Recommend your favourite monophonic chants, give a bit of background on where they come from if possible.
E.g.
Armenian Chant.
Wikipedia: 'Armenian chant is now sung to a precise rhythm, including specific rhythmic patterns which are atypical of plainsong. This is considered by some scholars (such as P. Aubry) to be a result of Turkish influence, although others (such as R. P. Decevrens) consider it to be of great antiquity and use it as evidence in favour of a more rhythmic interpretation of Gregorian chant.'
Mozarabic Chant.
The term Mozarabic refers to the Mozarabs, that is, the Christians of Hispania (modern Spain and Portugal) living under Muslim rule.
Just as Africans have picked up western materials and instruments to use in their indigenous musics, so here: There is a keyboard / synth pad -string pad harmonic underlay to this chant, otherwise a still strong and stirring one: it includes some traditional hand-held rattles, and a native wood flute.
What was monophonic remains, but now with a bed of chordal underlay. If I had my druthers, the chant, the melodic line, percussion and flute would be more than enough. But these people are still with us, and this is the way they do it now -- 'what it is', its energy and force, I think still come through plain and clear.
Joseph Spotted Eagle and others ~ Arrival.
One side note... North American Indian languages have no sounds which have the mouth closed, i.e. nothing like a P or an M. For those Indians first hearing and seeing the Europeans talk, they thought, "What men speak while closing their mouth?"
P.s. @ the OP:
Loving the thread; loving its title. Thanks!
P.p.s. If anyone knows of this same chant in an earlier, perhaps an ethno-musicological field recording- sans contemporary western instruments and accompaniment, please P.M. me with that information.
I have this one. Nobody really knows how the early chant actually sounded, because very little notation had been standardized. I think they did a good job in reconstructing it, though.
I love everything I've heard by Ensemble Organum. If you can get hold of their CD of religious music from the Carmina Burana manuscript, it's extraordinary.
Anyway I watch this thread with interest because I'd like to hear more chant
Hmmm... I am very much enjoying some of the Eastern references here. Most of my exposure to Eastern Orthodox liturgy has been Kiev chant and the liturgy of St. John.
Want to learn a bit about Gregorian chant? Here is a two part video tutorial:
If you're feeling ambitious try this Znamenny chant introduction!
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