João Paulo Vaz, a priest, wrote the lyrics and Pedro Ferreira, a teacher and a musician, composed the melody. The suggestion was chosen among more than one hundred participations.

They are good friends, they have been participating in several musical projects and when the WYD LISBON 2023 committee released the contest to select the theme song of the meeting, they didn’t hesitate in participating. Pedro Ferreira, a teacher and a musician, and João Paulo Vaz, the parish from the city of Pombal, both belong to the Diocese of Coimbra, in the centre region of Portugal, and created the theme “There is rush in the air”, the theme song of the WYD Lisbon 2023, elected among more than one hundred participations.

“When they called me to say that we had won, I was out of the country. On that day, I couldn’t see anything else.  I was with a group of priests, a group of friends, but I didn’t see anyone…It was an immense joy”, recalls João Paulo Vaz. “The WYD is like a mark in my life. To realize that the lyrics I made would be sung by the world was an immense joy.”

The creative process came from the melody that Pedro Ferreira, 41 years old, composed in “ a small room, alone by the piano”. “It was thought to congregate, to gather a community” , adds the musician who, with other friends from the Parish Band, a musical group where he belongs to, asked Father João Paulo Vaz to write the lyrics. “Not changing the Melody at all, and with the guitar in my hands, I started writing, just like I usually do”, the priest of 51 years old, recalls. “ I started from the theme of the WYD in Panama [“Here’s the servant of the Lord. ….], because I thought there should be a link with the portuguese edition. Then, I also meditated on the topics suggested by Pope Francis, for each year of the WYD”, he tells. “The theme of the portuguese edition (…) made me revise my relationship with the Mother and, then, the creative process of the lyrics became a deep praying moment for me”. The musical effects of “There’s rush in the air” are by the musician Carlos Garcia. “When listening to the theme, Carlos ends up by feeling the melody as his in a remarkable work – he doesn’t change the structure, the form – he enriches it in a unique way” underlines Pedro Ferreira who, among several musical projects, was the founder of the Portuguese band Anaquim.

After the selection phase, the lyrics was also adjusted. “[The WYD committee] suggested us another stanza with a specific reference to Elizabeth”, reveals João Paulo Vaz.

“It’s really interesting also because, as the theme of the WYD in Lisbon, Mary went on with haste to meet Elizabeth. The invitation is for every single person to leave in haste as well, with the purpose of meeting so many, with so many different names.”