The Shiyr Poets
The Shiyr Poets
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About
Pronounced “Sheer,” the SHIYR Poets are Brian Doerksen, Calum Rees, Brian Thiessen and Teresa Trask. You may need help in pronouncing some of our names especially if you are not a Mennonite or born in Wales, but for now we just want you to know how to pronounce SHIYR.
We are a group of friends, songwriters and musicians who came together to create, record and perform folk-rock settings of the ancient Psalms.
We are attempting to render each Psalm in its entirety and also in sequence. When the Psalms are experienced and encountered in the order published from antiquity, a profound narrative arc emerges.
At times we journey through difficult terrain, so when we arrive at those moments of praise and gratitude, they ring with authenticity because of the route used to get there. Consider the 22nd Psalm as the prologue to the 23rd Psalm. As Walter Brueggemann said so insightfully, “In the Psalms we journey from orientation, through disorientation to reorientation.” (Richard Rohr refers to this biblical pattern as order–disorder–synthesis.)
Plus, because we like living on the artistic edge and are fascinated by the ancient poets and songwriters, we’re also creating a few new songs based on song fragments discovered in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Unlike anything else ever written, the ancient Psalms express the human longing for God with poetic artistry and emotional force. They release the voice of praise and resonate with the universal cry of pain.
Most modern Bibles focus Psalms translation on theological accuracy. However, the Hebrew poetry focused not just on the meaning of the words, but also on their sound. Designed to be sung rather than read the goal of the SHIYR Poets is to render the Psalms as sung English poetry.
Using all the translations available (including Robert Alter’s more poetic translation) and seeking counsel from Hebrew scholars, the SHIYR Poets are paraphrasing the Psalms and setting them to modern folk-rock tunes.
Choosing not to censor the difficult verses of lament and anger, the SHIYR Poets render each psalm in its entirety, singing in solidarity with all who suffer. The result is raw yet meditative music, at times unconventional in its form, yet deeply comforting because every generation has prayed and pondered the words of these Psalms.
Taken as a whole, the Psalms are perhaps the most emotionally healthy comprehensive expression of spirituality ever written. These are songs of desire and desperation…songs that demand justice for the oppressed…songs that honour the innocent praise of children…songs about everyday things like sleep.
The SHIYR Poets are beginning with a commitment to create a setting of the first 25 Psalms from the book of Psalms in sequence, with the hope of continuing the journey through the Psalter.
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