We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.
/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $1 USD  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    This album of songs from the new musical "The Fourth Messenger" stars Vienna Teng as Mama Sid, a world-renowned spiritual teacher with a hidden past. Loosely inspired by the Buddha legend, this contemporary re-imagining poses the question of whether and how it's possible to be both enlightened and flawed.

    This pre-order package includes a physical CD and a digital download, to be released November 7, 2015.

    Music by Vienna Teng, lyrics by Tanya Shaffer and Vienna Teng, directed by Matt August, orchestrated/music directed by Ryan O'Connell.

    "An absolute delight." - SF Chronicle • "Profound and profane, combative and compassionate… Teng’s complex harmonies and inspired melodies stick with you long after the curtain goes down." - Art Animal • "Hugely ambitious and refreshingly original…Teng is a fresh and exciting new theatrical talent with a distinctive voice of her own…" - Huffington Post • "Masterful and compelling…both timeless and contemporary." - Stage and Cinema

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Fourth Messenger, featuring Vienna Teng via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ... more
    ships out within 7 days

      $15 USD or more 

     

  • What if the Buddha were a woman, living in our times? In this captivating new musical, Mama Sid is a modern-day “awakened one” with a worldwide following. But a determined young woman seeks to unearth Mama Sid’s mysterious past, exposing long-held secrets that could change everything. Epic and intimate, comic and profound, The Fourth Messenger investigates what it means to be both enlightened and human. Book and lyrics by Tanya Shaffer, music and additional lyrics by Vienna Teng. Script includes all lyrics and text, not musical score.

    This is a digital pre-order. The PDF will be released on November 7, in conjunction with The Fourth Messenger album featuring Viena Teng.

    “An exciting and ambitious project, driven by Teng's eclectic score, Shaffer's inspired rewrites of the Buddha story, and their punchy, provocative lyrics… An absolute delight.” - San Francisco Chronicle • “Intelligent and skillfully crafted…hugely ambitious and refreshingly original... Shaffer's musical has the audience emotionally involved and on the edge of their seats.” - The Huffington Post • “A satisfying and remarkably entertaining new musical that takes on spiritual life with wit and emotional resonance…” - KQED/NPR • “Beautiful...A triumph… Shaffer’s book brims with intelligence and wit… ” - Theater Dogs • “Masterful and compelling...both timeless and contemporary…” - Stage and Cinema
    ... more

      $5 USD or more 

     

about

The confrontation with Raina (played out in "Knock Knock") leaves spiritual teacher Mama Sid (Vienna Teng) profoundly unsettled. In this song, she acknowledges the powerful, inexplicable pull this young woman has on her emotions, and considers opening up about her past after twenty years of silence.

lyrics

SONG: FORCE OF NATURE

SID
Noticing the light
Filter through the blinds
Something about her face

Noticing the chill
Creeping up my spine
Another time and place

Noticing the blood
Pounding in my head
An overwhelming draw

Noticing the thrill
Noticing the dread
A frozen stream must thaw
Deep within
Warming
Spidery cracks
Forming

Is it just the moon that turns the tides
And the sun that melts the ice?
There’s a force of nature in her eyes
A mighty power

After all these years
Long and silent years
An urge to speak arises

Watch the feeling grow
Ask it what it knows
Open to life’s surprises

Thoughts lead to words, and words lead to actions
But silence too Can mean attachment

Is it just the moon that turns the tides
And the sun that melts the ice
There’s a force of nature in your eyes
A mighty power

Sid, let go
Oh, don’t resist the flow

Now I’m noticing the air
Noticing the fear
Stop holding on now
Be strong now
Let it go

(Raina appears upstage, in shadow)

SID AND RAINA
It isn’t just the moon that turns the tides
And the sun that melts the ice
There’s a force of nature in your eyes
A mighty power

SID
After all these years
Long and silent years
Now it is time
Now it is time

credits

from The Fourth Messenger, featuring Vienna Teng, released November 10, 2015
Music by Vienna Teng
Lyrics by Tanya Shaffer
Directed by Matt August
Music Directed and Orchestrated by Ryan O'Connell

MAMA SID: Vienna Teng
RAINA: Cailan Rose

Piano and keyboards: Ryan O'Connell
Violin: Anthony Blea
Cello: Freya Seeburger
Drums: Ken Bergmann

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

The Fourth Messenger Berkeley, California

contact / help

Contact The Fourth Messenger

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

If you like The Fourth Messenger, you may also like: