“Songs of the Sun” celebrates our relationship with the celestial body that sustains life on Earth through diverse musical expressions.
Host Bart Everson begins with Reverend Billy & The Stop Shopping Choir’s gospel-infused “Sun’s Fire,” then highlights Barcelona artist Birch’s debut “Child of the Sun,” featuring her personal reflections on eco-dependency and the need for cultural transformation in times of crisis. The journey continues through Lithuania with Romuvos’ “Garden of the Sun,” April Eight’s migration-themed “Follow the Sun,” and P A T H S パス’s instrumental tribute to Shinto sun goddess “Amaterasu.” The first set concludes with Cage the Elephant’s epiphanic “Soil to the Sun” and Bella Gaia’s “Ra Returns.” After the break, listeners experience the ambient tranquility of Colourchord’s “Sun Showers,” Vibralocity’s electronic celebration “Live by the Sun,” Four Larks’ classical “Hymn to Helios” incorporating ancient Greek texts, and Peter Power’s shamanic “Sun Sun Damba.” The hour concludes with Paul Winter’s 1981 “Canticle of Brother Sun” from his ecological masterpiece Missa Gaia. Throughout, Bart notes how these solar songs ultimately reflect our deeply earthbound existence—revealing that “when we sing about the Sun, we’re singing about life on Earth.”