Schoolmarm Wood Publications: Palimpsest CD
We are pleased to present an album of Bahá’í inspired music by Randall Dighton. Yes, the calligrapher who has been so generous with his work, making most of his creations available as free downloads on our home page, now shares with us his other considerable talents--singing, songwriting, and of course, a bit of guitar playing. In this first album for Schoolmarm Wood Publications, he presents ten of his most recent compositions and one classic favorite from 1974.
To listen to a sound clip from a song, please click on its title.
For Our Daughters and Our Sons
Bahá'u'lláh, Thy Holy Name is Calling
Thy Name is My Healing, O My God (Full song)
And we have added a bonus to this inaugural album. Each CD comes with a DVD containing videos of Will You Look Now, My Friend and I Praise Bahá'u'lláh. Just click on the title to view the entire video. Of course, these web videos cannot match the quality of the ones on the DVD. We thought, though, that seeing the whole video, rather than a tease, might encourage you to place an order so you can show them at your next Devotion, Feast, Fireside, or Study Circle, or any other time you're in the mood to watch them.
Crisp, melodic and inspiring.
Song selections include minstrel-like melodies.
His guitar work is consistently beautiful.
Fanciful and light-hearted, upbeat and moving.
Enjoyed the Irish lilt to Baha'u'llah, Thy Holy
Name is Calling.--T.J.
M.
Palimpsest is an original, highly creative work expressing Randall's love for the Bahá'í Faith and its essential theme of the unity of humanity. His profound love for Bahá'u'lláh is beautifully expressed in the final selection, "I Praise Bahá'u'lláh", my favorite piece, although it was hard to choose a favorite. I especially enjoyed the variety of song styles, ranging from the clever, humorous "The Miraculous Cow" to Randall's moving rendition of the Healing Prayer and other sacred verses.
This CD is especially useful for teaching the Bahá'í Faith. I plan to select one of the songs and weave a fireside discussion around it. Randall has given us the gift of his exceptional musical talent combined with his passion for sharing his love for his Faith through song and verse.--Jesse M.
Because Randall's music is easy to learn to sing, if not downright catchy sometimes, we have added one further bonus. A free book of sheet music for every song. Simply click here to download the PDF file. Together with the CD, it can make adding music to your study circles, devotions, and other activities quite easy.
We've decided to try entering the iTunes age with this CD as well. PayPal's minimum tranaction amount is well above iTunes' 99 cents for a single song, so we're offering all eleven songs plus the two music videos for $10.00. That's a much better deal than iTunes. We've also become aware that, despite our best efforts, PayPal still attaches a shipping charge to the download charge. When we receive notice of the Palimpsest download charge, we will immediately refund the shipping charge, so please do not let that prevent you from downloading Palimpsest.
If you are wondering where Randall got the name Palimpsest for this album, it comes out of his calligraphic background. A palimpsest is a manuscript page (usually made of parchment) that has had the old writing scraped off and then been written on again. This was a not uncommon practice before the development of inexpensive paper. Interestingly, the term also has a musical reference--new lyrics set to an older, familiar tune. This was the primary genesis to the album's name, as he did just this for two songs. See if you can identify which ones. Finally, there is a third use of the term: a metaphor for spiritual rebirth.