Topic: Oriental Orthodox Music

[Psalti Boy]

Could anyone tell me if there are any sites online where I can find music from the Oriental Orthodox Church?  Thanks

[Αριστοκλής]

Hey, consider this my request as well. I like to hear Ethiopian especially.

[Anastasios]

http://tasbeha.org/
http://www.copticchurch.org/Audio/Alhan/listen_and_learn_hymns.htm
http://st-takla.org/Links/Coptic-Links-03-Multimedia.html

[Αριστοκλής]

Thanks, but "Kyrie Eleison" in tribal congregational chant is unforgetable!

Heard it in high school history class in 1967 and never since (schools' not what they used to be).

[Anastasios]

http://www.syrianorthodoxchurch.com/Hymns.html

And finally, not Oriental Orthodox but Assyrian:

http://www.cired.org/pdf/raza.html (my fave is part II, some 4 min into it)

[StBrigid]

Here are a couple I know of:

Coptic:
http://www.coptichymns.net
http://tasbeha.org/
http://www.agpeya.org

Syriac:
http://www.syriacmusic.com/

Armenian:
http://www.vem.am

[Psalti Boy]

Thank you all.  I'll check them out.   

[Salpy]

http://www.stvartanbookstore.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=643

The CD at the bottom--Yekmalian Divine Liturgy--is a very good recording of an entire Armenian liturgy, including the chants of the priest and deacons.  It's two CD's and it also comes with a booklet which translates the liturgy into English.  It's a bit expensive, though, at 29 dollars.

[coptic orthodox boy]

Psalti Boy

I personally don't have a myspace, but when I did, I came across a few good cites with OO Liturgical music.  It's all free, just hit the link, then the song you want at the link.

Syrian:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=36228971
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=82303769

Ethiopian:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=94582938

For CDs, you can also go to this link
http://www.monasterygreetings.com/Products.asp?PCID=112

I own a few, my favorite being the Ethiopian Liturgy.  There's a part, about 10 minutes into the cd, when the priest is censing the church.  It is very beautiful to hear the chants with the little bells from the censer ringing.

Well, I hope this helps.

shawn

[minasoliman]

This should be a sticky.

Thank you all.

Still missing a few, like Celtic and Malankara (if different) hymnology  Would love to hear those as well.

Mina

[EkhristosAnesti]

Paslti boy and anyone else interested,

The best of Coptic chant and music is scarce on the internet. I have been to just about every known site and 75% of what I have found is quite low quality, in terms of recording and voice. Most of the files on the net better serve the interests of one who seeks to learn Coptic chant/music, rather than one who seeks to enjoy Coptic chant/music in my opinion. If you want the gems, just ask me; I will gladly direct you to the best quality recordings on the net, and upload those you will never find on the net.

Here is one of my favourites that I have uploaded from a CD I own; it's the Goodfriday hymn Omonogenis chanted in Arabic:
http://www11.rapidupload.com/d.php?file=dl&filepath=26921

[Salpy]

This is another good one:


http://www.narek.com/store/product.php?productid=19260


It is a collection of Armenian hymns sung by a choir of young people orphaned by the war in Karabagh.  It's absolutely beautiful.  The last couple of songs are folk songs, but they are kind of cute.  The only complaint I have is that one of the hymns (I think #11) is cut off suddenly in the middle.  I don't know why they did that.  The CD is worth it though.  On the above website they let you listen to samples.

[John of the North]

Blessed be,

Ethiopian Orthodox: http://www.ethiopianorthodox.org/music/songs.htm

The Virgin Mary Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in Los Angeles also has CDs of their youth choir available:
http://www.ethiovirginmary.org/index_a.htm

www.tewahedo.org

Fiqir bandinet,
Ras Markos Yohannis Binyam

[Macarius]

Paslti boy and anyone else interested,

The best of Coptic chant and music is scarce on the internet. I have been to just about every known site and 75% of what I have found is quite low quality, in terms of recording and voice. Most of the files on the net better serve the interests of one who seeks to learn Coptic chant/music, rather than one who seeks to enjoy Coptic chant/music in my opinion. If you want the gems, just ask me; I will gladly direct you to the best quality recordings on the net, and upload those you will never find on the net.

Here is one of my favourites that I have uploaded from a CD I own; it's the Goodfriday hymn Omonogenis chanted in Arabic:
http://www11.rapidupload.com/d.php?file=dl&filepath=26921

yes , it is for learning the chants only not for enjoying the chants ..
i have a great Coptic Chants in nice voice and recorded in good way , i hope i can upload it to the internet ... i enjoy the chants in the feasts in my church because the deacons do it very well especially the bright saturday .. but most of the years they don't sing it well

[Salpy]

I just discovered this website of Armenian Church music:

http://www.sograd.com/aacca/

[SaintShenouti]

Still missing a few, like Celtic and Malankara (if different) hymnology  Would love to hear those as well.

Celtic?  Sounds interesting.  I assume that would be the rite in which the British Orthodox celebrate.

