HOLIDAY GIFTS Divine diva: God inspires me

She will be performing Christmas Eve at First Baptist Church of McDonald.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- When you sing songs about love and God, Christmas is a special time.
"Everyone is really ready for music," said Tia Ciferno, who has performed her songs about family and the divine for scores of local churches.
"People, their hearts are softer now," she said. "I think they want to listen."
All about love: Children sit on their grandparents' laps for Ciferno's music, and couples hold each other close for the length of the songs. They are all about love: for a grandmother, for a child, for a spouse, for the Lord.
"If someone says 'I like your voice,' I feel like they missed something," she said. "I'm trying to communicate something."
A stay-at-home mother of four, Ciferno began composing her songs in bits and pieces, singing into a tape recorder as she did housework and drove her car. The background of those early songs is filled with the clanking of dishes, she said.
One of her first songs was 'Grandma's Song,' composed to be sung at her grandmother's funeral.
First recorded song: The lyrics play off the way the family matriarch signed all her letters: "Only God could love you more." It was also the first song Ciferno recorded, so other family members could have a copy to keep. Jack Ciarniello, of Austintown, put together the music.
Since then, they have put together two compact discs, sold at local Christian book stores, and Ciferno has performed hundreds of times. Now when she sings, some in the crowd can sing along. She has a folder about 3 inches thick of thank-you notes from people who have been touched by her music.
"The love of God, it is what she sings about, and it definitely carries down," said Mary Jo Dugan, principal of Notre Dame School in Warren, where Ciferno has performed. "It is the way she sings the words of her songs. You can tell she loves God and that it is an important part of her life."
God has a presence in her Warren home. A sign in the living room proclaims that Jesus never fails, next to a print of George Washington kneeling in prayer beside his mount. Ciferno, a slender brunette with lively eyes, says she doesn't expect ever to sell many records or get played much on radio because her audience grows primarily by word of mouth.
She is happy with this. She says she is doing the Lord's work.
"If God can take a woman with four kids who lives in a little Cape Cod in Warren, Ohio, and lift her up. ... " she said. "It is divine inspired."
Ciferno will be performing Christmas Eve at First Baptist Church of McDonald, starting at 7 p.m.