 Hello again, Everyone! I hope you all enjoyed the weekend. As a special Sunday bonus, here is a brand new song entitled “A Lotus for the Lost.” “I’ve got a lotus for the lost soul, Lotus for the lost soul…” – “A Lost for the Lost” by Rise-Ascend I hope you all enjoy. Kind regards, Rise *Image licensing provided by Unsplash.com.
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 Hello Everyone, I hope you are all doing well, and enjoying the weekend. Here is the latest MTSTPBlog song entitled “Looking Upon The Horizon.” “You’ve been waiting a life time, looking out on the horizon…” – “Looking Upon The Horizon” by Rise-Ascend As a special feature, here is Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Badinerie,” from his Orchestral Suite in B minor -BWV 1067, performed by The Netherlands Bach Society. J.S. Bach is one of my favorite composers, because at a certain point in his life, he prolifically and beautifully composed a new (or adapted from an earlier work) cantata every week, to be performed in the church. I hope you all enjoy. Kind regards, Rise *Image licensing provided by Unsplash. 
Hello again Everyone,
I hope you are all doing well. Here is a new song entitled “The Zero-Out,” which was inspired by an article that I recently read explaining how the Chinese Communist regime has implemented a new nationwide campaign of persecution against practitioners of Falun Gong (Falun Dafa), called the “Zero-out” campaign. The article states: “The Nationwide “Zero-out” Campaign In recent months, the Political and Legal Affairs Committee (PLAC), an extra-legal judiciary agency tasked with persecuting Falun Gong, initiated the “Zero-out” campaign across the country, unleashing a concerted effort to force every single practitioner on the government's black lists to renounce Falun Gong. In Youyi County, Heilongjiang Province, nearly 20 practitioners have been harassed since July 2020. At each practitioner’s home, the police first asked if they still practiced Falun Gong. When the practitioners said they did, the officers told them that if they signed the renunciation statement and promised not to practice Falun Gong, they wouldn’t be harassed further. When the practitioners refused to comply, some officers threatened to arrest them and take them to brainwashing centers. Other officers threatened to suspend the practitioners’ pensions and get children fired from their jobs or denied an education. One officer said to a practitioner, “If you don’t sign it, you will disappear if we give the order.” By a Minghui Correspondent - https://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2020/9/20/186864.html For more in-depth information about recent methods of persecution used by the Chinese Communist regime against Falun Gong practitioners, please read this article as well: Torture Methods Adopted in Jiangxi Prisons Aim to Force Falun Gong Practitioners into Giving Up Their Faith: https://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2020/9/22/186884.html Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual practice, based on the tenets of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. In China, for the past 21 years, practitioners of Falun Gong have been harassed, demonized, tortured, and even had their organs forcibly extracted. Kind regards, Rise  Hello Everyone, I hope you are all enjoying a fantastic weekend. Here is a new MTSTPBlog song entitled “Something for the Soul.” “Everyone has their own needs, But I open up my heart and tell you what it is for me…” – “Something for the Soul” by Rise-Ascend Once again, as the special feature, here is Katy Mantyk’s beautiful song “Search No More.” Enjoy. Kind regards, Rise *Image licensing provided by Unsplash.  Hello Everyone, I hope you are all enjoying a good and productive week. Here is the latest MTSTPBlog song entitled “Children.” Let’s just say that recent news inspired this song. “Children, children hold your head up high, Children, children hold your faith so tight…” – “Children” by Rise-Ascend As a special feature, here are The Petersens, performing their rendition of of the song "Landslide." Enjoy. Kind regards, Rise *Image licensing provided by Unsplash.  Hello Everyone, I hope you are all enjoying your weekend. Recently, an old friend reached out to me to say hello. He and his wife lived here in the D.C. area about 10 years ago, before moving to Canada. Now they have two young girls, just as I have two young girls along with my son. If was good to hear from him, and he happened to say something at the end of his message that actually inspired this new MTSTPBlog song. He said, “it’s always nice to talk with someone else trying to put beauty into the world.” A few days later, here is a brand new song entitled “More Beauty.” “Less negativity, less hateful energy, Less put a little more beauty out into the world…” – “More Beauty” by Rise-Ascend Also, I have two wonderful special features for you today. These songs come from the great Stevie Wonder! Not too long ago, I sat down and listened to Stevie’s classic album “Songs In The Key of Life.” As I sat in front of my laptop, absolutely blown away, I reflected on the fact that Stevie made this amazing album before my parents even brought me into this world. Well, of course, the album is full of innovative and beautiful songs. Here are just two: “Love’s In Need of Love Today” and “As.” Enjoy! Kind Regards, Rise *Image licensing provided by Unsplash.  Good morning Everyone! I hope you are all doing great, and ready for a wonderful weekend. Here is a brand new MTSTPBlog song entitled “Clearing Away the Fog.” “They only say that you descend from the animals, So they can keep your heart and mind in a cage…” “Clear away the fog, you’ve been led so wrong, Good people, you can from the heavens, And there is hope for us all…” – “Clearing Away the Fog” by Rise-Ascend As special features, I hope you all enjoy a performance of the old-time fiddle song “Glory In The Meetinghouse,” performed by Rayna Gellert, and “Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23: II. Adagio”, performed by Hélène Grimaud. Kind regards, Rise *Image licensing provided by Unsplash.  Hello Everyone, I hope you are all doing well today.
