Qudduson
Sacred Songs of East and West
“the sheer sound was dizzying, and the metaphor it offered of things
long-separated coming back together was moving too.”
The Daily Telegraph
“a glorious fusion of vocal, cultural and religious fervour”
Early Music Review
“brilliant programming remains one of The Clerks’ winning features ...
ravishingly sung ... utterly uplifting and yet gloriously severe.”
Church Times
Ancient Chant and Polyphony from Europe and the Middle East
Qudduson – Sanctus – Holy: the word reverberates through the sacred music of East and West. In this new programme, The Clerks join three Middle Eastern singers steeped in Islamic and Christian music.
Exploring music within very different faith traditions, Qudduson sets aside the artificial boundaries between cultures and religions. It is a conversation between Eastern and Western musical genres and techniques. What unites these traditions is the power and transcendence of the human voice.
The programme has evolved from musical director Edward Wickham's work with choirs in the Middle East, in particular his 2007 concerts which brought together student choirs from Lebanon and Britain.
Qudduson presents Middle Eastern chant and Western polyphony side-by-side. The ancient Syriac liturgy of Aleppo – thought to be the oldest Christian chant repertoire in the world, the Islamic music of Sufism and songs from the Coptic Egypt are set alongside chant and polyphony from the Cathedral repertories of the Western Middle Ages and Renaissance.
East meets West
Melody is paramount in the sound-world of Middle Eastern vocal music, with its rich quarter-tones and virtuoso ornamentation. Musical forms are shaped out of the sophisticated elaboration of familiar melodies. Western church music likewise uses exuberant flourishes in the ecstatic jubilations of the Alleluia and other chants.
This fascination with melody and its elaboration lies at the heart of Qudduson. It reveals some astonishing parallels between East and West – between the improvisatory techniques of Islamic singing and the and the highly decorative polyphony of medieval Europe; between the formalised liturgical chants of the Syriac Orthodox Church and the structured cantus firmus mass settings of the 15th century; between the sophisticated muwashshah of the Middle East and the ornate madrigals of Renaissance Europe.
Religion and Music in Modern Syria
Contemporary Syria is an elaborate patchwork of religious communities and musical traditions. The chant of Greek and Syriac Orthodox churches can be traced back to the 3rd century AD. That of the Church of Hayy Surian in Aleppo - which traces its origins to the Church in Edessa (in modern Turkey) - is arguably the oldest continuous Christian chant tradition in the world. Its musical connection to medieval Sufi repertoire mirrors the close relations between Christians and Muslims in the region.
Syria is rightly proud of the way in which its religious communities, so antagonistic in many parts of the world, have sustained a long history of toleration. As 20th-century Armenian refugees have arrived with their own musical repertoires, the heady mix of influences on Syrian music continues to grow.
Listen
To hear part of Qudduson, click here.
The Programme
Qudduson interweaves - and occasionally fuses - complementary repertoires of East and West.
Click here for the full programme in PDF format.
Recent performances:
| December 2010: | King's Place, London |
| October 2009: | Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge |
| October 2009: | St David's Hall, Cardiff |
| October 2009: | National Centre for Early Music, York |
| July 2009: | St George's Concert Room, Liverpool |
| July 2009: | Christ the Cornerstone, Milton Keynes |
| July 2009: | Holy Trinity Church, Sloane Street, London |
