Three Ancient Traditions

Program: #09-38   Air Date: Sep 14, 2009

I. Music in the Age of the Pyramids (Hathor Ensemble/Rafael Pérez Arroyo). Natural Acoustic CD NAR-0010-01.

For more information: www.musicintheageofthepyramids.com

--Hymn 567 from the Pyramid texts, dedicated to the Goddess Nut (Nuwat): "Like Ra has purified himself in the 'Field of Rushes'"
--Iba dance dedicated to the Goddess Hathor
--Hymn to the seventh Hathor, from the Temple of Dendera: "We are playing the frame drum from your Ka"

II. L'Église Orthodoxe Éthiopienne de Jérusalem (Choir of the Monastery of Däbrä Gännat [Monastery of Paradise]).Ocora/Radio France CD C560027/28.

"The liturgy of the Ethiopian Church is no doubt one of the most ancient Christian liturgies, due to long
centuries of isolation from the rest of Christianity. It is still sung in Ge'ez, or ancient Ethiopian, a Semitic tongue
with its own alphabet, written like English, from left to right....The conversion of Ethiopia to Christianity dates from
around 350, when two young men (probably Syrians) were attacked by barbarians of the Erythrean coast and
taken as slaves to the court of King Ezana. One of them, Frumentius, became a close friend of the king and converted 
him to the Christian faith. The relationship between the Ethiopian Church and the Coptic Church dates from this time,
for Frumentius, sent by Ezana to request a bishop of the nearest patriarch (in Alexandria), came back himself as the Bishop of Ethiopia."

--The Mass for the fasting before the Feast of the Assumption (Qeddasye Maryam).

III. Roots of the Balkan: Music from Old Serbia (Ensemble Renaissance). CPO CD 999.902-2

From  Eastern Serbia:
--Igra i pesma "Sitan biber" (Wedding dance and song "Tiny peppercorn")

From Kossovo and Metochia:
--Crna zemljo, sestro ("Black earth, my sister")
--Svuno? mi snak ne dodje ("The Hawk decides where to find some peace")

From Central Serbia:
--Dve igre: Gajdica, ?arena oro (Two dances: Small bagpipe, Oro variety)

From South Serbia:
--Kasapsko kolo (Butcher's wheel dance)
--Skomra?ka igra (Juggler's Play)

CD Info

Natural Acoustic CD NAR-0010-01, Ocora/Radio France CD C560027/28, CPO CD 999.902-2