuhaus, commenting on EWTN, went so far as to call it mere chatter. That is a very polite way of putting it. All this banal and incomprehensible chatter reminded of a passage in Genesis.
“Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”
Apparently, we didn’t need God to intervene this time, we did it to ourselves.
Beside the conga, the Amen sounded like to beginning of the chariot sequence from Ben-hur. Perhaps this was a tribute to Charlton Heston? Whatever it was, it was certainly bizarre.
One cannot help but wonder what the Holy Father must think of it. If we are lucky, perhaps this multicultural conflagration will put an end to the stadium masses once and for all.
April 17, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Did you hear Fr. N. refer to the “chatter” of the music? Cracked me up!
April 17, 2008 at 5:10 pm
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April 17, 2008 at 5:12 pm
… but the Holy Father’s homily was wonderful!
April 17, 2008 at 5:53 pm
At the Easter Vigil I went to a parish with a five minue alleluia with kettle drum.
The alleluia itself was hard to describe unless you imagine Tarzan doing it.
April 17, 2008 at 6:04 pm
Fr. Neuhaus was was deliciously biting in his commentary on the music. Other than the Pope’s homily, that was the highlight.
As for kettle drums at mass. You wouldn’t think that you would need to tell people that it is inappropriate. If you are lounging on a beach drinking dos equis, fine. Papal liturgies, not so much.
April 17, 2008 at 7:08 pm
“If you are lounging on a beach drinking dos equis, fine.”
What if you were to sneak Dos Equis into the stadium, would that help?
April 17, 2008 at 7:11 pm
This is what happens when you care only for the message you are trying to send (Look at us! We’re so cool and multicultural!) and next to nothing about the occasion itself. What an embarrassment.
April 17, 2008 at 7:19 pm
I thought it was great: I was able to excape the confines of my evil western culture and heritage and be transported to a tribe somewhere deep interior of the dark continent. Thank God that we are moving beyond such passe concepts as good taste and reverence. Long Live Fluffiness!
April 17, 2008 at 7:26 pm
Horatius,
The fact that you made your comment in English, the vestiges of an evil colonial empire, shows that you still have much multicultural progress to make.
Pole pole ndio mwendo.
(slow and steady wins the race in Swahili) Now that is multicultural!
April 17, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Apesadumbrado, eso tiene demasiado significado y verdad a ser multicultural. Las culturas son como los sombreros, tú no consideran, diversión para intentar encendido los diversos, pero esencialmente igual.
抱歉,那有许多意思和真相多文化。 文化是象帽子,你没看见,乐趣试穿不同那些的,但是本质上同样。
Droevig, heeft dat multicultureel teveel betekenis en waarheid te zijn. De culturen zijn als hoeden, u zien niet, pret op verschillende degenen te proberen, maar hoofdzakelijk het zelfde.
Désolé, cela a trop de signification et vérité à être multiculturelle. Les cultures sont comme des chapeaux, vous ne voient pas, amusement pour essayer les différents, mais essentiellement le même.
Traurig, hat das zu viel Bedeutung und Wahrheit, zum multikulturell zu sein. Kulturen sind wie Hüte, nicht du sehen, der Spaß, zum die verschiedene an zu versuchen, aber im Wesentlichen die selben.
Spiacente, quello ha troppi significato e verità da essere multi-cultural. Le colture sono come i cappelli, voi non vedono, divertimento per provare sopra quei differenti, ma essenzialmente gli stessi.
残念、それはたくさんの意味および真実を多文化である有する。 文化は帽子のよう、見ない、異なった物を試みる楽しみ本質的に同じである。
유감스러운, 그것에는 너무 많은 의미 및 진실이 다문화 일 것이다 있다. 문화는 모자 같이, 당신 보지 않는다, 다른 그들을 위에 시도하는 재미, 그러나 근본적으로 동일 이다.
Pesaroso, isso tem demasiados significado e verdade a ser multicultural. As culturas são como chapéus, você não consideram, divertimento para tentar sobre o diferentes, mas essencialmente o mesmo.
Огорченно, то имеет слишком много смысль и правду, котор нужно быть multi-cultural. Культуры как шлемы, вы не видят, потеха для того чтобы попытаться дальше по-разному одни, но необходимо эти же.
Sorry, that has too much meaning and truth to be multi-cultural. Cultures are like hats, don’t you see, fun to try on different ones, but essentially the same.
April 17, 2008 at 8:27 pm
“Pole pole ndio mwendo.”
Then there’s Tagalog, one of the languages used at the general intercessions: “Ang mabagal at matatag ang panalo sa laban.”
Yeah, that’s the ticket.
April 17, 2008 at 9:46 pm
As for kettle drums at mass. You wouldn’t think that you would need to tell people that it is inappropriate.
I’m glad no one told Joseph Haydn that when he composed the Paukenmesse.
April 17, 2008 at 10:02 pm
It wasn’t just Papa Haydn. We had a setting by Dvorak for our Mass on Easter Sunday, and we had kettle drums in our orchestra for that. It was awesome!
April 17, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Quite right, David; also the Requiem masses of Mozart, Berlioz and Verdi, to name a few more.
April 17, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Did anyone stop to think for a moment that all those different languages were used because those languages are spoken in the Archdiocese of Washington (and Masses are regularly said in those languages).
I was at the Mass and from what I was told, the crowds were not shown very much, if at all.
There many many contingents of Filipinos, Koreans, Vietnamese in the crowd. There was also a huge Hispanic presence at the Mass.
I disagree with the concept of multiculturalism, but I don’t think it is outrageous for one petition to be spoken in the various languages of those people actually in attendance.
April 17, 2008 at 10:21 pm
How arrogant and self serving were those who made the preparations for this mass. It went directly against what Pope Benedict has been teaching regarding the celebration of the Eucharist.
It was a slap in the face to our Holy Father the Pope.
We are all Americans who speak English not hyphenated Americans.
April 18, 2008 at 1:14 am
Bovina,
Quite right. I should have been more specific. Steel kettle drums or whatever they are properly called. I am not sure Haydn used those as well!
Well, maybe when he was on vacation in Jamaica!
April 18, 2008 at 1:40 am
The Holy Father looks utterly petrified half of Mass! “When will this end?” I don’t think I am imagining this look on his face, folks!
April 18, 2008 at 3:57 am
I thought I saw BXVI roll his eyes a couple times during the Mass at Nationals Stadium. I know I did more than twice.
April 18, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Patrick, they are known simply as steel drums because they were first fashioned from 55-gallon oil drums left behind in Trinidad by departing allied troops at the end of World War II. “Drum” actually refers to the barrel from which the instrument is made, the part whacked with hammers is called the “pan” (but let’s not get pedantic). They have a lovely sound and if the music is appropriate and directs our attention to God, there’s no reason they can’t be used in a Mass.
The problem isn’t the instruments; it’s the crap that’s played on them.