Awake my Soul

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rwhegwood

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As writers who identify as Christian and who seek to write fiction informed by faith, it occurred to me that most of us live within the experience of our own faith traditions, and in our own regions which tend to have their own historical faith flavor. If we wish to write authentically about the experience of another faith tradition within the context of our own writing, then it might be useful to have some reference points for music and service structure. The experience of a Christian rock concert is a very different thing than a Sacred Harp/Shaped note sing. The energy of a Pentecostal service is going to be very different from a Russian Orthodox liturgy. To that end I would like to share some video links to Christian music and service clips across a range of traditions, and invite others to do the same...just no preaching. The idea is to see how wide and varied is the worship and music of Christendom (not delve into theological debates). And in future, if you are a Baptist and need a go-to reference for Ethiopian mezmur, or a German Catholic who wants to get a sense of an Alabama shaped note singing, you might find something useful shared in this thread.

Shaped Note/Sacred Harp
Awake My Soul Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHUfHNEZDPc
Idumea Second Ireland Sacred Harp Convention: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98fVjc4MfXQ

Classic Protestant Hymns
What a Friend We Have In Jesus, Tennesee Ernie Ford: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BtYlrWDVoA&list=PL86F0405C271BD5BB
How Great Thou Art, Tennesse Earnie Ford: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUEI140Su9M
A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, Choir: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADamVJaXZMg
Crown Him With Many Crowns, Westminister Choir, Corination anniversary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kPkjghup8E

Ethiopian Tewahedo Mezmur(Gospel/spiritual song) and worship. Note they use drums similar to the way Eastern Orthodox use bells in worship.
Mezmur: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ3uPVJlFhM
Mezmur; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMH8zpYTWZg&list=PLKsGRjkGgp3Aiij6nTNBAnYhPBQujO-xW
Mezmur: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQGBoRS5eT0&index=6&list=PLKsGRjkGgp3Aiij6nTNBAnYhPBQujO-xW

Coptic
Hymn of Intercession:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggUmqxwHcHI
Fourth Canticle Chant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3mBXJhxRoY

Arabic Orthodox
The Angel Cried: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nahFs9tl-hU

Assyrian Orthodox (in Georgia):
Fr. Seraphim, Psalm 16 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r9Yvm_wCg0 (MAGNIFICENT)

Russian Orthodox:
We Praise Thee (basso profundo) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntT2VemnVV8
Agni Parthene, Valaam Brotherhood Choir https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7vvPXz-Qes [EXCELLENT]
Pascha (Easter) at Vatopedi Monastery on Mt. Athos (several nationalities present, but mainly in Greek) Begins with the reception of the Holy Fire from Jerusalem...that's the reason for the guards.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vi52k61FocQ
Russian/Orthodox bell ringing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fn_jhfQXpxw&t=17s [PHENOMENAL]
Russian Bells https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_DrloCvcqA
Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, Valaam Brotherhood (This is the universal worship service of the Orthodox Church worldwide, what is celebrated in many languages with only small local variations every Sunday, with necessary changes to mark progress on the liturgical calendar throughout the year) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0eit4OcDfk [HEAVENLY]

Greek Orthodox
Magnify, O My Soul: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8LtAhJYHcI&list=PLKaGNaf8ktrT4YwbYSDrJqr1_BRjE0bq6

English/Antiochian
Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (in English by Mt. Lebanon Choir, Byzantine Chant Style). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8MUi27Ff2s [WOW] (the reading of the Epistle and Holy Gospel around the 23/24 min mark are really stunning)

Romanian
Toaca/talanton/semandrone: These are the ancient ancestors of Church bells: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7naEim6H8w [AMAZING]

World Contemporary
The Beatitudes (Polish Catholic) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbToFNPZkog
Tsar Shiman (by Epizod) Bulgarian Rock Opera about Tsar Shiman and Patriarch Eftimi (set when Bulgaria was conquered by the Ottomans) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxo3YQEVAeE
Bjork, Jesus Prayer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEhq3rkbVr8

Early Christian Contemporary: Love Song/Chuck Girard, Little Pilgrim: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlrrfxaldxY
2nd Chapter of Acts, Easter Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-hLSR5F4Y0 [JOYFUL]
Barry McGuire, Cosmic Cowboy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHgLSq_srFI
Prodigal Son Suite, Keith Green: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3TYkAWRdU4 [MOVING]

