Origins: Evening Rise, Spirit Come

Subject: Origins: Evening Rise, Spirit Come
From: leeneia
Date: 17 Jul 18 - 01:45 PM

At the singalong last night, we were introduced to a six-part song called 'Evening Rise, Spirit Come.' I googled it, and it is said to be Native American. It seems to be popular with Germans, who sing it in English.

You can hear it on YouTube. The soprano start, then with each repeat, another line is added, so it gets richer each time. Does anybody know anything about this song?

Subject: RE: Origins: Evening Rise, Spirit Come
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Jul 18 - 08:30 PM

I found lyrics here: https://mein.yoga-vidya.de/profiles/blogs/evening-rise, which says the song is from "Female Affairs." Lyrics are an endless repetition of:

Evening rise spirit rise
sun goes down when the day is done
mother earth awaken me
with the heartbeat of the sea

Explanation: Evening Rise Spirit Come is the English version of an Indian song, probably a Hopi song. It is one of the best known shamanic songs. Meanwhile, it is also sung in numerous Christian churches, in children's choirs, etc. Unlike other Indian shamanic songs, it's more of a quiet, sustained, meditative song.

There are several ways to translate the Evening Rise Spirit Come. Basically, the meaning of a kirtan is more than the meaning of each word. For a bhakta, a worshiper of God, a kirtanist, a kirtan is a praise of God. Often, even in India, the singers are unaware of what the meaning of the words is. They simply feel Bhakti, devotion, love, closeness to God.

"Evening rise, spirit come" is a song based on an ancient Native American tradition, it is a song that can be found on the Internet again and again. "Evening rise, spirit come sun goes down when the day is done" is a song that is based on an Indian folk song. We love to sing that at Yoga Vidya, it's also a three-part evening song, which came by way of Christian Bollmann to Germany, but you can find it even in older traditions already in America. "Evening rise, spirit come" is thus an Indian song, a shamanic song, a song of natural spirituality, which is also referred to in the Christian as a creative spirituality.

"Evening rise, the evening is coming, spirit come, the spirit is coming, sun goes down, the sun is going down, when the day is done, when the day is over. Mother Earth awakens me, Mother Earth awakens me, with the heartbeat of the sea, with the heartbeat of the ocean, the sea. "Evening rise", so "the evening rises and the spirit comes." What expresses, especially at sunset and sunrise, the divine spirit is particularly noticeable, the soul, ultimately the divine mother is particularly noticeable at sunrise and sunset. The sun may set when the day is over, but Mother Earth will awaken you in a deeper way. It awakens you with the heartbeat of the sea, but it also awakens you when you sing, when you meditate, when you tune in to the Divine Mother, you feel it very strongly.

And so this "Evening rise, spirit come" is a beautiful song, it is a happy song, but at the same time a yearning song. One can say that the spiritual songs can either be very dynamic, ecstatic, they can be very yearning, or they can also be happy, march-like. "Evening rise, spirit come" is a mixture of a happy song and a yearning song that touches the heart deeply. "Evening rise, spirit come, the evening is coming, may the soul come, may we experience the divine spirit."

Here's a recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJNqua_Plm0

Subject: RE: Origins: Evening Rise, Spirit Come
From: leeneia
Date: 18 Jul 18 - 12:00 PM

Well, Joe, I don't know what "Female Affairs" is, but on YouTube there are enough comments such as "I sang that in camp!" or "I learned that in grade school" to make me think the song has been around a while.

It's nice to hear about a possible Hopi origin. That narrows it down quite a bit.

Subject: RE: Origins: Evening Rise, Spirit Come
From: leeneia
Date: 18 Jul 18 - 09:53 PM

Later - it occurs to me that the Hopi are nowhere near the sea.

