TE VENGO

Composer: Juan M. Isáis

L. Frank Sawyer (b. Victoria, BC, Canada, 1946) translated the text into English in 1984. Then a Christian Reformed missionary in Latin America, Sawyer reminds us of the Spanish oral tradition, in which "there are many choruses like this. . . sung to the accompaniment of a guitar. Almost no one has any written music; local congregations sing songs they pick up from neighboring Christians. It is common to hear three or four variations to one tune." In 1986 Sawyer became a seminary professor, first for Iglesia Cristiana Reformada in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and more recently for Reformatus Teologia Akademia in Sarospatak, Hungary. A pastor in Zoetermeer, the Netherlands, from 1977 to 1980, he was also a missionary in Puerto Rico (1982-1985) for Christian Reformed World Missions. Sawyer was educated at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan, and at the Reformed Seminary in Kampen, the Netherlands.

Though marked for unison singing, TE VENGO may be sung in two parts, a common practice in the Hispanic tradition, by following the alto or tenor part in parallel below the melody. The harmonization by Dale Grotenhuis (PHH 4) in 1984 retains the Spanish flavor of parallel thirds and sixths. Use piano or a light organ registration or preferably more folk-like instruments such as the guitar, flute, and tambourine.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

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