Notes

A Christmas chant from the Syriac tradition of the CMI communities in Kerala.

This video of a Christmas Carol in Syriac is a precious addition to our Digital Library for three reasons. First, this chant was unknown to the present generation of Syro Malabar Catholics. The generation that lived in the Syriac era sang this chant during Ramsa (evening prayer) on the eve of Christmas. The strophic chant is eight pages long and is sung antiphonally. Second, we are not familiar with the melody of this chant. That means that this is one of the many melodies that were forgotten after the transition of liturgy from Syriac to the vernacular in the 1960s. The chant is from the festival breviary that was in use only among the CMI communities in the Syro Malabar Church. Third, Prof. Zach sang this chant to a Chaldean priest in America, and the priest immediately recognized the text and the melody. It means this is one of the melodies that were common to the East-Syriac Catholics in the Middle East and India. We are immensely grateful to Prof. Zach Thundy https://christianmusicologicalsociety...) for bringing this chant to our attention. We hope future researchers will explore more such common melodies and continue the conversation on Music Ecumenism, which is one of the many goals of the Aramaic Project. Thank you. Reference: Zacharias Thundy https://christianmusicologicalsociety...

Joseph J. Palackal, CMI
New York
22 December 2023

• AP 173 - - Bar Maryam as Christmas carol, in Melbourne, Australia.