At Scholars and Scientists testimony, Ancient Egyptian music is STILL surviving under two forms:
One form appears in the life of people specially Egyptian peasants mainly in the South who have lived until this day isolated from outer coming influences.. Their songs and hymns remained undoubtfully unchanged since long ages. What might have changed are the words.. But we suggest performance is most likely the same as in ancient times.. The second form, is the hymns which are sung in Coptic Churches everywhere by cantors and people.. Copts are Egyptians, they inherited from their fathers, the Ancient Egyptians the music.. Even the new belief didn't affect or change this heritage, at the contrary, the belief put on the music.. New words colored the ancient music which remained intact, Pharaonic in flesh & blood.
About folklore Music, it is known that it comes out of peoples life over thousands of years.. That is quite clear because the same atmosphere which pushed the Egyptian in the past to express himself in singing and chanting is still unchanged until today. Traditions, Customs, Environment and Nature didn't change except few..
Illona Borsai, presents several examples supported by musical transcriptions proving this previous opinions.. Among others, a song sung by mothers to calm their babies is:
About Coptic Church Music, Illona Borsai says that melodic aspects always
remain intact in unwritten oral music such as folk and Oriental Church
Music melodies..
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Scientists as Hans Hickman, Egon Wellesz, John Gillespie, Dryton and others support this opinion saying that there exist a resemblance in performance between the Modern Folklore and ancient chanting.. Further more, there is a superposition in chanting and vocalization between Coptic Moallems, villager singers and of their Ancient Egyptian fathers..
Hickman proved that by comparing the singers face muscles found on "New Kingdom Sakkara's temples" walls and those of Coptic cantors when performing..
Their is also a resemblance in melodic and rhythmic signs performed by a singer or orchestra conductor, giving the rhythm by his right hand on the knee while the left hand draws in the air the main skeleton of the melody.. The rhythm bits usually acccompany the melody in all bits.. (the translator: I think that means the "Dum" & the "Tak") or sometimes the hand shows the "Dums: heavy bits of the rhythm" only to clarify the speed and kind of rhythm which is played.. From here came out the hand signs (Cheironomy) showing Rhythm and Melody of Music.. As we know they are both the hypostasis of any music..
We did photograph our Generation's Master, Mlm.Mikhail Gerges El-Batanony
while performing these signs (Cheironomy) along with the signs made by
his grand fathers in Ancient Egypt (at Sakkara Nenkheftka's Tomb walls)..
There exists also a great similarity of sound resonance between the Coptic
Moallem's voice and the singer's one.. Curt Sachs was the first one to
discover that resemblance and the relation between both through the contraction
of face muscles up of the nose and contraction of mouth muscles Concerning
"Melismata" we found the Great Music Historian Macapy writings in a Hieroglyph
Text in the tombs at Bani-Hassan, the same was mentioned by the Valerian
Demetrius and Nikomakhos at the very first centuries of Christianity to
ask for God's Spirit.. As example, in Hallelujah Hymn known as Offerato
Ally, the first vowel is said in melismata over three pages!!!
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The God Horus, God of Harmony and Order was the director of Music and managing the instruments playing.. Maysos is the inventor and defender of Music his name means Son of Eternity.. When they represent Isis, Goddess of wealth surrounded by music, they want to say that music is a heavenly gift, directed by theory and harmony in each of it's parts and surviving only in an atmosphere of wealth.. Further more, that Wealth is in ITSELF Music!! which means In Harmony..
Frescos of distinguished Body Movements accompanying music show that Egyptian Music was calm by nature.. And that it had a Holy aspect, not performed except by priests and Clergy people.. A priest, offering offeratos bearing incense & God's Logos usually was accompanied with music.. Musicians put always priests cloth.. That was shown in many sites:
Tombs beside Giza's Pyramids, Asswan Phialla temple's walls, Louxor's
Valley of the King's tombs, Amenhotob II tomb (13th dynasty), Ramses II
tomb (19th dynasty).. Psalm 150 mentions several kinds of music instruments
to praise the Lord which means also all the human body upon the Alexandrian
St.Clement commentary... That's why we don't find in the Coptic Church
a special occasion dedicated for chanting and singing, at the contrary,
every single word has it's special wonderful tune.. The music leads people
into profound spirituality, it is dedicated for the soul's worship to serve
God with all it's feelings.. It is not possible for the priest or the deacon
to be ordained unless he masters them..
