Worship songs, like many things, have long been the domain of the West. Likewise, websites of worship songs. At last, a Malaysian-based worship website, with worship songs written by Malaysian Christians, has penetrated the field and given an Asian flavour.
And it has proven to be quite a hit, registering over 100,000 hits from all over the world within 14 months – good enough for search engines Yahoo and Google to capture the entire website onto their database.
When Ng Wah Lok established www.tabernaclemusic.net in April 2001, his intention was to use the website to promote his album Every Time I Pray, and share some of his teaching materials on music and worship.
Spurred (and surprised) by the good response, he has gone on to expand the website to include teaching materials and albums from other Malaysian Christians. Besides music scores of six of his songs (available free of charge) the website also contains information on local prayer events and other Malaysian Christian albums.
"It is time for Malaysian Christians to arise and sing their own songs. For too long, we have relied on foreign worship songs from, for example, Integrity Music and Hillsongs. It is time for us to recognise our own songwriters and move them to a national and international audience," Wah Lok said.
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Wah Lok is the principal of Tung Ling Seminary. In his spare time, he writes songs and conducts workshop on praise and worship, among other activities. at Christian bookstores.
