ChantFest 2006
Vancouver InterSpiritual Chant Festival great success
The highly successful inaugural Vancouver InterSpiritual Chant Festival – ChantFest 2006 – brought together Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Sikh, Sufi, First Nations, Baha'i, Hindu and Buddhist traditions for a 12-hour day of sacred song.
The festival climaxed in almost 400 people raising their voices and jamming the hall at Shaughnessy Heights United Church, spilling out into the lobby where late arrivals craned their necks for a glimpse of the Evening Chant Celebration.
"It was a very beautiful and spiritual experience with so many people singing together," said Jack Sniderman, who was one of more than 40 volunteers staffing the festival.
All day on Feb. 25, festival guests attended a series of nine chantshops -- participatory workshops organized around spiritual themes and each collaboratively led by at least two chant leaders from different spiritual traditions.
For example, one morning chantshop titled Children of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar: Jewish, Christian and Muslim Chants was co-led by Sufi chant leader Amir O'Loughlin and Jewish chant leader Lorne Mallin.
The festival was inspired by Mallin, who had attended chant events throughout Vancouver and was struck by the universality of chanting, even though people were using different languages and calling God by different names.
"I felt that the chanting at all these events was spiritually rich," said Mallin. "And then I wondered what we could do together. What if we had a festival? Several chant leaders were enthusiastic. My rabbi, David Mivasair, urged me to set a date. That was back in November. I began gathering an organizing committee and it all came together."
ChantFest 2006 became a project of and a benefit for the InterSpiritual Centre of Vancouver (www.interspiritualcentre.org), which is working to create a shared space of worship in Southeast False Creek. The centre is part of the official city plan for the area¹s redevelopment in time for the 2010 Olympics. ChantFest raised approximately $2,000 for the centre.
Media coverage was superb. CBC Radio's Tapestry weekly national show on spirituality recorded the festival and plans to broadcast a soundscape of the day on an upcoming program. Articles appeared in advance of ChantFest in The Vancouver Sun, The Province, the Globe and Mail and The Courier.
