Via a friend’s facebook page, I stumbled across these links to recordings made in 2011, both of Vespers in Syriac Orthodox monasteries in Turkey. Very sadly, the occasion for which they were posted was an article in Newsweek about the Islamic persecution and dispersal of the Christian communities which have kept this musical tradition alive for so many centuries; the Mor Gabriel monastery was established at the end of the 4th century, and the Mor Hananyo (St Ananias) at the end of the fifth.
Vespers in the Monastery of Mor Hananyo (also known as “The Saffron Monastery” from the color of its stone. The Turkish version of this nickname, “Deyrulzafaran,” is the name used on the website where these links are posted.)
Vespers in the Monastery of Mor Gabriel
Vespers in the Monastery of Mor Hananyo (also known as “The Saffron Monastery” from the color of its stone. The Turkish version of this nickname, “Deyrulzafaran,” is the name used on the website where these links are posted.)
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| The Mor Hananyo Monastery (image from Wikipedia) |
