LISTEN to the Official Theme Song for World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal - Just Released "There's a rush in the air" (Há Pressa no Ar)

Official theme song for World Youth Day 2023 has been released “Há Pressa no Ar” is the theme song. It recalls Mary’s visitation to meet her cousin Elizabeth and her “yes” to the Angel Gabriel at the annunciation of the birth of Our Lord. 

World Youth Day (WYD) 2023, is scheduled to take place in Lisbon, Portugal. The song was released on January 27, 2021.

It is entitled “Há Pressa no Ar” ("There's a rush in the air"), the song was inspired by the WYD 2023 theme: “Mary rose up and went with haste” (Lk 1:39). 

According to VaticanNews, Young people from all over the world are invited to identify with Our Lady when singing the song, “disposing themselves to serve, to the mission and to the transformation of the world”. The lyrics also evoke the "party" of WYD and the joy that comes from Jesus.

 

 

The theme song was recorded in two versions: one in Portuguese and the other in an international version that includes Portuguese, English, Spanish, French and Italian. 

 The lyrics to the WYD 2023 theme song were authored by João Paulo Vaz, a priest, while the music was composed by Pedro Ferreira, a teacher and musician, both from the Diocese of Coimbra in the center region of Portugal. The muscial arrangements were made by the musician Carlos Garcia. “Há Pressa no Ar” was selected through a national contest open to the participation of Portuguese people of legal age. 

Participants in the contest were required to take their inspiration from the WYD 2023 theme, set by Pope Francis; the aims of WYD, highlighting the theme of evangelization; and the Portuguese culture. Over one hundred entries were sent in to the Local Organization Committee (LOC) and were evaluated by a jury of Arts and Music professionals. The producing process was completed in 2021 with the participation of young people from all over the country, as well as some participants in the competition who, despite not being selected, were involved in the final recording. 

 Pedro Ferreira, 41, composed a melody “thought to congregate, to gather a community” in a small room alone by the piano. Alongside some other friends from the “Parish Band,” his musical group, Ferreira asked Fr. João Paulo Vaz to write the lyrics. Fr. Vaz recalls not changing the melody. With “a guitar in my hands, I started writing, just like I usually do,” said the 51-year-old priest. 

 The song style is “a popular song, cheerful, young, easy to learn and easy to translate and to adapt” according to the requirements of the national contest. Fr. Vaz recalls that the theme of the Portuguese edition: “Mary rose up and went with haste” (Lk 1:39) helped him revise his own relationship with Our Lady, and then the lyrics creative process became “a very deep time of praying.”

Edited from VaticanNews.va