Beginning December 24, 2015, Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity feature Richard Schletty and Andre Van Haren’s Sleep, Baby, Sleep (Duerme, Niño, Duerme) and Michael Loonan We Three Kings in a streaming joyous Christmas Concert.
Listen and be inspired for the great Feasts of the Incarnation and Epiphany. With St. Francis, join us in saying: My God and My All.
For more Christmas music by talented Minnesota musicians, click here.
Sleep, Baby, Sleep (Duerme, Niño, Duerme)
My brother, Christopher Schletty, dreamt this song c. 2002. He is not a musician or a singer. He is a computer programmer. After keeping the song to himself for a couple years, Chris told me about his dream in November of 2004. He recorded one minute of a cappella singing and sent me an MP3 file. I took it from there. I wrote a bridge between verse 2 and 3. André van Haren came up with the beautiful orchestration you hear in this CD release version. My son-in-law, Elías de Andres Martos, a native of Segovia, Spain, did the translation to Duerme, Niño, Duerme. He tried to coach me in pronunciation as I hardly know any Spanish. The song took about 11 years to come to fruition. We have never found evidence that this song existed before Chris dreamt it. We thought maybe it was a song remembered from his past. We can only conclude that it was a simple gift from above.
-Richard Schletty
More info about Richard and his song samples are at www.richardschletty.com and https://www.reverbnation.com/richardschletty
We Three Kings
Michael Loonan is a performing musician, songwriter and producer, based in St. Paul,
Minnesota, USA. He has played with and led a contemporary music group at Nativity of our Lord church for over 20 years. Michael has released a spiritual CD with his brother (The Day Has Come, 1997) as well as Season of Grace (2005), which can also be heard as a special Holiday Channel on Pandora. Michael’s church group (Spiritu) has released two CDs, Spiritu and Good News and are currently working on a new holiday release for winter, 20
I hope this song and others on Season of Grace bring you to a place of peace and calm during the holiday seasons.
-Michael Loonen
Review of Season of Grace
“This is an exceptional instrumental album. Its 15 tracks cover a broad range of well-known ancient carols and classical bits, including some personal favorites. The tone is low-key, but retains a lyrical intensity throughout. A Season of Grace would provide a beautiful backdrop for any festive gathering–or for that quiet evening wrapping gifts. Everything works very, very well on this album.”
Carol Swanson (www.christmasreviews)
More info about Michael can be found at www.michaelloonan.com
More info about Michael’s contemporary church group can be found at www.spiritumusic.com
