JAPAN

According to one of Asia’s leading exponents of liturgical music, despite their long-standing preference for Western melodies and words, Asian Christians need to learn to use traditional cultural elements to enrich their hymns. “The great majority of Asian Christians have internalized Western hymns so much that it is difficult for them to develop their own traditional hymns,” says I-to Loh, general editor of “Sound the Bamboo,” an Asian hymnal used by the Christian Conference of Asia. “However, the situation has been changing during the last two or three decades.” (Ecumenical News International)