Rock around a rosary? Jingle writers hope so
May 31, 2001
BY DAVID CRUMM
FREE PRESS RELIGION WRITER
A pair of jingle writers with a love for both rock music and their Catholic faith are launching an unusual Web site to give away MP3 recordings of their rockin' rosary.
It's a medieval cycle of Catholic prayers set to a modern sound track of wailing guitars, drums and synthesizers.
"Some of our rosary tracks sound like Paul Anka and some sound like Led Zeppelin," said John Giaier, co-owner of GTTechnoTracks, a Saginaw studio that produces advertising music for clients ranging from Burger King to Ford dealerships.
"We know that women over 50 like our rosary tapes," said Giaier. "Now, we're putting it on the Internet for free in MP3 to see if we can get the younger generation downloading this. Napster isn't the only site that has free MP3 rock music. We've got it, too."
The basic idea of the rosary -- reciting a series of prayers to Jesus and devotions to his mother, Mary -- dates back to the Middle Ages. By the 16th Century, it also included 15 short meditations on scenes from the lives of Jesus and Mary. Worshipers commonly count off these prayers and meditations on a string of beads.
The rock version of the rosary is divided into three collections: the Joyful Mysteries, which recall five scenes surrounding Jesus' birth, the Sorrowful Mysteries, based on Jesus' death, and the Glorious Mysteries, which focus on Christians' beliefs about Jesus' resurrection.
Giaier and his partner, Bill Gildenstern, are giving away MP3 files of the most popular collection, the Joyful Mysteries.
Gildenstern's resonant baritone can be heard introducing the collection and reciting many of the prayers. Periodically, Giaier sings short songs the men wrote, based on the 15 scenes within the rosary.
If people like this style of meditation from the free set of Joyful Mysteries, they can purchase all three collections of the rosary on CDs or cassette tapes from the Web site for $29.95.
"But this really isn't about the money," said Gildenstern, who was better known in the 1970s as disc jockey Bill Gibson on WRIF-FM (101.1) and WWWW radio stations in metro Detroit. "We make enough money with our commercial music business."
As a sideline to writing jingles for corporate clients, Giaier and Gildenstern have been selling cassettes of their rockin' rosary since the mid-1990s, through word of mouth and Catholic catalogs. They've sold about 45,000 copies so far.
"But most of the money that's come in from the tapes we've used to give away a lot of copies to people who could never afford them," said Gildenstern. "We're really doing this because we believe that the more time we spend in prayer, the more we shape ourselves into what we really want to be as people."
"These new MP3 files are free," said Giaier. "If we get more people praying -- especially young people, then we're happy."
ยท Go to rosarytapes.com to download the rockin' rosary.
Contact DAVID CRUMM at 313-223-4526 or crumm@freepress.com.