[minasoliman]

Celtic?  Sounds interesting.  I assume that would be the rite in which the British Orthodox celebrate.

yup

[paul2004]

Some songs from Indian Orthodox liturgy:

http://www.stgregorioschurchdc.org/cgi/doc.cgi?doc=Syllabus.doc&lang=en

-Paul

[EkhristosAnesti]

Some songs from Indian Orthodox liturgy:

http://www.stgregorioschurchdc.org/cgi/doc.cgi?doc=Syllabus.doc&lang=en

-Paul

Thank for that. Beautiful; though it sounds very Byzantine. And what's the deal with the organs (they turned me off a little)?!

[EkhristosAnesti]

Are there any recordings of complete and live Indian Orthodox Liturgies in english that can be downloaded online?

[paul2004]

Dear Ekhristos Anesti, Liturgy is celebrated fully in English on two Sundays in a month (in some parishes only on one Sunday). I could not find a complete recording of Divine liturgy in English online. But here is a video of Divine Liturgy of Easter, almost complete in Malayalam with Metropolitan H.G. Mar Makarios of Canada & U.K. as the chief celebrant.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=rxQ0pecJQUQ

You will find rest of the video, as well as other videos on the right side.

Peace

Paul

[EkhristosAnesti]

Dear Paul,

I've seen the youtube.com videos; they're beautiful. However, I would really, really like to hear an english recording of the Liturgy. If there are none readily available online, are there at least any CD's of quality recorded full english Syrian Orthodox Liturgies that I can purchase online?

[Thomas Daniel (Reji)]

Music of the Syriac Orthodox Church is enriched and has a sterling history running from the beginning of our times derived from the ancient Sumerian and Acadian musical period

http://www.syriacmusic.com/

Poetry and Music of the Syriac Orthodox Church

http://sor.cua.edu/Music/index.html

Beth Gazo D-ne`motho
The Treasury of Chants
http://sor.cua.edu/BethGazo/index.html

Listen to the Divine Liturgy
http://www.soc-wus.org/worship/liturgy.html

Notes and Hymns of the Divine Liturgy in Syriac
http://www.soc-wus.org/worship/hymns.html

Notes and Hymns of the Divine Liturgy in Malayalam
http://syrianorthodoxarchdiocese.com/music.html

St. Ephrem Patriarchal Choir
http://www.soc-wus.org/worship/patriarchal%20choir.htm

Selected Hymns
http://www.soc-wus.org/worship/selected%20hymns.htm

[Salpy]

I just found this site that has Armenian hymns you can listen to.  The CD they're from seems great, but I haven't ordered it yet.  I think you can get it through amazon.

http://www.vem.am/?go=projects/recording/choir/order

[Brigidsboy]

Salpy:

I have that one. It is excellent, and worth taking the time to order.

Michael

[_Seraphim_]

Hello everyone.  I am new here.  I am an American who converted to Orthodoxy.  I belong to a Serbian parish.

The topic of Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox has fascinated me for quite some time.  Thank you very much for having this thread available.

On a side-note, does anyone here know where to purchase Oriental Orthodox chant on the internet?


Thank you,

God bless all

[Entscheidungsproblem]

Hello everyone.  I am new here.  I am an American who converted to Orthodoxy.  I belong to a Serbian parish.

And they say no one converts at Serbian parishes.   

Welcome to OC.net, by the way! 

[JawaMan]

On a side-note, does anyone here know where to purchase Oriental Orthodox chant on the internet?

No, but one episode of Our Life in Christ had Ethiopian music on it. That was really cool.

[EkhristosAnesti]

Dear Seraphim,

To be frank, OO chant on the net is quite lacking quality-wise, so free downloads are not usually the best representations in that respect. An exception to the rule: any of the hymns from here: http://www.davidensemble.com/english/multimedia/hymns_of_basilius_mass.htm

Notice for each hymn you have the choice of downloading the acapella, the instrumental, or the acapella mixed with the instrumental.

[_Seraphim_]

EkhristosAnesti,

Thank you SO much for that link! 
The hymns are beautiful.
Also, the sound quality is excellent.

If anyone else knows of other sources to either purchase or download Oriental Orthodox chant,
please let me know.

Thanks again

God bless

[Αριστοκλής]

EkhristosAnesti,

Thank you SO much for that link! 
The hymns are beautiful.
Also, the sound quality is excellent.

If anyone else knows of other sources to either purchase or download Oriental Orthodox chant,
please let me know.

Thanks again

God bless

I "ditto" that 'thank you'. Now I don't have to search youtube for Coptic chants & hymns.

[Didymus]

If you search on Amazon.com you should be able to find a CD called "Ethiopian Liturgy" which you can buy together with "Syrian Liturgy" however these are cut to fit onto a single CD and only contain about 70 minutes worth of chanting. The "Eastern Churches' Collection" is also available if you're interested.

Salpy, thanks for saying you're Armenian. It doesn't say below your name anymore due to a computer problem that meant it was easier to remove that section. You could always add it back in under another section as I have though.

[EkhristosAnesti]

Dear Seraphim and Aristokles,

You're both very welcome.