I would like to take a moment to share with you a recent email exchange I had with one of the online music promotion companies that I have been working with over the course of the last 3 months. First of all, I want to make it very clear that I have great respect and appreciation for this very reputable online music promotion company, and the entire team that I have had the pleasure of working with. Out of that respect, appreciation and protection of privacy, I have completely redacted the conversation. However, because I think it is also important that my fans and supporters have some insight into, and understanding of, the challenges and difficulties I face as an artist (and have faced ever since I decided to make music that helps to stop the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China, and expose the human rights atrocities of the Chinese Communist Party), I would like to share the following email exchange. I think people who enjoy my music should be aware of these challenges, as well as the pressure, pinch or quagmire that companies I work with often feel, when attempting to promote my music in the digital space. *PLEASE NOTE: While drafting this blog post, I did receive a follow-up email from this online music promotion company, with good news. So please read through to the end. An Online Music Promotion Company: “Thanks for sending your song 'In The Storm'. We appreciate you choosing us for your promotion needs; however due to the lyric "..., have been deceived by the Chinese Communist Party, what a dreadful storm [they’re in]", we are unable to promote this song. We do not promote any songs that specifically campaign for/against any politician or political party. We do feel it is important for our clients to voice their opinion on social justice or political/politically based issues, however we do have to be clear that we are not able to promote song(s) with specific messages about a political campaign, politician, or political party. We would still love to promote a different song from you in order to fulfill the promotion credit if you’d like. Please respond with your song link to this email and we will review promptly.” – An Online Music Promotion Service Rise-Ascend’s Response: “Good afternoon, [BLANK] and the [BLANK] Team. Thank you very much for providing an update regarding the promotion of my song “In The Storm.” However, it is now internationally well known that the Chinese Communist Party is an extremely egregious offender of human rights abuses, committed against its own people. As I have explained previously, my music, in a tasteful and compassionate – yet direct and truthful way, exposes some of the atrocities currently being committed by the Chinese Communist Party. To imply, in the same message, that your company will not promote an artist’s song that directly addresses human rights abuses committed by the Chinese Communist Party, yet you state that your company, “feel[s] it is important for our clients to voice their opinion on social justice or political/politically based issues,” is so sad, to say the least. These songs of mine speak for: The persecuted Uyghur Muslim women in China’s far-western region of Xinjiang, who are subjected to forced abortions in labor camps; The peaceful, young freedom fighters in Hong Kong who are being 'disappeared' and taken into custody under the National Security Law; and The Falun Gong practitioners in China who have been murdered, and their internal organs sold on the Chinese black market. These are all crimes being committed by the Chinese Communist Party that I speak about in my songs. Of course, I completely understand that the tech companies (YouTube/Google) that [BLANK] does business with on a daily basis, are making it extremely difficult to promote music like mine. However, for the voiceless people, like the ones I mentioned above, who feel hopelessly oppressed by the Chinese Communist Party, I must keep these songs at the forefront of my promotional efforts. Therefore, I cannot, with a clear conscience, continue to spend my promotional dollars with the [BLANK] company – though I do deeply and sincerely appreciate everything the team has done, in a short period of time, to help take my music promotion to the next level. To All, thank you for everything, and kind regards. Rise” – Rise-Ascend An Online Music Promotion Company: “After further review, we will be able to promote your song 'In The Storm'.” – An Online Music Promotion Service Rise-Ascend’s Response: “Thank you.”  Hello Everyone, I hope you are all doing very well today. Here is a new MTSTPBlog song for you entitled “Keep It Light.” “Keep it light, And shine your goodness all around” – “Keep It Light” by Rise-Ascend As special features, below, you can hear Anna Kokkonen’s beautiful new song “Sateenkestävää.” In addition, you will find a video of Larry Campbell recording a traditional Scottish song called "Flowers of the Forest." Make sure you watch the entire video, because the musical magic starts to really happen around 2:13. I hope you all enjoy! Kind regards, Rise *Image licensing provided by Unsplash. |
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September 2020
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