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ATLANTA-
Longtime South DeKalb resident and gospel musician James Cockerham will release
his new CD, “Morning Meditation.”
The 10-song Christian instrumental CD of quiet, soothing music is the
culmination of nearly two years of work.
It began in 2000 after Cockerham stopped brushing aside suggestions from
members of From the Heart Church Ministries of Atlanta in College Park, Georgia,
where he has been minister of music for six years.
“Church members would come to me after service and ask if I had thought
about recording a Christian instrumental CD,”he said. “At first, I just
smiled and said, ‘no.’”
When he finally decided to listen to the requests, the project took on a
life of its own. Cockerham, who plays keyboard, said he thought first of doing
contemporary gospel- songs you can move to and get up and dance to- but late one
night, he realized the value of the other side. “There is beauty in
quietness,” he said. “There is beauty in simplicity. You don’t have to
have everything just coming at you.”
He decided then to produce a quiet CD, devoted to relaxation and
meditation. It was not an easy task.
“It was difficult writing quiet music,” he said. “How do you make
people relax?”
The CD features nine of the familiar hymns that Cockerham grew up with in
the church and the original song, “Morning Meditation,” which he wrote two
years ago. He arranged and played all the songs on the disc.
On the title track,
Cockerham, who has never been to Africa, said he
pictured beautiful Victoria Falls and tried to capture its beauty in the music.
Victoria Falls, at the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe, are
approximately twice as wide and twice as deep as Niagara Falls. The falls span
the entire breadth of the Zambezi River at one of its widest points (more than
5,500 feet), where the river plunges over a precipice, split by islands and
promontories, to a drop of 355 feet.
“I imaged the water cascading off the falls and seeing it in the early
morning with the sun rising,” he said.” I tried to capture the awesomeness
of God in sound.
“Morning Meditation” is Cockerham’s eighth recording and
his second CD. His first CD, ‘Nobody Like Jesus,” was released in 1999.
On “Morning Meditation,” music lovers will find not only piano solos,
but also bass, guitar, drums, strings and horns that Cockerham orchestrated on
old favorites like “Be Grateful,” “I Surrender All,” “Give Me a Clean
Heart” and “Hear Our Prayer, Oh Lord.”
As he did the arrangements, Cockerham said he envisioned individuals
listening to a piano, bass guitar, and drums softly playing “Sweet Hour of
Prayer,” “Blessed Assurance,” and “Just As I Am” as they begin their
day with prayer.
He is hoping that individuals and churches will play the CD as background
music as they pray, and he envisions people relaxing to it after a stressful day
at work, or just for meditation.
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