Classical:
Passion According to St. Matthew, Alfeyev: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsUbmCoMP1Y&index=3&list=RDA5XgsLqUN6k
Passion According to St. Matthew, Bach: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P21qlB0K-Bs
Spem In Allum, William Tallis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Cn7ZW8ts3Y [STUNNING]
Salva Me, Libera, English boy's choir: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2O5540WjuE
Angus Dei, New College of Oxford Choir (mixed men and boys) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRwhkBAeheM
Hymn of the Cherubim, Tchaikovsky, USSR Ministry of Culture Chamber Choir: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZQzW_QfPew
The Complete Psalter (English Choir) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEvHfETUDLQ&t=53s

Well, that turned out a little longer than planned...but it's all good. I look forward to seeing the Christian music from around the world and around the corner that is the heartbeat of your best writing ever.
 
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Chris P

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That's quite a work of scholarship, there! I suspect you had a fun time compiling it. Thanks for sharing it!

Incidentally, I had never heard of Sacred Harp music before, despite having lived over a decade in Mississippi and married into a devout Southern rural family. Incredible! It's totally new to me and mind blowing.
 

Calla Lily

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Thanks for compiling this resource, rwhegwood.

I vividly remember hearing 2nd Chapter of Acts' "Easter Song" back when I was a nun and the most recent music we sang in church was 200 years old. It was eye-opening.
 

Ms.Pencila

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Thank you for compiling this wonderful collection!

(And if I could add some Gregorian/liturgical chant--what I've been blessed to grow up with. It's a bit different from the other kinds of chant and classical pieces you've posted, though this is more typical in Traditional Catholic worship)
Canto Gregoriano, MISSA DE ANGELIS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37q9zIznj2M
 

rwhegwood

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Thank you. I'm from Mississippi myself, Hattiesburg/Petal area. I go to church at Holy Resurrection in Clinton. My family still has my great-grandfather's Sacred-Harp hymnal. Many of its hymns are essentially a metrical psalter. If you notice before a shaped note choir sings the hymn assigned, they rehearse the melody fa te do re me style. Byzantine chant does the same thing with a different scale. Musically I find sacred harp harmonies (if not volume) similar to Georgian polyphony. The hand chopping in sacred harp is marking the measures so that everyone is together at the same time.

Georgian polyphonic psaltic chant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4K61xMHfzaY&t=624s
Georgian polyphony, hymn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH9zNz9L_VA&list=PL7DA387B9F380673E
The Singing Village, a look at the deep musical roots and life of Georgian village culture. Wonderful, must see examples of singing, games, dancing, village life, etc. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ_zhyYQCgc
 

rwhegwood

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Thanks for compiling this resource, rwhegwood.

I vividly remember hearing 2nd Chapter of Acts' "Easter Song" back when I was a nun and the most recent music we sang in church was 200 years old. It was eye-opening.
They were a revelation for me too coming from a childhood Baptist background. Easter Hymn has a wonderful, genuine resurrectional heart to it. I never heard anything like it again until I encountered the Orthodox Paschal troparion many years later. Lyrics: "Christ is risen form the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life." In Greek, its language of original composition 1600 years ago or more, it is entitled Xristos Anesthi. Here are three versions, one solo, one Russian choir, one Greek choir:

Solo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqRlJC-ckL4
Russian Choir: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU1aMb69M64
Greek Choir: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZSyTUsdpu0
 

rwhegwood

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Thank you for compiling this wonderful collection!

(And if I could add some Gregorian/liturgical chant--what I've been blessed to grow up with. It's a bit different from the other kinds of chant and classical pieces you've posted, though this is more typical in Traditional Catholic worship)
Canto Gregoriano, MISSA DE ANGELIS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37q9zIznj2M
Serene and beautiful. It is the music of these ancient traditions that draw the heart to prayer like nothing I know of in our own time. Lovely.

Have you ever heard the type of chant/singing that was supplanted by Gregorian chant? It is still practiced in Milan. It is called Ambrosian Chant.
Ecce apertum est: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZSyTUsdpu0.

As a further point of comparison, you might enjoy Mosarabic chant, from Spain during the Moorish conquest. It is essentially the liturgical music of the Visigoths. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is4L754iFIE. You can hear the Byzantine influence but the tonality is more in keeping with the usage of Russian Znanemy, Gallican (one of the precursor forms Gregorian was developed from), and English plainchant. Gallican chant: Ego Sum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzdQdtWmUZ8. English plainchant, Psalm 22: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEPaasU94-A
 
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