[Worship] Ancient Echoes

["Steve Tichenor" <stichen@insightbb.com>]

**************************************************
       Looking for praise and worship music products?
                      Visit our list sponsor at:
                  http://www.worshipmusic.com
     **************************************************


This has been discussed on another list that I'm on and I find it
fascinating.   Below is a link to Chuck Colson's  page where a audio clip is
available of the message posted below along with a sample of the music that
he is talking about.  I have also included a link to SAVAE's web page where
additional interpretive samples of ancient 1st Century music is given.

http://crosswalk.oneplace.com/ministries/breakpoint/


SAVAE (San Antonio Vocal Arts Ensemble)
Ancient Echoes
http://moroneys.home.netcom.com/new/music.html

Steve

http://www.stichenor.com
http://www.stichenor.com/Folk_and_Acoustic.htm
http://www.stevetichenor.com/Celtic_Web_Page.htm


BreakPoint with Charles Colson
Commentary #030905 - 09/05/2003

Ancient Echoes
Hearing the Music Jesus Heard

A century ago, Abraham Idelsohn, the father of modern musicology, began
a study of Jewish music around the world. By cataloguing what these
otherwise different kinds of music had in common, he was able to
reconstruct the music of ancient Israel-specifically, the music of
Jesus' time.

Now, building on Idelsohn's work, an award-winning ensemble has made it
possible for us to explore a bit of Jesus' world ourselves.

The group is the San Antonio Vocal Arts Ensemble, and the product of
their work is their recording Ancient Echoes: Music from the Time of
Jesus and Jerusalem's Second Temple. The Ensemble worked with
archaeologists to "weave the existing clues" as to what the music of
Jesus' time sounded like. The clues were found "etched in stone,
sculpture, coins," and, of course, in the pages of Scripture itself.

What's more, there are living clues in isolated Middle Eastern
communities that have scarcely changed in the past two thousand years.
The result of all this painstaking research is a reasonable
approximation of the music of first-century Israel.

If all of this talk about research sounds a bit academic, the results
are anything but. Ancient Echoes transports the listener to a world
very different from ours, and yet somehow familiar. The music's
unmistakable Middle Eastern quality reminds us that when God became
man, He did so in a particular place and time.

As Christians, we believe that this setting was not an accident. St.
Paul referred to it as "the fullness of time." As such, familiarity
with Jesus' world can only deepen our understanding of Him.

One of the pieces on Ancient Echoes is a setting for Psalm 114. The
versions of this Psalm chanted in Sephardic synagogues and sung in
medieval churches were "musically and textually" identical. This
similarity suggests "a common origin" in the Jerusalem Temple before
the split between Christianity and Judaism. (To listen to a sample,
visit this page to listen to this radio commentary.)

In our culture, most art is disposable, and people slavishly chase
after the new. That makes the music of Ancient Echoes
countercultural-even before you consider its links to our Lord. Things
of value are never out of date. We close "BreakPoint" today with
"Abwoon," the Lord's Prayer, performed in Jesus' own language: Aramaic.
(Listen to audioclip.)

Copyright (c) 2003 Prison Fellowship Ministries

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN FINAL FORM AND MAY
BE UPDATED.

"BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a daily commentary on news and trends
from a Christian perspective. Heard on more than 1000 radio outlets
nationwide, BreakPoint transcripts are also available on the Internet.

BreakPoint is a production of The Wilberforce Forum, a division of
Prison Fellowship Ministries.

NOTE: Referral to websites not produced by Prison Fellowship, the
Wilberforce Forum, and BreakPoint is for informational purposes only
and does not necessarily constitute an endorsement of the sites'
content.

______________________

. "New CD Breathes Life into Ancient Holy Texts," Ancient Echoes press
release, 1 November 2002. (Purchase the CD.)
. Learn more about the San Antonio Vocal Arts Ensemble.
. "How a Jewish Musicologist, a French Code-Cracker, and a Sufi
Murshid in Montana Re-Create the Music of Ancient Jerusalem," Rock
Paper Scissors press release.
. "Music from the Time of Jesus: Ensemble Recreates Sacred Songs of
Ancient Times," National Public Radio, 20 April 2003.
. Roberto Rivera, "Resisting the Cult of the New," BreakPoint Online,
2001.
. T. M. Moore, "Just an Old-Fashioned Lug Song," BreakPoint Online,
2001.
. Steve Turner, Imagine: A Vision for Christians in the Arts
(InterVarsity, 2001).

_______________________