Dr. Arnfield Cudal is beginning a new project: setting the Psalms to Thai traditional music. Thailand has a long tradition of being a thoroughly Buddhist country, much as medieval Spain was thoroughly Catholic. Over the past half century, however, the Christian church has sprung up and taken root. Today, even though its members represent little more than half a percent of the total Thai population, that half a percent equals nearly 500,000 people. This relatively young church is growing strongly and stands in great need of Christian literature in its own native language – and melody.
Dr. Cudal spent several years in Thailand as a boy and has a strong affinity for the culture and tongue. Together with Orbe Music (of Miami, FL), he is working to find native Thai singers who will help bring the Psalms to the homeland.
From the official project page:
“Our mission is to create a culturally-rich and musically-meaningful setting for the psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs of Scripture in the music-language of the Thai people; that the Church in Thailand may have the words of Christ indwell them richly. Incorporating Thai royal-court music (lukkrung) and folk music (luktung) with modern arrangements, we seek to create beautiful, rich, and diverse settings for the songs of Scripture to Thai music.”
Please see the official page for more details about the Thai Psalms project and how you can help.