Children's Ensemble Sings 'You Raise Me Up' By Josh Groban

Dec 08, 2021

Sometimes a song can capture emotions that are hard to express in any other way. Whether it's a classic or a newer tune, music has the ability to pull at our heartstrings in special ways. This was exactly the case for a children's choir performance of a popular song.
In 2019, the Color Music children's choir from Ukraine performed a powerful rendition of Josh Groban's "You Raise Me Up" outdoors in a field. The Color Music children's choir was founded in 2006 by Olena and Oleksandr Petrykov Dnipro, Ukraine. The group is a modern ensemble for children between the ages of 4 and 18 years old. Not only does the group perform, but the ensemble gives kids the opportunity to learn concrete skills in choral and ensemble singing, musical literacy and vocal techniques, choreography, and performance skills. The group's Youtube channel has earned them a silver Youtube button, and they have even won national and international awards. 

This time the group warmed viewers' hearts with a performance of Josh Groban's "You Raise Me Up." Josh Groban was born on Feb. 27, 1981, and is a singer, musician, songwriter, and actor. His first four solo albums went multi-platinum, and Groban topped the charts in the early 2000s with plenty of uplifting hits. Worldwide, Groban has sold over 25 million records. However, the singer didn't even find his career path until after he started acting school. Once there, Groban discovered he had a real talent for music. Luckily for listeners around the world, Groban pursued his talents and became a successful musician. 

Now that he's popular worldwide, it makes sense that the Color Music children's ensemble would do their own version of the song. Read on to learn more about the choir and to listen to the incredible rendition yourself. 

Although Josh Groban's rendition of the song is the version that most people have heard, the origins of the song go back much further. The song's melody was allegedly inspired (some might say, stolen) by the classic Irish song "Londonberry Air," which many would recognize from yet another Irish tune, "Danny Boy."

The lyrics in the current version of the song were first penned by the group Secret Garden in 1977 using a musical composition by Rolf Loveland. According to Universal Music Norway, Irish writer Brendan Graham is behind the lyrics of the song. Graham is known for his novels "The Whitest Flower" and "The Element of Fire," both of which were best-sellers about the life of Ellen Rua O' Malley during the Irish famine. Graham's lyrics even won Ireland's Eurovision Song Contest. However, according to the recording company, the entire original song was a collaboration between many different parties. The company wrote:

"The unaccompanied violin opening is Fionnuala's first and untouched guide recording for the original demo, while Uilleann pipes' grand master, Liam O Flynn carries the tune through its middle course. The soulful singing of Brian Kennedy and Tracey Campbell-Nation, together with the London Community Gospel Choir and Irish choral group, Anúna, gives full expression to the deep spiritual longing within the lyric." 

In an interview with the group Secret Garden from their official Youtube, Fionnuala Sherry and Rolf Løvland shared the story behind the hit song.  

Løvland said:

"'You Raise Me Up,' I guess, 17 years later for us is still a very important song and we still perform it in every concert we're doing. Obviously this is a song that people know very well and it has become a signature song for us. It started as a very simple instrumental melody in 2001 actually here in Kristiansand and we realized very soon that it had that type of story that needed words and we developed that story through the lyrics by Brendan Graham in Ireland..."

The lyrics of the song, including powerful lines like "You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains / You raise me up to walk on stormy seas," combine with the soaring musical composition to create an experience that resonates with people from many different cultures and decades.

A video performance of the song as performed by the children's choir Color Music is getting noticed because of the combination of the classic song with the clear and strong voices of the children, which adds yet another layer of beauty and power.

Songs like "You Raise Me Up" speak to the ability deep within all of us to overcome difficult circumstances, often with the help of those we love. Pass this song and it's history on to someone you know who is facing long odds as a reminder that they can also overcome their struggles with support from friends and family.