Tag: Arabian World

Release of Eight Video-Analyses of Byzantine Scales performed by Four Lebanese Cantors

These Eight Video-analyses of the scales of Byzantine chant (for the scales of the Eight modes) are proposed on a dedicated main page. The analyses come originally from the book of Amine Beyhom Théories et pratiques de l’échelle dans le chant byzantin arabe : Une approche comparative et analytique proposant une solution inédite pour le système théorique de Chrysanthos le Madyte and were edited for video.

Four Lebanese cantors of Byzantine chant – Fr. Nicolas Malek, Fr. Makarios Haidamous, Joseph Yazbeck and a cantor who preferred to remain anonymous – accepted to record (among other performances) the scales of the eight canonical modes of their liturgical chant for research purposes. Each of them is a renowned soloist and choir director in Lebanon.

Opening Screen of the video for the First Byzantine Mode

The complete results of the analyses of these recordings are proposed in the aforementioned book, while particular results concerning the first mode were presented on various occasions in Greece and in Cyprus, but also in France, Tunisia and in Lebanon.

The analyses in the videos are based on these presentations, which in turn were based on power point animations proposed in the aforementioned book.

Each video comprises a short theoretical introduction contextualizing the scales of the current mode within the general frame of the 19th-Century Second Reform of Byzantine chant.

Example of a slide with explanations on the scale of the First Byzantine Mode according to the teaching of Thrasyvoulos Stanitsas

Moreover, the first video (for the First mode) features a General Introduction which explains shortly:

  • The solmization of the Byzantine – and equivalences between Byzantine and Western – degrees of the scale
Byzantine chant solmization with transliteration and equivalences with the degrees of the Western Common-Practice scale
  • The accidentals used in the theory of the Second Reform (and in the Western/Byzantine notation proposed by the author)
Accidentals used in the theory of Byzantine Chant (19th-Century Second Reform) with equivalents in fractions of the tone (including cents)
  • The scores and literal notations
Western/Byzantine and literal notations of scales
  • (And) Explanations about the graphic representation of the results
Conventions used for the Graphic notations of scales

The videos on the main page are in High resolution, and also available on the YouTube Channell of CERMAA. An alternate, Low resolution version is proposed for each mode (and the Intro) in a dedicated page.

Volos conference on Psaltiki 2018

Rosy & Amine Beyhom participated in the 3rd International Musicological and Psaltic Conference on Psaltic Art of the Department of Psaltic Art and Musicology of the Volos Academy for Theological Studies.

The Conference took place in the Conference Center of the Holy Metropolis of Demetrias, in Melissiatika, Volos, Greece, between May 30th (official opening in the evening) and June 2nd (official closing in the afternoon), 2018.

Amine Beyhom presented a paper entitled “Theory and Practice of Psaltiki: Why do they not coincide?“, and assisted Rosy Beyhom for the recording of four Greek cantors who performed Kyrie Ekekraxa (by Petros Byzantios) and Axion estin (Anonymous).

Volos Cantors_lightAbove: Five Greek cantors – Volos (Makrinitsa) 2018/05/31 © Rosy Beyhom. Front row, left to right: Ioannis Tomas, Nikolaos Siklafidis and Michalis Stroumpakis; 2nd row: Conference host Konstantin Karagounis and Emmanouil Giannopoulos.

The video-animated analyses of these chants will soon be published on our site as a further contribution to the development of alternative methods for the analysis of melodic music of the Mediterranean and around (maqām music).

Release of CERMAA Videos of Kyrie Ekekraxa by Petros Byzantios performed, in Greek and Arabic, by Joseph Yazbeck in 2011

Two additional Greek and Arabic versions (below) of the chant Kyrie Ekekraxa, the well known composition by Petros Byzantios in the 19th-century Constantinople (now Istanbul) performed in 2012 by Joseph Yazbeck. The audio recording was first published in Amine Beyhom’s book on Byzantine chant in 2015 (see http://foredofico.org/CERMAA/archives/584).
As with other CERMAA animated analyses, the upper part offers a general view of the analysis (with two dashed lines for the tonic and octave pitches) while the lower part shows the detailed analysis which includes, in this case, an overprint of the Byzantine scale of the 1881 (Second) Reform of Byzantine chant.
Compare with other analyses of the same chant by different performers at http://foredofico.org/CERMAA/analyses/byzantine-chant/kyrie-ekekraxa-by-petros-byzantios.

