Source: http://christianmusicologicalsocietyofindia.com/component/content/article/211-interviews-and-performances-videos/610-aramaic-project-interviews-n-perf-60-to-51?Itemid=101
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 19:02:27+00:00

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60 Mar George Cardinal Alencherry in conversation with Dr. Joseph J. Palackal ., CMI.
This interview is a glorious moment in the history of the Aramaic Project. Major Archbishop Mar George Cardinal Alencherry, who is the head of the Syro Malabar Church, was gracious enough to grant this interview, which took place in a very relaxed and friendly atmosphere. The Archbishop spoke candidly; his Eminence’s mind is very much in tune with the goals of the Aramaic Project. Surprisingly, the Cardinal went a step further in proposing a novel idea of bilingual singing of certain popular chants: alternating stanzas in the original Syriac and their Malayalam translations. If executed, this will dramatically alter the sonic spectrum of the Syro Malabar liturgy. It will also reconnect the worshippers to the long history of this liturgy that goes all the way back to the conversations between Jesus and the apostles at the last supper. If this experiment turns out to be successful (i. e., if the priests and people feel comfortable), the Syro Malabar priests in other linguistic communities in different parts of India can replicate this experiment in their celebrations. The first such experiment that we did during the celebration of the Qurbana in English--- with the Cardinal as the principal celebrant--- at the National Shrine and Basilica of Immaculate Conception in Washington, D. C, on September 7, 2013 was successful. The Cardinal accepted my suggestion to include two Syriac chants (Puqdānkōn and Qandišā Alāhā; recordings of both chants are included in the video). The 130-member choir of young Syro Malabar singers from different Syro Malabar Churches in America enjoyed singing the Syriac chants; these chants blended well with the rest of the hymns in English.
59a Dr. Joseph J. Palackal sings and speaks about a unique Syriac chant from the funeral services for priests in the Syro Malabar Church. This is an excerpt from his lecture on "What is Christian Musicology of India?" at Dharmaram College, Bengaluru, on 18 July 2014.
58 Fr. William Nellikkal's interview with Dr. Joseph J. Palackal for the Malayalam section of the Vatican Radio. full interview. Broadcast in five parts.
09. The oldest Christian chant in India (30:05). Bar Maryam might have been composed in Kerala. Musical aspects of the Tamil hymn "Marayor Pawe"
Vatican Radio. Broadcast on 8 & 9 January 2016.
58a Fr. William Nellikkal's interview of Dr. Joseph J. Palackal for the Malayalam section of the Vatican Radio. Part I of V. Broadcast on 8 & 9 January 2016.
Vatican Radio. Part I of V. Broadcast on 8 & 9 January 2016.
58b Fr. William Nellikkal's interview of Dr. Joseph J. Palackal for the Malayalam section of the Vatican Radio. Part II of V. Broadcast on 15 & 16 January 2016.
03. The role of Fr. Abel Periyappuram, CMI in the transition of melodies from Syriac to Malayalam" (9:51) 14:44 Vatican Radio. Part II of V. Broadcast on 15 & 16 January 2016.
58c Fr. William Nellikkal's interview of Dr. Joseph J. Palackal for the Malayalam section of the Vatican Radio. Part III of V. Broadcast on 22 & 23 January 2016.
03. the oldest Christian chant in India (6:14). Bar Maryam might have been composed in Kerala. Musical aspects of the Tamil hymn "Marayor Pawe 15:30 Vatican Radio. Part III of V. Broadcast on 22 & 23 January 2016.
04. The negative impact of the decisions of FR. Abel and K. K. Antony Master on the liturgical music of the Syro Malabar Church (15:26) 19:04 Vatican Radio. Part IV of V. Broadcast on 3 March 2016.
58e Fr. William Nellikkal's interview of Dr. Joseph J. Palackal for the Malayalam section of the Vatican Radio. Part V of V. Broadcast on 10 March 2016.
02.About the responses from the participants at the Notre Dame University Conference to Dr. Palackal's presentation (8:51) 15:18 Vatican Radio. Part V of V. Broadcast on 10 March 2016.
