Syriacs - Religious Music & Folk Music (Reupload) (2002)

Our first studies about the music culture of Syriacs dates back to the years with 1980s. The first ideas for the creation of the album that you hold developed in year 1996. Although the album was included in the publication program of Kalan Miizik, unfortunately, the necessary preparations could not be completed and thus the album could not reach you. As a result of the difficult and tiresome works that we have been carrying out for about a year, the Album of Syriac Music comprising of two CDs and a booklet was created.

The contents of the booklet of the album were prepared in two main sections: The history of Syriacs and the Syriac culture. We tried to give only a summary of the main features of the history of Syriacs to the readers and the listeners that are not familiar with the subject. In fact it would be more correct to name it as "a kind of brief historical account". Because, it is not possible to cover the history of a society whose history is expressed in thousands of years in a few pages.

The brief "historical account" that is given here covers especially the Syriac identity of the period of Christianity. This information will be insufficient for the reader wishing to learn the subject from aspects of prehistory We provided information about the era of Christianity and modern times to allow the listener to penetrate to the Syriac culture to some extent. Those wishing to get more detailed information can make an introduction to the subject through the studies given in the bibliography.

We tried to analyze the effects of Christianity, the cultural factors that developed after Christianity and the contemporary Syriac culture in this booklet. The main parameters giving shape to the culture were included. Language, literature and - the subject of music since they were related with our field - were covered separately. The information in the section of language and literature could only be given with their main features in order to establish a general idea. Of course it is very difficult to give all the Syriac sound characteristics in limited pages as a booklet of a CD; in fact it is impossible. The information that we provide here is a brief summary of the study that we are preparing, named Syriac music.

The samples of melodies that we included in the album were selected from among musical melodies that were sent to us from various personal archives and collections and from the musical material that we collected during our special studies. It is obvious that the Syriacs, who were spread to all parts of the world were affected from the sounds of the regions that they were present. Although the liturgies principles were generally subject to little modification, the sound (music) was subject to regional modifications. Therefore, it is a natural outcome that the music tastes of the Syriacs in India, Iran, Lebanon, Germany, Sweden or Brazil are different from each other and face modifications. Besides, if we consider the Syriacs according to their various religious, social, cultural diversification dimensions such as Keldani, Nastuo, Maruni, Protestant, Catholic etc, it can be better understood how difficult it is to determine the musical identity of each one of them. We wanted to present an anthology that the listener reader could analyze in a clear manner and listen with good taste and we also tried to give mainly samples that were in conformity with the liturgies principles applied in the Antioch Church and Tur Abdin Church. When the musical diversification of the Syriac music, the structure of its makams, the special makams used in special days/rites and the independent musical styles of the churches are taken into account it is obvious that we are faced with a very wide repertory. We deemed it more appropriate to give examples of various psalms, makams, choruses and solo sounds and different styles of singing rather than giving all the examples present in the course of a whole rite in the 1st CD that incorporates the examples of religious music.

We tried to incorporate another implementation similar to the one explained above for the 2nd CD. For instance, factors such as the authentic examples performed by local singers from regions where the eastern and western dialects are widespread, choral examples constituted by the sounds of men and women, local styles- use of different instruments, examples of free and rhythmic melodies etc were used during the preparation of the CD. Thus, it will be possible to be able to introduce the Syriac culture in a more effective manner for a listener that is not from the culture itself.

In fact, it is not possible to present the examples of the Syriac music in two albums. However, we consider that a study like this can be sufficient at the introductory level for those who wonder about the Syriac music and the sound culture of the Syriacs.

We hope that any mistake that could have been made in the anthology section of this study or in the booklet will be tolerated - due to the fact that this is a first in its field and we would like to thank all our friends who provided us with information about the subject, directed and encouraged us and provided materials to us.

by Melih Duygulu