Rev Fr Marino Nguekam - Songs Of Inspiration: The Dream
STYLE: Ambient/Meditational RATING OUR PRODUCT CODE: 109119-18002 LABEL: Independent FORMAT: CD Album ITEMS: 1
Reviewed by Tom Lennie
Mr Nguekam hails from Cameroon and spent nearly a decade studying in Catholic seminaries in Gabon, Congo and his native land. In 2005 Marino transferred to Ireland, where he was appointed as a missionary priest in the Bawnogue Parish, Clondalkin, near Dublin. It was here that he raised the necessary funds to record and produce this 18-song album - a collection of spiritual songs from highly diverse origins. So we've got the opening track venerating the Lady of Knock (the theology of which is a tad dubious!), along with compositions stemming from as varied a bunch as Schubert ("Ave Maria"), Edith Piaf (sung in French), John Michael Talbot, Andrew Lloyd Weber ("Piu Jesus"), Carole King ("You've Got A Friend") and even Charlie Chaplin! On top of this, we've got what has got to be the only extant recording of "Danny Boy" by a Cameroonian priest! And yet Marino has a gorgeous and truly outstanding voice that manages to hold it together most ably on all these tunes. My favourite is probably his rendition of the advent song "O Holy Night" - most sensitively rendered. An unusual but highly rewarding listening experience.
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