Seraphim (and anyone else interested),

There's an abundance of online sources for Coptic chant, and 90% of the files offered for download are disappointing (either due to the poor quality of the recording or the cantor--this is primarily because most are aimed towards an educational, rather than an aesthetic, purpose), so, in the interest of saving you time, I discourage you from any attempt to sift through the plethora of available online downloads; i'm going to create an esnips account and will commit myself to do my very best to upload at least a couple of good quality files (from the number of CD's i've obtained over the years) every week.

[JawaMan]

i'm going to create an esnips account and will commit myself to do my very best to upload at least a couple of good quality files (from the number of CD's i've obtained over the years) every week.

To quote Star Wars: "But my lord, is that legal?"

[EkhristosAnesti]

To quote Star Wars: "But my lord, is that legal?"

The CD's I have wouldn't be available online, and most of them were purchased from Egypt. I wouldn't have the time to upload them all even if I wanted to, but I only intend on providing 1-2 tracks from each nevertheless.

[Salpy]

I am taking the thread on OO music and making it a "sticky," since interest in the subject is periodically renewed. 

EA, if what you are talking about really is legal, maybe it should be done on this music thread.  I'm looking forward to it, as I love Coptic music. 

[minasoliman]

Another thing you can do is make these songs available for streaming, not downloading purposes.  Long ago, with debates about whether to use Ibrahim Ayad recordings for downloading, the webmaster respected the copyright and said that uploading them for streaming would be appropriate and the legal thing to do.

I don't know much about legalities, but what do you think?

[_Seraphim_]

EkhristosAnesti,

I would very much appreciate you sharing your music collection with us.   

As far as legalities, when the content is sacred I would not worry too much.  After all, the cantors don't have the copyright to music that has been around for centuries.  Also, a cantor is supposed to be singing for God not for money.  If there isn't a way to purchase the music, then what harm is there in sharing?  Just some thoughts.

God bless

[_Seraphim_]

"one episode of Our Life in Christ had Ethiopian music on it."
Jawaman
_____________________________________________________________________


Do you have a link to this episode?

Ethiopian chant seems to be the hardest to find.

God bless

[Salpy]

Repies #25-38, above, were moved into this thread after being split from another topic:

http://www.orthodoxchristianity.net/forum/index.php/topic,11799.0.html#top

[EkhristosAnesti]

I've created an esnips folder which may be accessed here: http://www.esnips.com/web/MiscellaneousCopticOrthodoxChant

The files in this folder can be streamed and downloaded (the file will automatically stream once you select it; you will find a light grey download button below the streaming file, however, should you wish to download it).

The first file i've uploaded is Ya Mariam El Bekr by the Anba Reweis choir: http://www.esnips.com/doc/424f5acc-dd90-48b3-af1e-314044d7a186/Ya-Mariam-Al-Bekr---Anba-Reweiss-Choir

I will post an update upon each file I upload (which I will try to do on a weekly-fortnightly basis).

[_Seraphim_]

EA,

the song is beautiful... thank you for sharing. 

However, I don't see a "gray button" to download the song. 
Do I have to be a member of esnips to download it?

[EkhristosAnesti]

Dear Seraphim,

Apparently one would need to register and sign in in order to be able to dowload the files. Registration is simply a matter of providing an email address (which becomes your username) and creating a password. You should receive an email in order to activate your account, however, from my experience, you will not be bothered with any additional emails thereafter.

[_Seraphim_]

EA,

I signed up and the download works fine.

Thanks again!

[EkhristosAnesti]

http://www.esnips.com/doc/3020c727-166b-4ce8-84f8-a52fa2bf73a4/Axion-Ke-Dikeon-(St.-Basils-Coptic-Liturgy)---Fr.-Paul-Melek

I've uploaded one of the priest's responses in the 'Heavenly Hymn' segment of the 'Liturgy of the Faithful', according to Coptic Orthodox Liturgy of St. Basil the Great.

Here's a line by line translation (he chants the first line in Coptic and the rest in Arabic):

Coptic: Axion ke dikeon, axion ke dikeon, alithos ghar khen omethmi, axion ke dikeon.
Translation: Meet and right, meet and right, truly indeed it is meet and right (i.e. to give thanks unto the Lord).

Arabic:  ayuha al-kaen’u al sayed al Rabu al ila al haq. Al-kaenu kabl al-dahur wa maleku ila al-abad.
Translation: O You, who are, Master, Lord, God of truth, being before the ages and reigning forever.

Arabic: Al-sakenu fi al-a’ali wa nazeru ila mutawade‘ein.
Translation: Who dwells in the highest and looks upon the lowly.

Arabic: al-lazi khalaka al-sama, al ard, wal bahara, wa kula mafeeha
Translation: Who has created the heaven, the earth, the sea and all is therein.

Arabic: Abu rabena wa ilahana mukhalesna yasoo’ el maseeh, haza el-lazi khalakta beehi kola shay’an mayoora wa la-mayoora.
Translation: The Father of our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ, by whom you have created all things, seen and unseen.

Arabic: al-galesoo a’la a’rsh magdehe el mazgoodu lahu men gamee’a el quwat al muqadassa.
Translation: Who sits upon the throne of His glory, and who is worshipped by all the holy powers.