LEAH HOKANSON
Leah Hokanson is a lifelong adventurer in music and sound—as a composer, community choir leader, pianist, improviser, singer-songwriter, and certified sound healing practitioner. Leah is co-founder of Sound, Belonging & Wholeness (SoundBelongingWholeness.com), offering programs that explore vocal sounding and intentional listening as portals to Presence, healing and transformation. She also directs the Song Keepers Women’s Choir (Gabriola Island), is Music Director at the First Unitarian Fellowship of Nanaimo, and leads Contemporary Ecstatic Chanting sessions at Bethlehem Centre (Nanaimo).
Leah holds a Master’s degree in piano performance, and has served in music ministry for churches and spiritual organizations for 40 years. She has composed and recorded two volumes of “Diamond Chants” (with a third on the way), which are dedicated to her great grandmother Sarah Diamant (Diamond). Diamond Chants blend the simplicity of the chant form, the wisdom and inspiration of ecstatic poetry, and a variety of popular music genres. She has also recorded two albums of original songs: Facets (2018) and Portals (2021).
Begin With the Heart
by Leah Hokanson
Three parts, in any combination SSA, TBB or mixed – CP 2273 – duration 2:45
No Wonder I Sing All Day
by Leah Hokanson
Three parts, in any combination (SAA, SAB, TBB) – CP 2375 – duration 2:40
The first line of this chant—”So amazing is this choir of earth and sky, sun and moon. No wonder I sing all day”—is a translation of words by 8th century Sufi mystic poet Rabia Basri. The rest is a riff on her words, in praise of the “choir” that sings all around us. How can we help but exuberantly sing along?
So amazing is this choir
Out Beyond
by Leah Hokanson
Three parts, in any combination (SAA, SAB, TBB) – CP 2401 – duration 2:45
No Wonder I Sing All Day is part of a body of work I call Diamond Chants. Playfully referred to as “ecstatic pop,” Diamond Chants blend the simplicity of the chant form, the wisdom and inspiration of ecstatic poetry, and a variety of popular music genres, including R&B, pop ballad, folk, gospel, funk and world music. Diamond Chants are dedicated to my great grandmother, Sarah Diamant (Diamond).
Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing,
There is a field. I’ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
The world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
Doesn’t make any sense.
Rumi – 13th century Sufi mystic and poet
Sound of the Ocean
by Leah Hokanson
Three parts, in any combination SSA, TBB or SAB – CP 2364 – duration 3:55
I’m listening to the sound of the ocean
to the motion of the sea
There is Some Kiss We Want
by Leah Hokanson
SSA with piano – CP 2433 – duration 3:00
SAB with piano – CP 2434
There is some kiss we want with our whole lives
the touch of spirit on the body
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Contact
General Inquiries:
jason@cypresschoral.com
Composers
Catalogue
Special Collections
Gordon Lightfoot
Songs for the Sanctuary
Vancouver Youth Choir Series
Canadian Chamber Choir Series
Elektra Women"s Choir Series
La Série Enchantée (French))
The Zimfira Collection (Children)
Profondo - (Lower Voices)
Universal Gospel Choir
Jean-Sébastien Vallée Series
Diane Loomer Choral Series (Folk Song)