Gospel in Lecce

Singing the Word of God has always been the core of the Liturgy and it is the expression of a strong personal or general experience which requires truthfulness and sincerity. A Father of the Church said that “those who sing pray twice”; this is true if singing is the real, sincere need to manifest God’s love and the love for Our Lord, express the willingness of involving Him in our life and feel Him as a friend durig our journey on the earth.

As today singing in churches shows no respect for the assembly, we have to think about this aspect of the Liturgy: sacred singing is, at the same time, open to the novelties which a multicultural background can offer to make our prayer more alive.

We miss the Gregorian chant, people’s songs, the songs for the scholae which made the walls of our churches vibrate for their religious meaning. Today there are novelties in this field: the multicultural background and the various chances of meeting people infuse vital nourishment and enrich our religious experience in singing, too.

Gospel is a new reality in Lecce.

It’s new not just because it comes from another country but also because it sounds desecrating to us, Latin peoples... but immediately you perceive it is rich in spirituality, spontaneity, sincerity and gestural expressiveness.
Gospel is an intense, yearning prayer, able to involve man and the assembly with its dialogue and its rhythmical gestures to emphasize the impulses of the soul.
This religious music is in Lecce thanks to Tyna Casalini.
I’ve known her for 4 years; she is discreet and humble when she doesn’t sing Gospel but inspired and able to involve people when she prays while singing.
Yes, because Tyna can’t sing this music without praying. Hers is not just cleverness and technique; it’s a natural predisposition, a missionary vocation for the devotion she shows. The words she utters while praying are the Word of God so she approaches them respectfully, carefully listening to God whom she prays and invokes.
Tyna avoids the anonymous way of singing which often fills the Liturgy; for her, singing doesn’t exist without praying. That’s why she needs meditation and invocation to God the Almighty before each concert and, at the same time, she feels the need to study the Scriptures, understand them before singing.
Hers is the real song of Gospel

I’ve followed her these 4 years of knowledge and evolution, in her being a humble apprentice of Song – Prayer; she has studied, organised Gospel courses with famous teachers, modified the rules of her choir so that everybody could be moved by the same feelings in pursuing the aims of the Gospel as a prayer.
I like to highlight the fact that Tyna’s songs are not commercial as her Gospel is open to God and universal brotherhood.
Tyna has not the historical experience of Black-Americans, but she has got the same simple, real soul, which has not big certainties (obtained by the powerful figures of the world), but she has got a great faith in the Almighty who is always faithful and close to simple, humble people.
For Tyna Gospel is Life, she gives the best of herself singing.
Good luck Tyna with your Black on White Gospel Choir!
Father Rosario