Sjaella, German Vocal Group, Sacred Music

Sjaella is Scandinavian and originally means soul. The the Leipzig vocal sextet give their souls a voice: joint singing. Since 2005, when the ten to thirteen year old girls began performing, the ensemble has enthralled its listeners with crystal-clear acappella singing across all repertoires and genres.

Sjaella performs 'Northern Lights' by Ola Gjeilo in Philippus Church in Leipzig. Text from Song of Soloman.

Recorded in Sacred Heart Church, Lübeck (Germany) on February 14th, 2015. Rudolf Mauersberger's motet was written in 1945 in the aftermath of the firebombing and large scale destruction of Dresden on 13/14 February, including the Kreuzkirche, where he was director of music. [...] With the translation of the Bible into the spoken languages of Europe from the sixteenth century onwards, the biblical text became part of everyday experience. European Christians understood many of the texts to refer not only to the real city of Jerusalem and its environs, but also to their own homelands, as this setting illustrates

Sjaella performs 'Music For A While' by Henry Purcell in Philippus Church Leipzig. Arrangement by Susanne Blache. Lyrics by John Dryden and Nathaniel Lee:

Music for a while

Shall all your cares beguile.

Wond'ring how your pains were eas'd

And disdaining to be pleas'd

Till Alecto free the dead

From their eternal bands,

Till the snakes drop from her head,

And the whip from out her hands.