57 Bilingual singing of Qambel Maran.
The idea of singing the same chant in its original Syriac text and its Malayalam translation came up during my interview with the Major Archbishop, George Cardinal Alencherry, the head of the Syro Malabar Church (see Aramaic Project 60 ). The Major Archbishop was very enthusiastic about the idea. On my part, this was the first attempt to put the idea into practice. The occasion was the celebration of the Office for the Dead, following the memorial mass for the first anniversary of my cousin, Fr. Thomas Palackal, and 176th anniversary of my collateral ancestor, the saintly Palackal Thoma Malpan. The congregation consisted mainly of the Palackal family who live in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Canada. For that reason, I felt comfortable in doing this experiment. The adults had the Malayalam translation in front of them, while I sang the Syriac text, and therefore, did not feel disconnected from the spirit of the prayer. The youngsters, however, could not follow the meaning because they did not know Malayalam. One of them told me after the service that he liked the prayerful mood created by the melody. It remains to be seen if other priests would be willing to do such experiments, and if the laity would feel comfortable. If they do, that will lead to a positive conversation about the Syriac heritage of the Syro Malabar Church.
Johny P. David, a great blessing. Syriac chants on saxophone Johny P. David, who plays Syriac melodies on the saxophone, is a great blessing to the well-wishers of the Aramaic Project was well as anyone who is interested in the history of the Syriac chant repertoire in Kerala, India. He adds an all new dimension to the experience of the sonority, sensibility and tenderness of the Syriac melodies. More importantly, Johny is an avant-gardist, who took the melodies from their sacred setting of liturgical texts and semantics and brought them to the secular realm of music per se for anyone to experience them irrespective of religious affinities. That being said, playing these melodies, which are ensconced in his childhood memories, is an intense religious experience for Johny. In one instance, Johny accepted my request to play around the melody of the commemoration hymn from the solemn high mass in Syriac. The idea was to venture into a compose-while-playing experiment, similar to what a jazz musician would attempt. Although Johny was not happy with the result, the segment bespeaks immense potential for musical experiments using Syriac melodies. Johny P. David is a true representative of the transitional generation that lived through the transference of the Chaldean liturgy of the Syro Malabar Church from Syriac to Malayalam, in the 1960s. His memory base includes melodies that he learned in the 1950s, during his younger years as a choir boy at Infant Jesus Church at Thalore in the Thrissur district of Kerala. Significantly, some of those melodies are known only to Johny. More significantly, some of those melodies were composed in Kerala, and are embedded in the history of the Syro Malabar Church (see my notes on Aramaic Project 56A https://youtu.be/0UhiLbAaht4 ; 56B https://youtu.be/mkM4NBKka-w ; 56C https://youtu.be/IEXhhCPD-9k ). Had Johny not kept up his memories and practice, these melodies would have been lost forever. The Syro Malabar Catholics have reasons to be proud of Johny P. David. All in all, this short interview provides Kerala music historians and musicologists with ample material for their research pursuits.
56b Johny P. David plays “Śambah leśān” with instrumental accompaniment.
Note: Johny P. David presents the melody of Šambah lešān (Sing my Tongue) that we heard in solo performance in Part 56A, with the accompaniment of violin, guitars, and drums. Johny iterates the melody on Alto Saxophone, and Kiran C. P. and Stine Joseph reiterate it respectively on violin and keyboard. Thus, Johny allows us to experience the same melody in different tone colors. This is unconventional in many ways. Taking out of the divine context of religion and ritual efficacy, Johny brings the melody to the merely human realm of pure aesthetic enjoyment. The selection of musical instruments, too, is unconventional. Traditionally, Syro-Malabar church musicians used only violin, harmonium, triangle, and bass drum for accompaniment. Johny’s action is avant-garde. He is motivated enough to spend his time and resources to combine a tune associated with the Syriac translation of a famous Latin liturgical text with contemporary sonorities. This adds yet another layer to the multiple stories of centuries-long cultural interactions that took place in Kerala between the disparate traditions of the East and the West. By doing so, Johny presents the melody to future composers to make use of it, either by quotation, or by mutation, as Western composers did with some of the medieval chants ("Dies Ire," for example).
Viewers might argue that the serene sublimity and loving tenderness in Johny’s rendering is hampered by the selection of chords and the particular sonorities of the accompanying instruments. If Johny’s version is far superior with its delicate and subdued use of ornamentation of notes and careful control of dynamics, it is because the melody blended into his blood more than half a century ago. Johny dedicates the video to his favorite priest, Fr. Abilius, C.M.I. (1916-2000), who taught him many Syriac melodies.
56c Johny P. David plays Kollan dašne with instrumental accompaniment.
Johny P. David continues his mission of presenting his favorite Syriac melodies on Alto saxophone. In this video he plays the melody of “Kollan dašne” that used to be sung during the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament on Sundays and special feast days in the Syro Malabar churches, until the early 1970s. The Syriac text is the translation of the Latin chant, Pange Lingua (Sing my Tongue) that St. Thomas Aquinas wrote for the feast of Corpus Christi. This particular melody is a rare one. Probably, this melody was composed by the same person who composed “Šambah lešān” that we heard in Part 56A & 56B (see notes on these entries).
Johny seems to be the only one who knows it. But for his efforts to document it, this melody would have been lost for ever. Johny voluntarily spent his time and resources to record it with instrumental accompaniment for the Aramaic Project, and preserve it for posterity.
Once again, Johny manifests his respect for the history of the St. Thomas Christians in the selection of the performance space for this video. The performance took place on the premises of the St. Thomas Syro Malabar Catholic Church at Palayur, in Kerala. Palayur is one of the seven locations where St. Thomas the Apostle is believed to have established Christin communities. The statues in the back ground show the Apostle preaching to the local Hindu priests. Music, indeed is embedded in history.
55 Pre-screening comments by Dr. Joseph J. Palackal on the Aramaic Project at the Conference on the Music of South, Central, and West Asia. Harvard University, 4-6 March 2016. 7:10 Harvard University, 4-6 March 2016.
54 Fr. Jose P Kottaram in conversation with Dr. Joseph J. Palackal.
Chapel of St. John Berchman's Higher Secondary School, Changanacherry, Kerala.
54k Fr. Jose P. Kottaram chants the Institution narrative in Syriac.
53 George Thaila in conversation with Dr. Joseph J. Palackal.
NOTE:This is a rare, yet interesting example of singing a non-liturgical Marian devotional song in Malayalam to the melody of a popular Syriac chant. George Thaila, who was born into a musical family, recalls his early childhood experience of evening family prayer at his home at Kuninji, in the Idukki District of Kerala. In the month of May, which is devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the family would conclude the evening prayer with the song" Nalla Mātāwe mariye/ Nirmala yawusēppitāwe". George’s father, Augusty Thailayil (1900-1991), who was a violinist and a church musician in the Syriac tradition, would double the melody on the violin, and one of his older brothers would do the same on the harmonium. The melody got imprinted in the mind of the young George, without knowing the source of the melody. Later, he was surprised to hear the same melody in a Syriac chant at a Knanaya wedding ceremony, sometime in 1981.
In the musical realization, the melody of the first two verses of the Syriac text is negotiated to fit the 8 syllables of the first verse in the Malayalam text. A recording of Bar Maryam, sung by Rev. Dr. Jacob Vellaian can be heard on track 25, on the CD "Qambel Maran: Syriac Chants from South India" (Pan Records, Netherlands, 2002).
52 Mr. Sebastian Menachery in conversation with Dr. Joseph J. Palackal.
Recorded at Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram (DVK), Bangalore.
52s Sebastian Menachery speaks about Fr. Abel Peiyappuram, CMI.
51 Lonappan Arackal and team in conversation with Dr. Joseph J. Palackal.
NOTE: The melodies and memories that Mr. Lonappan Arackal shares with us in this video are significant because he is a member of the transitional generation that saw the transference of the Syro Malabar liturgy from Syriac to Malayalam (July 3,1962). Lonappan has been a church musician for the last 53 years. He learned the melodies from his father and grandfather who, too, were choir leaders. Thus, we have here a musical link to a melodic tradition that is older than a century.
Recorded at St. John Nepomucene Church, Konthuruthy, Ernakulam.
51a "Śambah leśān" Syriac translation of Tantum Ergo by Thomas Aquinas. Used to besung as the opening chant for Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament in the Syro Malabar Church, until 1962. ..2:08 Recorded at St. John Nepomucene Church, Konthuruthy, Ernakulam. 16 July 2013..
51b Melody of "Kollan Dasne" From Syriac Translation Of the Benediction hymn Tantum Ergo. .. Recorded at St. John Nepomucene Church, Konthuruthy, Ernakulam. 16 July 2013.
51c Reenactment of Holy Holy Holy On Pesaha Thursday before 1962.
NOTE: This is a unique segment which highlights the role of music in creating an extra ordinary experience of liturgical time during the Holy Week. Music serves as a medium for a dramatic transitioning from the solemn to the somber sense of time. It happens during the Eucharistic prayer. Halfway through the Holy, Holy, Holy, the music stops and the server rings the clapper, portending a change of time and mood. Rest of the song is sung a capella in a requiem mode. The ensuing mood continues until the Easter celebration. Luckily, Lonappan Arackal and his team has opened to us a window into the past history of the Syro Malabar liturgy, and we are grateful....... Joseph J. Palackal ..5:25 ..Recorded at St. John Nepomucene Church, Konthuruthy, Ernakulam. 16 July 2013.
51d Melody of M'Samsana Daweed For Elevation During Qurbana On Pesaha Thursday. .. Recorded at St. John Nepomucene Church, Konthuruthy, Ernakulam. 16 July 2013.
