The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace

By Hamish Reid
BBC Kent

Remembering fallen friends and colleagues on Remembrance Day

The Royal Tunbridge Wells Choral Society are to perform Karl Jenkins' The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace.

The mass was commissioned by the Royal Armouries and incorporates the Islamic call to prayer.

Jenkins said: "As I started composing, the tragedy of Kosovo unfolded. I was reminded daily of the horror."

The performance will include moving images of war.

The Armed Man must be feared; Everywhere it has been decreed That everyman should arm himself With an Iron coat of mail Anon, c1450-1463

Not just following the usual format of the Mass, the work also weaves in texts from a range of cultural and historical sources.

Guy Wilson, Master of the Royal Armouries, chose words from Malory, Dryden, Swift, Tennyson, Kipling, The Koran and the Hindu Mahàbharàta.

Words from the Bible and a survivor of the Hiroshima bombing are also featured in the text.

Karl Jenkins is the UK's most popular contemporary composer

The music for the Kyrie quotes both Palestrina and Brazilian drum rhythms.

The Armed Man: A Mass For Peace was premiered at The Royal Albert Hall, London on April 25 2000 and Karl Jenkins keeps his top slot in Classic FM's Most Loved Living Composer chart for 2009. The Armed Man also makes number five in the station's Top Five British Works chart.

The performance is at The Assembly Hall Theatre, Tunbridge Wells on 8 November at 3pm