Ayer Salak – A concert tour across three cities in Malaysia brought together Chinese Catholic hymn composers, musicians and parish groups to celebrate the faith through sacred music. With this original initiative, the Mandarin Service of Radio Veritas Asia marked its 50th broadcasting anniversary.
The concerts also marked the 12th anniversary of the “Global Chinese Hymn Composition Contest,” launched in 2014 as a platform for composers to create Chinese faith-inspired sacred music.
The tour, according to a report published on the Radio Veritas Asia website, opened on July 31 at St. Mary’s Chapel in Ayer Salak, Malacca, a site with more than 150 years of history linked to Chinese Catholic communities in Malaysia.
There, many local Chinese Catholic communities gathered for an evening of music and thanksgiving.
Father John Mi Shen, Executive Secretary of the Office of Social Communication of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences and Program Director of Radio Veritas Asia, highlighted the steady growth of the Global Chinese Hymn Composition Contest. Over the years, the competition has given composers the opportunity to create nearly 600 original hymns for the Chinese Catholic Church, providing a vast repertoire for use in liturgical celebrations and community events.
“About 30 percent of the submissions,” Father John Mi noted, “have come from Malaysian composers, as do about 70 percent of the winning hymns in the past four editions.” For this reason, Father John described the concert as a “journey of thanksgiving,” expressing the hope that the Holy Spirit will continue to inspire composers to create music for Chinese-speaking Catholic communities around the world.
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