A birthday song

Because it's his birthday.

Because I love him every bit as much as if he were here to celebrate it with me.

Because I'll always be so proud of him and everything he was and did.

Because despite not having written recently, this journey of remembering is still simultaneously both vividly beautiful and painstaking, and I love to remember.

I may not be able to treat him today but I'm going to treat you instead.

A few weeks ago I discovered a case belonging to Ems with some home recorded CDs in it. Not knowing if they were audio or digital I tried putting one, simply labelled '19/05/07', in the car's stereo only to hear his lovely, familiar voice singing a song I'd never heard before.

Having since played it to both of his bandmates, his friends Dom and Rhodri who together with him made up Haybarns on Fire *, neither of them had heard it before either.

Never mind Mastercard ads, THIS is priceless!

Ems would regularly record song ideas to later develop and introduce to the guys. Vocals, guitar and drums all by Ems, this was a song recorded that would be hidden for our ears to discover over four years later.

It may or may not be your style of music. You may or may not already be familiar with this incredible man. Either way, take a moment to listen and as you do remember never to underestimate how much something you create may later come to bless others without you even knowing it.

May your name and life shine with bright light, just like his continues to.

Feel free to watch this in 'YouTube' and to like / comment there.

* Incidentally Dom and Rhodri now, with their friend Aled, form the band Conductors

Listen to Ems in your living room!

Just to let you know that if any of you would like to buy a CD of Ems' song, you can. This is the song featured in my blog entry 'Changing things (as sung by the man himself)' [Jan 20th, 2009]. You can also hear it on youtube.

It is just £2 per CD. The whole £2 will be donated to Ems' memorial fund. Ems' memorial fund covers two causes which he was highly passionate about. The first cause is for music resources for our church (The Apostolic Church, Penygroes) where he loved using his musical ability to encourage and inspire others, and the second is the projects which we were involved in on our mission/aid trip to Joao Pessoa, Brazil in Summer 2008.

Enjoy the music, be inspired by the lyrics, admire how beautiful Ems is in the photos on the cover (maybe that one's just for me!), dance around your living room to it (if it's good enough for our 18 month old niece...).

Email me on mother_bruce@hotmail.com if you would like a CD.