Made in Manitoba

This holiday season, a local singer is encouraging people to focus on the Christ in Christmas. 

Nasah Vie is one of the worship leaders at Christ Embassy Christian Centre, a church in downtown Winnipeg. She has also released a Christmas single called 'Real Christmas Season.' 

"When I grew up celebrating Christmas, I grew up in Nigeria, we never celebrated Christmas with the intent of leaving Christ out it," says Vie. "So my parents, both Christians, told us that when we got gifts, baby Jesus gave you that gift."

A Manitoba musician is disappointed to cancel his 12-concert Christmas tour in Germany.

Danny Plett says the country is seeing a drastic increase in COVID-19 cases and that’s what stopped his shows from going forward as planned.

“We got to the place where we just had to pull the plug and say we can’t do it,” Plett says. The Steinbach singer is a well-beloved performer not only here in Canada but in Germany.

He adds it was a heartbreaking decision but they feel it was the right decision.

The real meaning of Christmas comes through in a local artist's rendition of a classic hymn. 

Barbara Joy is a Winnipeg musician and worship leader, who released a version of a well-known Christmas hymn. 

"What could go wrong when you pick a famous song like 'Joy to the World' by Handel and Isaac Watts," says Joy. "Yet in a sense being very careful with what you do with a famous Christmas carol."

The chorus which Joy wrote is based on Luke 2:10.

Inspiration can strike anywhere, and that means even the idea for a new Christmas song while walking into a fast food joint.

"The truth is (the song) actually came out of a Wendy's burger," Made in Manitoba artist and worship pastor Jake Fretz says about his Christmas single "Emmanuel God With Us."

The worship pastor at Prairie Alliance Church in Portage la Prairie, Man., says he's been getting ready for Christmas at church pretty much since Easter.

Check out more about how the song came to be and watch a live performance here.

Local gospel singer Bunmi Praise dreamt about a new song, and it is now her latest single called 'Forever.'

Olubunmi Oduntan goes by her stage name Bunmi Praise when she's singing. Her latest single, 'Forever,' was released on November 7 and it already has over 10,000 YouTube views. 

"We serve a living God and He is forever. Before the earth was formed, He has been there. Even now He's still there. Even when there isn't anything called Earth, He will still be there. In all our troubles, in all our trials, everything we go through, God is there."

Modern missionaries from Manitoba are filled with gratitude because after a decade in Tanzania, they are opening a quality medical clinic for people who otherwise wouldn't get health care.

Having met at Providence College and Theological Seminary, Darryl and Shirley Peters raised their three children in Southern Manitoba before moving to Africa. 

"I've known since 12-years-old that Africa was in my heart," says Shirley. "We can't thank God enough for the honour and privilege to live in Tanzania, to be stewards of this land."

A local author is publishing her second novel this year, this one tackling faith even when things are puzzling. 

"This book is a little bit different in that it surrounds a jigsaw puzzle," says Terrie Todd about her new novel, The Last Piece. "It's a split-time fiction and starts way back during the Great Depression with a young artist who is trying to provide for his family by selling his art for jigsaw puzzles which were all the rage at the time."

Todd says the structure of the book is different than most novels. 

Tomorrow night Saturday, November 13th at 7:30pm at Crescent Fort Rouge United Church, there will be a really fascinating concert of music written for percussion ensemble.

The Fresh Blood Project is an innovative and exciting percussion group that was founded in 2019. The mandate of the group is to collaborate with young up and coming composers, with the idea being that the composers would write new music for the ensemble, and have the group perform these pieces.

Jordan St. Cyr has released Christmas music for the first time in his career, with not one but two singles, and now fans can enjoy the video for one of his songs.

'Rejoice' is an original Christmas song written by St. Cyr. He talks with Mike Thom about the meaning behind the song as well as the excitement of Advent & Christmas as a father, and as a follower of Jesus.

This Sunday night at 7:30pm at the Winnipeg Arts Gallery’s Muriel Richardson Auditorium, the Winnipeg Chamber Music Society makes its long awaited return to the live in person concert stage. And what better way to make a return to the stage with the exhilarating, heroic and perfectly crafted music of Beethoven.

They will perform two trios by Beethoven, his piano trio in C minor op.1 no 3, and one of his more iconic piano trios, the magnificent Archduke trio.