  • Greek Version by Joseph Yazbeck (below)

  • Arabic Version by Joseph Yazbeck (below)

Release of CERMAA Videos of Kyrie Ekekraxa by Petros Byzantios performed, in Greek and Arabic, by fr. Nicolas Malek in 2011

Release by CERMAA of two additional Greek and Arabic versions (below) of the chant Kyrie Ekekraxa, the well known composition by Petros Byzantios in the 19th-century Constantinople (now Istanbul) performed in 2011 by fr. Nicolas Malek. The audio recording was first published in Amine Beyhom’s book on Byzantine chant in 2015 (see http://foredofico.org/CERMAA/archives/584).
As with other CERMAA animated analyses, the upper part offers a general view of the analysis (with two dashed lines for the tonic and octave pitches) while the lower part shows the detailed analysis which includes, in this case, an overprint of the Byzantine scale of the 1881 (Second) Reform of Byzantine chant.
Compare with other analyses of the same chant by different performers at http://foredofico.org/CERMAA/analyses/byzantine-chant/kyrie-ekekraxa-by-petros-byzantios.

  • Greek Version by fr. Nicolas Malek (below)

  • Arabic Version by fr. Nicolas Malek (below)

New page by CERMAA dedicated to Video Analyses of the chant Kyrie Ekekraxa by Petros Byzantios

A new page, dedicated to different versions of the chant Kyrie Ekekraxa by Petros Byzantios has been added to the site of the CERMAA.
Kyrie Ekekraxa is a well known composition by Petros Byzantios in the 19th-century Constantinople (now Istanbul). The chant is in the 8th mode (on Νη=c)  of the Byzantine Church (equivalent to maqām Rāst in Arabian music), with an incursion (a modulation) in the 2nd mode (“Mild chromatic”).

Most of the audio recordings analyzed in the videos on this page were originally published in Amine Beyhom’s book on Byzantine chant in 2015 (see http://foredofico.org/CERMAA/archives/584), with Power Point animations for four Lebanese cantors, together with Greek versions of this chant (8 versions in all, with detailed analyses of two excerpts each undertaken in the aforementioned book). Two other recordings were undertaken with a fifth Lebanese cantor: it was too late however to analyze them as the book was already under print. The two additional recordings were also published as audio recordings in the accompanying CD-Rom of the book.

All these should be (re)analysed and published on this dedicated page.

Release of CERMAA Videos of Kyrie Ekekraxa by Petros Byzantios performed, in Greek and Arabic, by an Anonymous Cantor in 2011

Release by CERMAA of two additional Greek and Arabic versions (below) of the chant Kyrie Ekekraxa, the well known composition by Petros Byzantios in the 19th-century Constantinople (now Istanbul) performed in 2011 by an Anonymous Cantor. The audio recording was first published in Amine Beyhom’s book on Byzantine chant in 2015 (see http://foredofico.org/CERMAA/archives/584).
As with other CERMAA animated analyses, the upper part offers a general view of the analysis (with two dashed lines for the tonic and octave pitches) while the lower part shows the detailed analysis which includes, in this case, an overprint of the Byzantine scale of the 1881 (Second) Reform of Byzantine chant.
Compare with other analyses of the same chant by different performers at http://foredofico.org/CERMAA/analyses/byzantine-chant/kyrie-ekekraxa-by-petros-byzantios.

  • Greek Version by Anonymous (below)


 

  • Arabic Version by Anonymous (below)

Release of CERMAA Video of Kyrie Ekekraxa by Petros Byzantios performed in Greek by fr. Makarios Haidamous in 2012

This the Greek version (below) of the chant Kyrie Ekekraxa, the well known composition by Petros Byzantios in the 19th-century Constantinople (now Istanbul) performed in 2012 by fr. Makarios Haidamous. The audio recording was first published in Amine Beyhom’s book on Byzantine chant in 2015 (see http://foredofico.org/CERMAA/archives/584).
As with other CERMAA animated analyses, the upper part offers a general view of the analysis (with two dashed lines for the tonic and octave pitches) while the lower part shows the detailed analysis which includes, in this case, an overprint of the Byzantine scale of the 1881 (Second) Reform of Byzantine chant.

Compare with the version in Arabic by the same cantor at http://foredofico.org/CERMAA/archives/933.

 

Release of CERMAA Video of Kyrie Ekekraxa by Petros Byzantios performed by fr Makarios Haidamous 2012

The CERMAA is delighted to publish this video animation (below) of the chant Kyrie Ekekraxa, a well known composition by Petros Byzantios in the 19th-century Constantinople (now Istanbul). This animation relates to a performance in 2012 by fr. Makarios Haidamous, with the text in Arabic language. The audio was published in Amine Beyhom’s book on Byzantine chant in 2015 (see http://foredofico.org/CERMAA/archives/584), with Power Point animations for four Lebanese cantors (including fr. Makarios Haidamous), together with Greek versions of this chant (8 versions in all). Two other recordings were undertaken with a fifth Lebanese cantor: it was however too late to analyze them as the book was already under print. The two additional recordings were published as audio recordings in the accompanying CD-Rom of the book.
This is the second video animation based on Pitch analysis with the Praat program that the CERMAA publishes on the internet. The first video was the Hurrian Song H6 performed by Lara Jokhadar (http://foredofico.org/CERMAA/archives/926). A series of video animations of different versions of Kyrie Ekekraxa should be made available during the year 2018. The aim of this series is to demonstrate the variety of interpretations of one chant by different cantors.
As with Lara’s animation for H6, the upper part offers a general view of the analysis while the lower part shows the detailed analysis which includes, in this case, an overprint of the Byzantine scale of the 1881 (Second) Reform of Byzantine chant.