Subject: RE: Origins: Evening Rise, Spirit Come
From: Joe Offer
Date: 19 Jul 18 - 04:14 AM

I highly doubt that anyone will find any "authenticity" in this chant, leeneia. But I won't argue against it. This is the kind of stuff my wife likes, so I'm best off not asking questions....

Subject: RE: Origins: Evening Rise, Spirit Come
From: leeneia
Date: 19 Jul 18 - 10:45 AM

Yes, you are probably right. I was hoping that someone on the Mudcat would have encountered it at a time or a place when it is not cloaked in rumor.

Subject: RE: Origins: Evening Rise, Spirit Come
From: GUEST,CandaLambert187
Date: 04 Jan 23 - 01:57 PM

As an anthropology student I too was skeptical about Hopi origins in that they are in a desert area with little water available. The song may be from the summer camp Indian fervor of the 1940s-50s where many songs were written and attributed to Indians buy were really from campers.

Subject: ADD: Evening Rise, Spirit Come
From: Joe Offer
Date: 04 Jan 23 - 03:54 PM

Here's the rather nice recording by "Female Affairs": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMdUn5UEux4

Here's a choral performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJNqua_Plm0

Here's a transcription of the lyrics from one of "those" lyrics Websites: (ya gotta see it to believe it): https://www.songlyrics.com/female-affairs/evening-rise-lyrics/


EVENING RISE SPIRIT COME

Evening rise spirit rise
sun goes down when the day is done
mother earth awaken me
with the heartbeat of the sea
Evening rise spirit rise
sun goes down when the day is done
mother earth awaken me
with the heartbeat of the sea
Evening rise spirit rise
sun goes down when the day is done
mother earth awaken me
with the heartbeat of the sea

et cetera....

Subject: RE: Origins: Evening Rise, Spirit Come
From: GUEST,alain jamet
Date: 11 Mar 24 - 09:42 AM

I'm from France and we are singing that song for our new programm 2024. So i asked to the Hopi Tribe if this song was coming fron thier history.
They didn't reply to my question, so it s perhaps no more tham a camp song as you say further.

Subject: RE: Origins: Evening Rise, Spirit Come
From: GUEST,Eli
Date: 02 Apr 25 - 08:38 AM

I've searched the internet, including TouTube, and Spotify, and I haven't found one single reference to the song title in its original language, no lyrics, and not a single recording by any Hopi or other native American singer. With the dusclaimer that my search wasn't exactly professionally or scientifically correctly performed, I have to say that I now seriously doubt that this is indeed a Hopi song. It seems more like something added by some European or American hippie to add more meaning and relevance to the song. I usually don't like to talk about cultural appropriation because I think it's a very complicated term, not seldom misused as a way to describe cultural inter-and exchange, but in this case, I feel that, yes, this might very well be a case of cultural appropriation.

Subject: RE: Origins: Evening Rise, Spirit Come
From: cnd
Date: 02 Apr 25 - 11:51 AM

The song appears in Dancing With the Wheel (1991) by Sun Bear, Wabun Wind, and Crysalis Mulligan. The book could very well be of the pandering variety -- it talks at length about new-age hippy-dippy type stuff such as "the energies within you" and "centering yourself through nature" -- but I can't be certain. Caveat aside, they say:

EVENING BREEZE

This is a song to honor the West, the wind, and the ocean. It is also attributed to a variety of sources.

Evening breeze, spirit song
Comes to me when day is done
Mother Earth awaken me
To the heartbeat of the sea

Subject: RE: Origins: Evening Rise, Spirit Come
From: cnd
Date: 02 Apr 25 - 12:11 PM

Further confusing things, the 1991 CD Moving Breath by "She Changes" attributes the song as "Unknown (New Zealand)" without explanation. The 2005 book The Solitary Druid by Robert Lee Ellison (pp. 171-172) offers the same lyrics as Dancing With the Wheel, but attributes the words to Phoenix, "a bard belonging to Muin Mound Grove, ADF" a pagan druid group out of Central New York (FaceBook).