Connected through music

(LWI) - Seven young people in Argentina have found a way of expressing their faith through music. Their band Connected released its first album on Pentecost Sunday. 

The men and women aged 14-28 come from different backgrounds and are members of the Evangelical Church of the River Plate (IERP) in Argentina. They released their inaugural album on 16 May during a performance to a packed audience at the Municipal Amphitheater in Crespo, northeast Argentina. 

From the Saturday service 

The idea of a band came about a year and a half ago at a Saturday service, during which the church provides space for young people in the community to meet. The youth deliberately chose the name Connected to reflect the relationship between God and human beings "The idea of the group arose from a need for these gatherings. Then we came together to create the music and songs," band member René Müller said.

Meticulous 

Send us God's Will is the title of their first album, which includes 14 songs in all. Production lasted several months and resulted in a musical feat that was "meticulously recorded, track by track, instrument by instrument," Müller said. "In a song of three or four minutes we have eight or nine instruments to be recorded one by one. It is slow work that requires patience. But the final product is much better, with high quality audio and sound," he adds.

Guidance and encouragement

Several live performances are scheduled for the coming months and the band has started collecting material for a second album. Müller thanked IERP Crespo pastor Rev. Dario Dorsch, saying, "We appreciate the support of our pastor, who opened doors and was there to guide and encourage us to continue." The band hopes the joy it put into making the album will reach those listening to it, he added. 

The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) supports the work of its member church IERP, which has 25,000 members in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.