Jo-Ann Faith Richards (Born June 6,1964)
CULTURAL ADVOCATE, SINGER/SONGWRITER, ETHNODOXOLOGIST, SPEAKER, WRITER
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Jo-Ann Faith Richards is a Christian Cultural Advocate with a passion for culturally relevant expressions of worship. She has written a range of songs, the majority of which were intentionally written to be added to the repertoire of the Jamaican worship song collection. Her two-album ‘Kom Mek Wi Worship’ Series contains simple catchy songs with lyrics drawn from the Jamaican New Testament in the Jamaican language and music genres.
MUSICAL BACKGROUND Jo-Ann’s music background began with piano lessons from the late Kathleen McFarlane, who took her under her wing not just to teach her how to play the piano, but also drew her into singing with and eventually at one point playing for the Children’s Bible Club Choir. The truth is, Jo-Ann’s mom sent her for piano lessons so that one day she would be able to play for services at her home church - the First Missionary Church on East Street in downtown Kingston. However, after a while, she became a reluctant student, much preferring to sing than to play the instrument. Her singing was taken to a higher level because of her encounter with Mr. Geoffrey Shields, choir director at St. Hugh’s High School. Eventually she gained a place in what was then called the Concert Choir, which carried the best voices from the many high school choirs that Shields directed. During those high school choir years, Jo-Ann continued with her piano lessons. On completing high school, she went on to study at the Shortwood Teachers’ College. At that point, she had completed the Grade 7 Royal Schools of Music Examination, and decided that would be the end of the road for her with piano lessons. She did not bargain for her teacher’s determination to at least take her to Grade 8. After much struggle, Mrs. McFarlane put cards on the table that couldn’t be left without seeming to be ungrateful; she offered to teach Jo-Ann for free! This was what convinced Jo-Ann to continue with piano lessons, completing her Grade 8 Exams. She surprised herself by taking in students of her own after graduating from Shortwood, and 15 years later went on to sit the Advanced Certificate in Piano Performance with Roger Williams, current Vice Principal, Academic Affairs (actg.) at the Edna Manley College for the Visual and Performing Arts. |
WRITING SONGS FOR CHILDREN
Jo-Ann’s song writing began when she was a teacher of music at the Immaculate Conception Preparatory School. At the first staff meeting she attended, she discovered that each month there was a value that the entire school would focus on. A discussion ensued concerning what could be done to help the school community to learn and internalize these values. Jo-Ann’s contribution to the discussion was that there would be a song to help them learn the values. She thought it would have been easy. The first word was ‘RESPECT’. She searched high and low, but could not find an appropriate song for the children that would teach them the meaning of respect and guide them in ways that would help them to internalize this value. With the school year soon to begin, she realized she was left with no choice but to write the song herself! The entire school loved that first song, and quickly the expectation was that she would write a new song each month. This experience built her confidence in writing simple, singable, meaningful songs for people to sing, and to set the stage for her future as a songwriter for congregational music. Songs she wrote for the children there, as well as for Vacation Bible School at her home church, were published in a children’s songbook by the Caribbean Christian Publications, the Baptist publishing company based in Kingston.
ETHNOMUSICOLOGY & GLOBAL CHRISTIAN MISSION
Shortly after leaving Immaculate, Jo-Ann left Jamaica on a mission to work with Wycliffe Bible Translators in Burkina Faso. At the same time, she started a Master’s Degree in Ethnomusicology at Bethel University in Minnesota. Before leaving Jamaica, Jo-Ann released her very first album which contained a combination of original songs and covers. It was called Jo-Ann & Friends … The World is Waiting.
Her assignment on the mission was to work with church musicians in the villages, helping them to write songs for church that used their own languages and their own music genres and instruments. After completing the degree, she was reassigned to the Americas Area where she did song writing workshops in places like Belize, Peru and Panama.
