Kenaniah of the Levites appointed by the king
To teach the songs of Zion, to lead them as they sing
Your song is not forgotten, we hear it in our souls
Let it burn and burn within us
And fan the sacred coals

Kenaniah, Kenaniah, we will sing your ancient song
Kenaniah, Kenaniah, we will sing it loud and strong

Gathered for the battle, Kenaniah led the way
As the singers closely followed him, they all began to pray
The musicians all assembled, Kenaniah gave the word
Through the raging battle zone, the anthem could be heard

Kenaniah, Kenaniah, we will never let it die
Kenaniah, Kenaniah, we must lift it to the sky

Sing unto Jehovah of His wondrous ways
Sing a song of triumph, sing a victory song
And in the cloud of witnesses, Kenaniah sings along

Kenaniah, Kenaniah, through the ages it will ring
Kenaniah, Kenaniah, to Jehovah we will sing

• Written by: Danny Kingen, John J Lawry, Robert M Hartman
• Based on 1 Chronicles 15: 22, 27
• Performed by: Petra

I love what Gary Webb has to say about Kenaniah…

Kenaniah the head Levite was in charge of the singing; that was his responsibility because he was skillful at it. – 1 Chronicles 15:22 (NIV)

Now David was clothed in a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who were carrying the ark, and as were the musicians, and Kenaniah, who was in charge of the singing of the choirs. David also wore a linen ephod. – 1 Chronicles 15:27 (NIV)

Verse 27 makes it pretty clear that this individual had a leadership role in the singing culture of Israel’s musical Levites. Verse 22 provides us with a little more mystery. The core of this mystery stems from the Hebrew noun “maśśā.” This is the term in verse 22 that the NIV translates as “singing.” While the NIV makes a good choice here, there is more to “maśśā” than just simple singing. In other places in scripture, this term is used to speak of “burdens,” “loads,” or “lifting” (see Exodus 23:5, Numbers 4:27, 2 Chronicles 35:3). This has led some to believe that Kenaniah was skillful and in charge of lifting up or carrying the Ark of the Covenant. This is a possibility, but the context of this verse and verse 27 seems to be pointing to something else. Many believe that Kenaniah was simply skillful at lifting up his voice in song. Others however have postulated that the work of Kenaniah not only had to do with simple song, but also the delivery of prophetic oracles (see the use of “maśśā” in 2 Chronicles 24:27). Music in the days of David and most of the Old Testament was not seen solely as temporal art. Music had an intrinsic connection with the unseen.  Many of the early seers and prophets had significant connections to music (1 Samuel 10:5, 2 Kings 3:15, 1 Chronicles 25:3) and the essence of the Psalms certainly had prophetic bent to their nature and delivery. Therefore, it is quite possible that Kenaniah was in charge of and an instructed in carrying the burden of prophetic utterance put to song. In other words, he was not only in charge of pitch and time, but delivering the beautiful stream of praise and revelation in the midst of worship.