Sound in the Land: Essays on Mennonites and Music, edited by Maureen Epp and Carol Ann Weaver
2005. 220 pp. ISBN: 978-1894710596
Available on Amazon.ca and Amazon.com
"In May 2004 more than 100 persons gathered at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo, Ontario, to take part in a festival and conference dedicated to exploring the diversity of music made by Mennonites. There were scholarly papers, some of which are included in Sound in the Land, reading sessions and concerts of a wide variety of musical styles, ranging from the singing of hymns both old and new through classical to jazz, rock and bluegrass. Gathered into four sections, the essays in this book are representative of that diversity. The first, as one might expect, deals with hymnals, the heart of Mennonite music making over the centuries, the second with musical figures 'at the edges,' and the third explores the world of Mennonite performers, composers and singer-songwriters. The fourth section returns to the theme of hymns and hymnals, this time emphasizing their place and meaning within the communities in which they are used." — Wesley Berg in the Journal of Mennonite Studies
“Music is the mysticism of Mennonites . . . our incense, our vestments, our iconography. Music is our soul. But, as with most things Mennonite, where even two or three are gathered together there is rarely agreement on what is sacred or sacrilege. The triumph of this volume of essays is that it resists the trap of exclusivity and accepts the widest embrace of possibilities.” — Eric Friesen, former host of Studio Sparks, CBC Radio 2.
Sound in the Land: Essays on Mennonites and Music, edited by Maureen Epp and Carol Ann Weaver, is a collection of papers and poetry presented at the Sound in the Land Festival/Conference held at Conrad Grebel in May, 2004. Contributors include Mary K. Oyer, Doreen H. Klassen, Jonathan Dueck, Anna Janecek, Jeff Gundy and many more.