Daniel Martín SalvadorMusic must reinforce the Word".Contemporary Catholic music. Paths of witness and evangelizationCatholic Adoration Music: International OverviewKénosis is a Christian rock band that already has more than three thousand listeners on platforms like Spotify. Their mission is to bring God closer to everyone through music. This group of young people came in second place in the last edition of the Madrid Live Talent contest. In Omnes they talk about their musical journey and their vision of Christian music.
Can you start by telling your story as a group?
Kénosis arose as a response to a situation that some of us observed. At the beginning a few of us started singing in the Regnum Christi adorations and in the masses, and we were seeing how the songs helped people to get closer to God, how they came out of the masses or the Eucharistic hours and thanked us that a certain song had helped them a lot in their prayer. In addition to this, some of us also began to make our own songs and to share them among those who we saw that we had a gift for music.
So, the summer of 2021 all this led to the decision to gather these people together and formalize an apostolate whose mission is to give glory to God with our music and to help people come closer to Him through it. We began to meet from time to time to rehearse, especially geared to the Eucharistic hours and to record our first song, ResurrectedWe always had a great atmosphere in rehearsals, of friendship, family and prayer, which we saw was the fruit of the presence of the Holy Spirit in the project. This was followed by communions, weddings, funerals... We even entered a Catholic music contest in Madrid and came in second place! And so to this day, open to new people who want to share this apostolate.
How would you define Catholic music?
Probably because there are so many in the group the answer to this question is somewhat different. But from my point of view, Catholic music is all that which, inspired by the Holy Spirit, puts words to intuitions, feelings, gratitude, petitions to, for and to Christ. And those words are the ones that help others to pray, because many times our heart does not find the words and, although Christ reads directly what is in it, as human beings we need to express it through words.
What makes you different from sacred music?
Again there may be nuances among the group. But in general we believe that the church music is the one designed for specific moments and celebrations of the liturgy or in religious contexts. And in this sense part of our music is sacred, because sacred does not imply a specific style, but it is true that we expand the framework beyond this music, making songs that can be taken to the day to day, to play in the car, to sing with friends, in the shower, in the studio .... And it is very important to emphasize and make us aware that being a Christian, having faith, is not a thing with schedules, but it is a way of life, that our whole life, every second is a prayer, a being with Christ even when we are not in a church or in front of the Blessed Sacrament, is also part of what we want our music to do in people.
How is your creative process to compose the songs of Kénosis?
Let's say that we have two types of composition. On the one hand, there are those who have this complete gift, in the sense that they write lyrics and music, incredible songs. These people can have different creative processes, as a result of the Word, of personal prayer, even some are inspired by the Holy Spirit while they sleep, they wake up and record what has arisen in their heads and then polish it and give it form. Some of these songs are already ready and others have small changes according to the group as a whole, because in the end that's what we are. The second way is more as a group, we get together, invoke the Holy Spirit and put together lyrics, prayers or things that we have not been able to put to music. Together, each one with our gifts, we give it form and we put music, we make some twist of the words or we include new things.
Why is music a good way to get closer to God?
In addition to the fact that music puts words to intuitions of the heartbeat that are difficult to express, we believe that music also elevates man, makes him transcend in a limited sense, bringing him closer to God. The rhythms, the melodies go to a very intimate part of the human being, which is where the religious experience really starts. It manages to go through your worries, your labor life issues, your problems, to go to the core of what we are and from there connect with what the music is expressing. This happens in general with all music, it elevates people to another plane, it "evades" them. But when it is music with a transcendental sense it does not evade you to nothingness or your problems, but it evades you with a sense towards the Meaning.
