There are so many wonderful versions of this quintessential Advent hymn out there, translated from Latin into English in 1861, that’s it’s difficult to select which version of it I enjoy most as a modern hymn. However, today I discovered a new one and I believe it’s going to be a longtime favorite. The artist is a young man, Josh Wilson, who released this version two years ago but since I don’t usually listen to much CCM I missed it. It fuses the traditional tune with his own fresh take on the tempo, has the first stanzas in English and then the last one in Latin (okay, I admit I’m a sucker for Latin in a hymn!). The result is simply timeless. I particularly love the emphasis he places on the word “ransom” when singing about the Lord’s plans for Israel. If you’re interested in sampling and/or purchasing this track, here are the usual places:
http://www.amazon.com/Noel-Josh-Wilson/dp/B009CW0CMS
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/o-come-o-come-emmanuel/id715802377?i=715802927
What I found especially interesting as I was reading a little about the history of “Veni, Veni, Emmanuel” (had to work in a little more Latin there, don’t you know<g>) was that it’s simply a metrical paraphrase of the O Antiphons (today being day two, “O Lord & Ruler…”) that take us from the last week of Advent to the joy of Christmas Day in all its splendor, beginning the 12 Days of Christmas and all our other wonderful traditions.
So the next time you’re looking for some new Advent music to add to your collection, you might want to give this one a shot.
Be You Very Well 