World Without End

Bill, Nate, and I were sitting around a couple of weeks ago brainstorming band ideas. Bill and I both play drums and have been trying to figure out a way to play together for years. All three of us are devout Christians and always joke about starting a Christian Rock band or something. Bill was showing us some old Gregorian chants he found online which sparked an idea. What if we used rock instruments to create music to go with the old chants? Bill and I began brainstorming and came up with several ideas. I went home really excited and told everyone that their homework was to find a chant online that we should try and compose for.

I read a book three years ago by William Dalrymple called, "From the Holy Mountain" which mentioned a form of ancient chant currently being practiced in Syria. I searched online and came across an interview he did describing the chant of the Urfalees. They worship at St. Georges Syriac Orthodox Church in Aleppo, Syria and still speak, read, and write in Aramaic. It is thought that the Urfalees chant is the oldest original Christian music dating from the late first century CE. According to Gianmaria Malacrida is thought that the chants were composed by St. Ephrem the Syrian but he took the rhythms and melodies from popular Gnostic songs written by the Edessan heretic Bardaisan.

I emailed Dalrymple and asked him how to find the Urfalees and he promptly wrote back the next day with full directions on how to find their church in Syria. To my knowledge there are no available public recordings of the Urfalees. My idea is to travel to Syria next March and record the ancient chants of the Urfalees. Then come back to the US and compose music to be played with the chants and make a record. I have been in correspondence with the Eastern United States Archbishop of the Syriac Orthodox Church and he seems interested. He actually used to be the Bishop of Aleppo years ago so he has to have some knowledge of these people. I hope to gain support of the Syriac Orthodox and make this a major production.

This is the biggest idea I've had and it combines every interest I've got. I have been corresponding with a grant administrator so well see what happens. The name we've been kicking around would be World Without End, but now I might be feeling Edessa. We'll see.