Laurie Early

Laurie has been writing songs since the age of six. She clearly remembers creating her own lyrics and musical adaptation of The Four Tops’ Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch as she walked to school one Spring morning and realized that she could write a song if she wanted to, it was a truly empowering moment.
Since becoming a Bahá’í in 1986, Laurie has devoted many hours to memorizing and setting prayers and tablets to a cappella melodies. She is frequently called upon to sing these memorized pieces at local and regional Bahá’í events and she always encourages the friends to privately intone their prayers even if they are not “singers”.
Her goal is inspiration: "I want to inspire the friends to include more music during feast and holy day celebrations, inspire them to intone, inspire them to memorize the Holy Text, and to inspire the general public by introducing them to intoned Bahá’í Writings. My settings are not always traditional and sometimes lean towards other musical forms like Jazz, Bossa Nova, and even the Blues. I like to cover the musical spectrum so it will not get boring for me, or my listeners."
Laurie also performs original songs based on personal reflections on life in general. She enjoys singing in groups and as back-up harmony for other vocalists. She is scheduled to go back into the studio in Spring/Summer of 2008 to begin recording a full-length a capella CD of Baha’i material. It will contain some of her longer pieces, The Tablet of Carmel, both Tablets of Visitation (Baha’u’llah and ‘Abdul-Baha), The Tablet for Mercy, as well as some selected prayers and Hidden Words. In the meantime, she is excited about the possibilities here at MySpace to share her more personal material as soon as soon it has been recorded (without having to wait for a full album’s worth.) So, for those of you who love "that song about her husband", This Man’s Mine, and want to download your own copy, watch this space!
She is the wife of artist and filmmaker Derrick Judge Early. They have two daughters, and the family resides in Manhattan, New York.
What People are Saying:
“For years I have enjoyed the beautiful prayers that Laurie Early put to music. Even the longer prayers lend themselves to melodies that Laurie painstakingly creates. The importance of creating beautiful chants and songs from sacred texts becomes evident when one finds oneself singing from memory a phrase or a prayer that Laurie has put to music simply because of the ‘fit’ of the text and the melody. Laurie is a very talented artist, indeed.”
-Wilma Ellis Kazemzadeh (Former Continental Counsellor)
“In my opinion [Mona’s Song] is not only the best song about Mona (it is about her dream), but perhaps the best Baha'i song I have heard.”
-Ron Tomanio, Eliot, ME
“[Laurie Early] is an extraordinary writer and singer whose settings of the Holy Writings and other original compositions have delighted and inspired the friends in the Northeast for years. Many of us in the Bahá’í musical community have so longed for her work to be made available to the community at large.”
-Red Grammer (www.redgrammer.com)
DOWNLOADABLE MUSIC:
Lullaby for Roya: (a setting of 95 Alláh'u'abhás)
The piece is dedicated to Roya Ishraqí and her mother Izzát, two of the ten Bahá'í women martyred in Iran on June 18, 1983. It is one of a collection of songs I am writing entitled Morning Birds. I have chanted Lullaby for Roya at several Bahá'í events over the last couple of years and so many people asked for a copy to take home that I felt this would be a good CD "single" to distribute. There are five verses with 19 repetitions in each verse. So, this setting truly is an easy way for Bahá'ís to fulfill their daily obligation without needing to count higher than 5 (use one hand *smile*).
This Unforgiving Town:
The melody for this song is over 500 years old. I have updated the lyrics of the Irish Traditional, My Lagan Love, to reflect my impressions of September 11, 2001, and the spirit of New York City in general.
Mona’s Song: (a cappella version)
Mona Mahmudnizhad was only 17-years old when she was executed. What must she have been thinking in her last few moments on earth? This song is also part of the Morning Birds series and speculates that perhaps she reflected on her life, her family, her friends and her destiny.
O Carmel: (a cappella version)
A tribute to Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel—the buildings, the Shrine of the Báb, and the sacred remains sheltered there.
Tablet of Ahmad: (a capella)
Bahá'u'lláh urges us not to withhold ourselves from this wonderful tablet which promises that, "Should one who is in affliction or grief read this tablet with absolute sincerity, God will dispel his sadness, solve his difficulties, and remove his afflictions."
This Unforgiving Town
(My Lagan Love - 9/11)
©2003 Laurie Early
The Hudson flows alongs the shore
Where orchards of steel grow.
Each gleaming bough contains a tale
Of lives and loves below.
And every wave sings out its song
For shattered hearts needing repair.
Who will be dressed in sorrow's gown
In this unforgiving town?
As sunlight wakes the morning sky
Our innocence a memory.
An axeman wears a selfish smile
As he fells another tree.
The city's armor takes the blows
But yet the human damage shows.
Who will be saved? And who will drown
In this unforgiving town?
When twilight rolls upon the day
A dusty night time looms.
A flood of tears won't wash away
The pain caused by these wounds.
And so we're called to higher ground
Because it's there that love is found.
Who will be brave?
And who'll be brought down
In this unforgiving town?