Thank You For the Music
I have just had an experience that almost defies description. When asked to explain what exactly Abba Voyage is like, Bjorn Ulvaeus said that you just have to see it. I would agree.
This weekend, thanks to my darling sister who bought tickets for my 60th birthday, I experienced nostalgia, wonder and joy as I watched the singers that I so loved in my teenage years perform as they did in the 1970s, their youthfulness recreated by technology. The sensation was surreal and my mouth literally hung open for the first part of the concert (although this word hardly conveys the full impact of Abba’s immersive high-tech venture).
Surrounded by the sounds that helped to define my childhood, I was transported back in time by the fab fours’ uncanny avatars, who strutted so convincingly across the stage, casting shadows that belied their physicality. It was if the Swedish band had been frozen in time at some point in the 1970s and then reanimated.
As the familiar songs washed over me, a memory rose to the surface of my mind; I am 12 years old playing at being Abba with my next-door neighbour (being blond she was Agnetha and I was Ana-Frida), dancing around her bedroom, singing into hairbrushes masquerading as microphones. At the same time, I feel as if I have I have been catapulted into the latter part of the 21st century; what I am seeing is the future of entertainment, but most of all what I feel is sheer joy as I sing along at the top of my voice to the familiar pop hits. The music makes me feel so vibrantly alive after all my battles with cancer and as the band belt out the words to their worldwide hit Thank You For the Music, I find myself pondering the question from the lyrics ‘Without a song or a dance, what are we?’
What are we indeed? Our ability to create music is perhaps one of the greatest gifts that God has given us. Music makes a direct appeal to our soul that transcends words. The work of everyone from our greatest classical composers to pop artists like Abba gives voice to the deepest longings of our hearts — which is why music is so important to our Creator.
Music is woven throughout the Bible; from Miriam’s triumphal song by the Red Sea to David’s uninhibited musical accompaniment of the ark into Jerusalem; from Mary’s ‘Magnificat’ to the hymns of heaven in Revelation. David used music to soothe Saul’s madness and the disciples sang at the Last Supper before Jesus went to his death. 1 Chronicles 15:16 and 23:5 record that more than one in ten Levites in temple service were musicians and the Psalms exhort us to ‘Praise the Lord with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre’ (Psalm 33:2) and to ‘make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night, to the music of the ten-stringed lyre and the melody of the harp’ (Psalm 92:1-3).
Not everyone, of course, can play a music instrument, but we can all sing. And the Bible encourages us to give voice to our awe and wonder at the greatest of God ‘singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart’ (Ephesians 5:19). I’m not suggesting that Abba write hymns of praise (and there are some forms of secular music which celebrate those things that displease God) but the Swedish songbirds produced do convey something of the joy of simply being alive. And even if we don’t realise it as we sing we are giving voice to a most essential part of our being; a part of us that recognises the mystery and joy of being alive. And for Christians, the music that bubbles up in our soul is always directed to our creator.
So I will continue to sing along with the other Abba fans, ‘Thank you for the music’ and ‘will sing to the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live’ (Psalm 104:33).
Kate Nicholas is a preacher, Christian author, broadcaster and consultant. Visit Kate’s website www.katenicholas.co.uk to find out more about her books, TV show, online courses and blog Faith, Life and Cancer.
Image: I fully respect Abba’s request not to take or post images of the extraordinary performance, and this image is my photo of the wonderful printed programme accompanies the concert.