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It is taken out of Psalm (93:3,4), (148,4), (19:1,2)
+ In this era the gift of spiritual composing was given to many who enriched the church with hymns.. As St.Clement of Alexandria who composed the Praise of the Lord the saviour, St.Athanasios the Apostolic who composed Monogenis St.Didimus the Blind who composed many of the hymns which are still in use until today and others such as the Syrian Mar Avraam who is called the Holy Spirit's Harp and lived with the Cyrenian Sinosius (370 AC) who believed in Christianity, married a Coptic woman, lived in Egypt and composed also.. Also Hillary from Poitier (386) the first Latin Hymn composer then Ambrosius the Prince of Latin Hymns and many others who were influenced by Egyptian music.. It is worth mentioning here that the Coptic Hymns used TODAY are the same which the Coptic scientist Ibn-Kabar Abul-Barakat (Shamsel-Re`assa) mentioned BY NAME in his well known Encyclopaedia in (1320 AC) Of course it was used long before his time..
Some Hebrew influence (Jewish Synagogues Music) came from the Triumphant Jews of Alexandria (Theprapieuta)
+ Some hymns were added by HH Pope Kyrollos IV from the
Byzantine church as Ton Sina, Tolithos, Ei Parthenos and others.. We should
say that the last section of the Liturgy's confession was slightly affected
by the Greek..
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Therefore two privileges met and conceived this worship liturgical inheritance accumulated since Adam till Christ through St.Mark.. In St.Mark's house, the Lord made the Lord celebrated the first mass in history AND This mass is the most wonderful worship inheritance world-wide gathering the most beautiful, artistic & cultural inheritance in Ancient Egypt..
- The Cyrillian Mass remained the only prayed one until the 6th century HH Pope Cyril I "Column of Faith" (430 AC) was the one who organised and after whom it was named..
+ We are lucky that the oldest hymns of this mass are still transcribed as the Introduction (Prelude) Hymn, the praises (Awashy), the commemoration of Saints, the (Tarhim), the Ayoub Hymn, Al-3atika and all of them will be released to see light very soon..
+ The Liturgy scholars and specially Gregory Dex had proved in his book, "The shape of liturgy", that this Mass is the oldest one although it is different.. That also is a point proving its antiquity.
+ As these hymns represent the main squeleton of the Cyrillian Mass, they do really represent the Ancient Coptic hymn form and aspects.. Scientists do assure that this mass was the source and origin of other liturgies and other services such as the offering of incense and the Lakkan..etc. Further more, both other liturgies took the same Tarhim Part, the commemoration of saints and some Awashies.. It is known that this mass is used in fasts because of its length and the nature of its tunes..
Gregorian Mass
It was named after St.Gregory the Theologos, the nsinsian.. Its text is foreign but music is pure Egyptian
Basilian Mass
It was named after the Great St.Basil, Bishop of Cesarae Kabadoc in
Turkie, its text is foreign but his music is all pure Egyptian style except
the last part (The confession) is slightly influenced by the Byzantine
style..
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In 1954, a group of people, interested in Coptology, gave lectures in
many Coptic fields at the Yusabian Hall (Ezbekia) as Prof.Aziz Sorial,
Prof.Morad Kamel, Prof.Sami Gabra and Prof.Zaher Riad.. That was the first
seed for the construction of the Institute of Coptic Studies (ICS) at 1955..
where I was responsible for the Music & Hymn Department and moved everything
there of the primary studio I had already made in Virgin Mary COC, Kasriet
El-Rihan in Old Cairo.. I elaborated it at the ICS and began recording
the hymns and all the Church services with Mlm.Mikhail's voice and then
published
in more talented voices in Cassette Tapes.. The last tape is Kiahk's..
Therefore the number of tapes achieved are 54 tape..
In 1970, I invited the scientist Margerit Toth to co-operate in achieving St.Basil's Mass transcription which Prof. Newlandsmith had prepared only responses and the first part in each priest (solo) part.. The work lasted until everything was accomplished, all the mass with hymns in Musical notation with the Coptic, English and Arabic text.. It is now in the process of being printed..
In 1992, I offered all my works to the American Congress Library, Washington
DC to be kept over generations using the latest technology..
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Published By Akhbar El-Adab Literature News Magazine January 7th, 1995