Baha’i-inspired Music Album Re-released on 50th Anniversary.

Fifty years ago, 1000 members of the Bahá’í Faith gathered at the Hilo Civic Auditorium for the Bahá’í International Youth Conference from August 4 to 8, 1974. 

A year prior, in December 1973, a group of Baha’is had produced a 13-part television series called “The New World”. Many of them were musicians, who had arranged and composed a soundtrack for the program. Sixteen of the twenty-plus tracks were original compositions, referencing Baha’i writings and expressing the artists’ reflections on various teachings of their Faith, which is often distilled into three core concepts: unity of religion, unity of God, and unity of humanity.

The music was recorded live at the Bahá’í National Center in Honolulu, and a 23-track record was made in time for the August 1974 conference. The album featured a quartet of local groups—East of Midnight, Steve & Bunny, the Bahá’í Aikanes, and Sunshine Delight—who would perform at the conference alongside special guests from the mainland. The TV series was produced at the local KITV studios, and featured songs and interviews centered around the religion and its teachings. Musical guests of interest on the TV series included jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and folk-rock duo Seals & Crofts. 

After the conference concluded, subsequent one-off gatherings were held on Maui, Kauai, and Oahu, including a concert on Saturday, August 10th at the Waikiki Shell in Honolulu, where approximately 12,000 attendees learned about the Baha’i Faith and enjoyed live performances by Seals & Crofts, England Dan and John Ford Coley, Windflower (from Alaska), East of Midnight, Steve and Bunny, and Sunshine Delight. 

“This was an intensely creative time,” recalls Liz Hahn of Kauai, who was a member of one of the group, East of Midnight. “Shirley Krepky and I with contributions from Lynne Hart and Glenn Habermann penned over 40 songs that we performed in homes, parks, parties, and shows on Kauai and Oahu. We even travelled to the Molokai County Fair and shared the stage with the Makaha Sons of Niihau. Shirley wrote most of the tunes and I did the original lyrics which were based on experiences that were challenging us, our friends, and society in that time—and the spiritual solutions we discovered to convey through music.”

On March 1, 2024, the album The New World, Volume 1, described as a moving collection of songs that speak of hope, love, understanding, and appreciation, was re-released in digital format by the label Aloha Got Soul. For more on the background to this album see https://alohagotsoul.com/blogs/stories/new-release-the-new-world-volume-1-an-inspiring-1974-folk-soundtrack-ags-083

The digit album will soon be available on all digital platforms (Spotify, Apple, Tidal, etc.), but for now is only available on Bandcamp at https://alohagotsoul.bandcamp.com/album/the-new-world-volume-1.

Front cover of an album. " The New World - Volume one"
child holding the album sleave of a record showing the back of it.

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