Christian Music Showcase - 31/5/2009

Well, it's the last day of May, so it's the last day of our New Zealand Music Month series. And because it's the fifth Sunday in May, it's the last of our Christian Music Showcases. We hope that any perceptions of Christian music being dull and boring have been blown away as we've featured Rapture Ruckus, Magnify, Mumsdollar and juliagrace, not to mention today's featured artist. And this one should please Ele from Homepaddock, who laid down the challenge in the first place!

We first saw Brooke Fraser perform at the Celebrate Jesus gig at Wellington's Cake Tin in 2000. She was 16 at the time, and we were absolutely blown away by her amazing voice, her stage presence, and the maturity of the lyrics of her self-written songs. She seemed destined for stardom.

She released her debut album What to do With Daylight in 2003, and this first video (yep, there are three today!) is our favourite song from the album. It's "early" Brooke Fraser, shot in 2004 at TV2's National Anthem show in Auckland - enjoy Lifeline




Fraser faced a huge challenge in her sophomore album, but it too was hugely successful. We first heard her sing the title track at Parachute Music's Noise worship conference in early 2006, where she told Albertine's story - the emotion in her voice made it clear that this was one very special child - and the words in the chorus challenge our faith daily - "faith without deeds is dead" - here's Albertine

Since 2006, Brooke Fraser has been part of the worship team at the Hillsongs Church in Sydney where she leads worship alongside the likes of Darlene Zchech and Reuben Morgan. This final clip shows her using her God-given gifts and talents to lead worship at the Hillsongs Conference in Sydney in 2007




So that's it! We wanted to close the month with something special, and Brooke Fraser is indeed that. We've met her personally, and she is the most pleasant, unassuming and unaffected young woman you could ever want to meet. She's "made it" in the secular market, and she's now serving Christ in the church. And she's yet another Kiwi muso whom we should be immensely proud of!