Stabbingly Drop-Jaw Fantastical

I am not one for listening to recorded music. I have better things to do, and as I have discovered early on, I cannot listen to music and do anything else at the same time. I am compelled to sit and listen, in the same way I am compelled to be still in front of a painting or work of art.

Live music is another thing. I have become entranced with certain musicians I have heard live. There haven't been many, but when I take a shine to one, I am likely to go into cyber stalking mode.

INTRODUCTION #1
VEDA HILLE.
Hailing from Vancouver,I first heard her in Albert in a tent at the South Country Fair. How can I describe her? Eclectic, fantastical, staggering in the array of unusual lyrics, melodies, piano compositions, and sounds. Truly an unusual oddity that has me hooked like a wandering goat lost in the Himalayas without a teat to suckle on.

Listen to Veda Hille on MySpace


Lyrics to her Tuktoyaktuk Hymn written after spending time up on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, at the uppermost edge of Canada in Tuktoyaktuk, a small Inuvialuit community. The song's bridge sends shivers down my spine everytime...

Jesus, where'er Thy people meet,
There they behold thy mercy seat;
Where'er they seek Thee Thou art found,
And every place is hallowed ground.

Tuktoyaktuk, plain dirt roads;
They all lead to Thy wooden house;
Lord, we have built this house for Thee,
On frozen ground by northern sea.

The winter's dark is cold and long;
We call Thee Lord, we bid Thee come,
White crosses in our graveyard stand;
Protect us in Thy willful land.

From sudden storm
Guns that jam
Alcohol
Late spring break up
Thin ice
Rogue bear
Engine failure, engine failure
Failure, failure

Lord, we are few, but Thou art near;
Nor short Thine arm, nor deaf Thine ear;
O rend the heavens, come quickly down,
And make a thousand hearts Thine own.

Tuktoyaktuk Amen