CERMAA Director Amine Beyhom awarded the 2017 Lois Ibsen Al-Faruqi Prize / Le prix 2017 Lois Ibsen Al-Faruqi décerné au Directeur du CERMAA Amine Beyhom

English

We are delighted at CERMAA to announce that Amine Beyhom, director of the CERMAA, was awarded on the 28th of October 2017, by the Society for Ethnomusicology, the Lois Ibsen Al-Faruqi Prize for the year 2017. The prize is awarded every three years.

The video of the presentation speech is available at https://www.facebook.com/TheSocietyForEthnomusicology/videos/1601780733223099/ : 1:27:20-1:29:04. (The excerpt can be directly watched at http://foredofico.org/CERMAA/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/SEM_2017-General-Membership-Meeting-1601780733223099-12.mp4)

Transcribed excerpt from Katherine Butler Schofield’s presentation speech:

It’s an enormous privilege in this year, of all years, to announce the winner of the 2017 Lois Ibsen Al-Faruqi prize, which is bestowed to recognize the scholarly contributions of an individual music scholar or music institution in the Islamic world. The committee, constituted by Laudan Nooshin as chair […] and other members, which are Jonathan Glasser and myself, we are delighted to award the Lois Ibsen Al-Faruqi prize this year to Amine Beyhom […]. Amine Beyhom is an impressive Lebanese scholar who has taken on a broad comparison project that links musical traditions that are at the historical heart of the Islamic world. He has engaged seriously with a huge geographical and historical range of musical practices, and has built up a broad network of colleagues in the Arabic speaking world and in France. He has clearly had a long-term influence on musicology and ethnomusicology, and giving him this award is both an honor for him, and an opportunity for him to engage more closely with English-speaking colleagues, particularly in the growing field of historical ethnomusicology. And as well as the work in itself, we were impressed by the number and range of letters that we received in support of his nomination. Please, give him a round of applause, in absentia [applause].

Amine Beyhom would like to express his heartfelt thanks to all the persons and institutions who nominated him for this prize.

Français

Le CERMAA a le plaisir d’annoncer qu’Amine Beyhom, directeur du CERMAA, a reçu le 28 Octobre 2017, de la Society for Ethnomusicology, le Prix Lois Ibsen Al-Faruqi pour l’année 2017. Le prix est décerné tous les trois ans.

La video comprenant le discours de description du prix et du lauréat est disponible à https://www.facebook.com/TheSocietyForEthnomusicology/videos/1601780733223099/ : 1:27:20-1:29:04. (L’extrait est directement visible à http://foredofico.org/CERMAA/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/SEM_2017-General-Membership-Meeting-1601780733223099-12.mp4)

Traduction de l’extrait (texte de présentation du Prix Lois Ibsen Al-Faruqi 2017 par Katherine Butler Schofield):

C’est un énorme privilège, et particulièrement cette année, d’annoncer le lauréat du Prix Lois Ibsen Al-Faruqi 2017, qui est décerné pour reconnaître la contribution académique d’un chercheur ou d’une institution du monde islamique en musique. Le comité, constitué de Laudan Nooshin en tant que présidente […], et d’autres membres qui sont Jonathan Glasser et moi-même, nous réjouissons de décerner le Prix Lois Ibsen Al-Faruqi à Amine Beyhom […]. Amine Beyhom est un chercheur libanais impressionnant qui a entrepris un vaste projet comparatif qui relie entre elles des traditions musicales qui se situent au cœur du monde islamique. Il s’est impliqué profondément dans un très large panel, historique et géographique, de pratiques musicales et a développé un réseau étendu de collègues dans le monde arabe et en France. Il a clairement influencé durablement la musicologie et l’ethnomusicologie, et l’octroi de ce prix est aussi bien un honneur qu’une incitation pour lui à s’impliquer plus étroitement avec ses collègues de langue anglaise, plus particulièrement dans le domaine en expansion de l’ethnomusicologie historique. Et, autant que par la qualité de l’œuvre en soi, nous avons été impressionné.e.s par le nombre et l’éventail de lettres que nous avons reçues en soutien à sa nomination. Veuillez l’applaudir, in absentia.

Amine Beyhom remercie de tout cœur les personnes et les institutions qui l’ont nominé pour ce prix.