Suite: I know you grew up in a family of artisans. Did working in the arts always feel like the natural destination for you?
Fernando: Well, there were times I wanted to pursue other things – especially biology. As a kid, I wanted to be a herpetologist. My brother and I turned over every rock and rotting stump trying to find snakes. Science still held my interest when I started college, but my piano teacher convinced me otherwise. Even if I couldn’t see it then, music was what I was meant to do.
Suite: What first turned your mind toward the Book of Common Prayer? Was it a devotional tool already familiar to you?
Fernando: Yes, it was familiar, but not a book I had studied intensely. I started to take it with me on walks down to the ocean and use it as a devotional guide. My prayers can be so random and self-absorbed. It was helpful to be lead through a series of thoughts and topics – to have the discipline of concentration in prayer.
Suite: I understand that the way “The Shadow of Your Wings” came to you was pretty unusual, in terms of your songwriting. To what do you attribute this change of pace?
Fernando: The idea first came to me while I was driving home after my aunt’s funeral. Originally, I started out to write something along the lines of a requiem mass, but in a folk style. In the end, it took a different turn. It’s not very folky and it’s not a mass. It’s more of a devotional set to music.
The change of pace you mention probably comes from the realization that my life was flying by and I was missing out on much of it, caught up in the tyranny of the urgent.
Suite: You used such a wonderful mix of classical, pop, and bluegrass artists on the album. How intentional was that mix? What did you learn from the unique unions?
Fernando: Not particularly intentional. A big part of it was the fact that I got to work with Gary Paczosa, my co-producer. He knows so many phenomenal musicians and a good number of them happen to be first-rate bluegrass players. He also knew the guys from Turtle Island String Quartet. Early on, the songs were definitely calling out for the quartet, but as things developed in the recording, there was need here and there for guitar, percussion, and other stuff.
The combination of bluegrass, pop, and classical players isn’t something I came up with. Guys like Edgar Meyer, Yo-Yo Ma, James Taylor, Itzhak Perlmann, Chris Thile - people like that make music together all the time. It didn’t used to be so. A lot of classical guys really turned their nose up at anything that smacked of pop. Some still do.
Something I realized as I watched the sessions happen is that a good musician is a good musician. It’s awe-inspiring to see how great musicianship transcends the barriers.
Suite: I know your hope is that the beauty of the album will bring comfort to the hurting. Did you find the experience of writing and recording it helpful to your own pain process in the loss of loved ones?
Fernando: Definitely. Standing at the graveside of a friend in Pennsylvania this past February, the scriptures I was setting to music were flooding through me. Half the songs on this record are simple passages I have known all my life. The process of concentrating on those words so intensely for so many hours and days is challenging and rewarding. Everything is right there – comfort, hope, healing, admonishment, and wisdom.
Click here to read Suite's review of "The Shadow of Your Wings: Hymns and Sacred Songs." The album, apart from being great musically, is also a wonderful tool for spiritual contemplation, an aid in remembering the beauty of the Lord. Suite thanks Fernando Ortega for his generosity in both his music and this interview.