Jo-Ann’s song writing began when she was a teacher of music at the Immaculate Conception Preparatory School. At the first staff meeting she attended, she discovered that each month there was a value that the entire school would focus on. A discussion ensued concerning what could be done to help the school community to learn and internalize these values. Jo-Ann’s contribution to the discussion was that there would be a song to help them learn the values. She thought it would have been easy. The first word was ‘RESPECT’. She searched high and low, but could not find an appropriate song for the children that would teach them the meaning of respect and guide them in ways that would help them to internalize this value. With the school year soon to begin, she realized she was left with no choice but to write the song herself! The entire school loved that first song, and quickly the expectation was that she would write a new song each month. This experience built her confidence in writing simple, singable, meaningful songs for people to sing, and to set the stage for her future as a songwriter for congregational music. Songs she wrote for the children there, as well as for Vacation Bible School at her home church, were published in a children’s songbook by the Caribbean Christian Publications, the Baptist publishing company based in Kingston.
ETHNOMUSICOLOGY & GLOBAL CHRISTIAN MISSION
Shortly after leaving Immaculate, Jo-Ann left Jamaica on a mission to work with Wycliffe Bible Translators in Burkina Faso. At the same time, she started a Master’s Degree in Ethnomusicology at Bethel University in Minnesota. Before leaving Jamaica, Jo-Ann released her very first album which contained a combination of original songs and covers. It was called Jo-Ann & Friends … The World is Waiting.
Her assignment on the mission was to work with church musicians in the villages, helping them to write songs for church that used their own languages and their own music genres and instruments. After completing the degree, she was reassigned to the Americas Area where she did song writing workshops in places like Belize, Peru and Panama.
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THE BEGINNING OF ‘KOM MEK WI WORSHIP’ - SONGS FOR CHURCH
It gradually began to dawn on Jo-Ann that she was helping other nations to have something that her own country didn’t seem to have - a collection of songs based on Scripture that used their own language and their own music! Thus began the Kom Mek Wi Worship series, the first being released in 2012, and the second - with a focus on the book of Revelation - being released in 2017. PUBLISHING THE KW MAGAZINE In 2019, through the non-profit organization CREW 40:4, Jo-Ann began publishing the KW Magazine: CREWShall Connections in Faith & Culture. There she found a suitable home for the scores of some of her songs, taking them to countries around the world. Reports are that some of her songs have been sung by children and adults alike in the Cayman Islands, UK, USA, Namibia, Fiji and Ukraine. PRODUCERS & LINKS TO MUSIC VIDEOS To release her songs, Jo-Ann has partnered with some significant Jamaican musicians and producers such as Dennis Rushton, Paul Johnson, Alexander Martin-Blanken, Sheldon Bernard, Michael Leslie, Yekengale (formerly known as Stephen Miller), Dwight Pinkney, Paul Barclay, Fitzroy Dave Green and Courick Clarke. Three of her songs have been produced as full music videos by Ariff Butler and his team at Bloozick Films: Notn No De (2014) Laad Yu Gud (2014) (Composed by past student Damion Hylton and performed by both.) (2013) A We Se Team (2016) (Written just a week before her wedding in 2015). CHILDREN’S SONGS Songs Published in CariSing: Songs and Choruses for Caribbean Children and Youth Caribbean Christian Publications: Kingston, Jamaica. 2001 (Unfortunately Jo-Ann’s name was incorrectly recorded in the book as Jo-Ann Richardson.) A-P-P-R-E-C-I-A-T-I-O-N Be Honest Forgive Each Other Forward in Victory God Cares for You I Can Do all Things R-E-S-P-E-C-T ALBUMS Jo-Ann & Friends … the World is Waiting (2002) Kom Mek Wi Worship (2012) Kom Mek Wi Worship 2: Di Revilieshan (2017) SCORES IN THE KW MAGAZINE Each issue of the KW Magazine contains the score for one or two songs from the Kom Mek Wi Worship series. View the magazines at this link: www.issuu.com/jo-ann SONGS ON COMMISSION Jo-Ann has also been known to write songs on commission for churches and other such groups. The most recent is entitled Resurrection Rally (2021) written for the Council for World Mission, Caribbean Region. --- Article by Jo-Ann Faith Richards October 2021 |