51e Melody of "Rahme Suqaanaa" Rite of Reconciliation on Pesaha Thursday .
Lonappan Arackal sings the same text of the Reconciliation rite in the Syriac Qurbana in the requiem and solemn manner. .. Recorded at St. John Nepomucene Church, Konthuruthy, Ernakulam. 16 July 2013.
51f Melody of "Maran Iso" After Communion. ..2:02 Recorded at St. John Nepomucene Church, Konthuruthy, Ernakulam. 16 July 2013..
51g Melody of "Maran Iso" For solemn occasions.
Solemn tune of "Maran iso". This tune is used during the solemn celebration of Qurbana. Lonappan says that his team sing this melody at least once a year when they celebrate Qurbana in Syriac during the annual celebration of the patron saint of the Parish. The melody has 7/8 rhythm (x23 + x1234) that is popular in the South Indian semi classical compositions. For that reason, we may assume that this melody was composed in Kerala. .3:27. Recorded at St. John Nepomucene Church, Konthuruthy, Ernakulam. 16 July 2013.
51h Melody 1 of Quryēlaisōn (Kyrie Eleison): Syriac translation of Latin Litany.
This is one of four melodies of the litany sung by Lonappan Arackal and his team. Fortunately, Lonappan was able to recall these melodies half a century after they went out of vogue. The litany is one of the many popular devotional practices that the Portuguese missionaries introduced among the Syro Malabar Catholics. The Latin texts of these litanies were translated into Syriac, and the local composers composed melodies using local musical idioms. Church choirs took pride in singing new melodies to the Syriac texts. Considering the sheer number and variety of melodies that are available, we may assume that the local choir leaders enjoyed considerable freedom in composing and performing these texts. ..4:16 Recorded at St. John Nepomucene Church, Konthuruthy, Ernakulam. 16 July 2013.
51i Melody 2 of Quryēlaisōn (Kyrie Eleison): Syriac translation of Latin Litany. .. Recorded at St. John Nepomucene Church, Konthuruthy, Ernakulam. 16 July 2013..
51j Melody 3 of Quryēlaisōn (Kyrie Eleison): Syriac translation of Latin Litany. .2:25 Recorded at St. John Nepomucene Church, Konthuruthy, Ernakulam. 16 July 2013.
51k Melody 4 of Quryēlaisōn (Kyrie Eleison): Syriac translation of Latin Litany. Recorded at St. John Nepomucene Church, Konthuruthy, Ernakulam. 16 July 2013. ...2:40 . Recorded at St. John Nepomucene Church, Konthuruthy, Ernakulam. 16 July 2013.
The authorship of this chant is attributed to St. Ephrem the Syrian . The text and melody are used for the veneration of the Cross in two very different contexts. During Raza, the most solemn form of Qurbana, the chant is sung while the celebrants and the congregation kiss the Cross. During festival processions the chant used to be sung at the foot of the open-air Cross when the celebrant and singers halted to venerate the Cross. On this occasion, it was sung with the accompaniment of violin and triangle. See also Part 42 ..2:38 Recorded at St. John Nepomucene Church, Konthuruthy, Ernakulam. 16 July 2013.
51m Hymn in honor of St John Nepomucene to the melody of ’Bar Maryam.
NOTE: This segment is significant for several reasons. First, this is an example of a Syriac chant composed to the meter and melody of another chant, Bar Maryam; it also means that certain chants, Bar Maryam, for example, were more popular than others among the Syro Malabar Catholics across Kerala (see recordings Part 53 and Part5A ); second, this is one of the Syriac chants that was definitely composed in Kerala; third, the people, who dedicated their parish to St. John Nepumocene (mār yōhannān) decided to compose a hymn in honor of the saint in the Syriac language, rather than in Malayalam, their mother tongue; fourth, during this period, there were priests and laymen in Kerala who knew the Syriac language well enough to write poems, and most probably, the congregation, too, was literate enough to understand chant texts. Thus, a single chant, sometimes, may carry multiple stories connected with the region, its people and its music.........Joseph J. Palackal ..3:04 Recorded at St. John Nepomucene Church, Konthuruthy, Ernakulam. 16 July 2013.
51o Fr.Augustus Thekkanath, C.M.I. sings the final blessing in the requiem mass in Syriac assisted by Lonappan Arackal. This melody continues to be used today with the Malayalam translation of the Syriac text during requiem mass.
Click here to view the full interview Part 51 3:44 Recorded on 16 July 213 at John Nepomucene Church, Konthuruthy, Ernakulam.

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