The Rosary Tapes have helped open the centuries-old tradition to other Christian denominations, according to former rock station disc jockey Bill Gildenstern and composer John Giaier, both devout Catholics. The Michigan-based music consultants have released the fourth CD in the set and have seen more than 1 million free downloads of an earlier CD.
People with few qualms about listening to something from a different denomination will have no trouble getting into the Rosary Tapes, Zablocki said.
Gildenstern and Giaier, who helped compose "Have You Driven A Ford — Lately?" and have written thousands of other advertising jingles in a more than 30-year collaboration, added original lyrics, music, percussion, acoustic and electric guitars, organs, pianos and vocal harmony to the devotional prayers.
Gildenstern said he was motivated to create the Rosary Tapes to help recite the prayers while driving, but Giaier said he had to be sold on the project. But Gildenstern took one of the mysteries, tapped out "Silent Night" on the piano and had his wife sing the traditional Christmas hymn while the rosary was recited.
Joyful Mysteries was released in 1992, followed by the Sorrowful and Glorious mysteries a year later. Free Internet downloads of the Joyful Mysteries started in 2001, and the Mysteries of Light, or Luminous Mysteries, was released this winter.
Outside of the free Internet downloads of the Joyful Mysteries, more than 40,000 sets of the Rosary Tapes have been sold, far from enough to make the two longtime friends wealthy. The four-CD set costs $39.95 online.
The tapes have renewed Cleo LaVoie's eagerness to pray the rosary.
