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Centuries-old Arab Christian songs celebrated in London
(9 Jan 2020) LEAD IN:
As Copts and Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas, an event in London has been held for the occasions – a concert of early Arab Christian chants.
But performers also want to send a message of peace and unity through the songs of Aramaic, Byzantine and Coptic traditions.
STORY-LINE:
The lifting and elongated tones of half-Coptic Egyptian, half-German singer and composer Merit Ariane resonate over this London audience.
The event, entitled ‘Arab Christmas’ was held around the celebration of the Coptic and Orthodox Christmases, on the 6 and 7 January respectively.
It aims to give a platform to music that is rarely heard outside of Christian communities in the Middle East, and from a small number of well-known singers from the region.
Mirna Kassis, a Syrian mezzo-soprano and Nizar Rohana, a Palestinian oud player, harmonize in a mesmerizing melody.
Also at the event, performing chants from the Aramaic-Syriac and Byzantine traditions is Lebanese-British Archemandrite Shafiq Abouzayd.
He has been a priest at the Maronite Church since 1987 and studied Aramaic-Syriac and Arabic at the monastery of the Lebanese Maronite Missionaries in Jounieh, Lebanon.
Stephanos has spent time researching Arab Christian chants in Lebanon.
Palestinian oud player, Nizar Rohana, grew up listening to his father who played the oud at communal celebrations, he first tried the instrument when he was thirteen years old.
“The oud is very popular instrument in the Middle East. Actually, in North Africa, in Turkey, Iran even in Asia Minor (also known as Anatolia) they play it,” says Rohana.
“Simply it Middle Eastern version of the lute. It’s actually… the cliche says the father of the lute it went with the Arab to Spain and there it became the lute and (then) the guitar.”
Yet, there is a wider message musicians want to give with the performance, at a time of conflict in the Middle East and tensions globally, in part due to problems such as the Syrian civil war and Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
” At the moment we feel a lot of responsibility as musicians and singers. We use our voices and our instruments to express what is in our heart and to introduce our culture to people who don’t know us. This is very important in light of the current circumstances in the Arab world,” says Mirna Kassis, a Syrian mezzo soprano.
The ‘Arab Christmas’ event has been held at St Martin-in-the-Fields – situated on the corner of Trafalgar Square in London – for three years.
In total there were six performers including Jon Banks, a specialist in Middle Eastern string instruments and Najib Coutya, a Lebanese singer whose father was a choirmaster and singer of Byzantine and Arabic Church music, renowned across the Middle East, who taught him these oral traditions.
Arab Christmas was produced by Arts Canteen, a company that supports artists from the Arab world and supported by public funding by Arts Council England.
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