Nawa One of the most tragic, yet underreported, impacts of war is the ease with which culture can be erased. Whether it’s through the systematic destruction of ancient monuments or by splitting apart entire communities, war is capable of incredible damage to a society and its traditions. This is why the work of musician and archivist Jason Hamacher is so important. Prior to the Syrian civil war, which entered its third year this past January, Hamacher embarked on the equivalent of a musical treasure hunt, trying to track down recordings of ancient Christian chants that date back 1,800 years and are considered to be the world’s oldest. But as Hamacher was to discover in 2008, there were no recordings, and the only reason any of this ancient music was still around was because a small community of Christians living in Syria was still performing the chants. Recognizing a rare opportunity to preserve history, Hamacher successfully recorded the Christian chants in addition to the ancient music of a revered Sufi order in Aleppo, just before war broke out. Those latter recordings comprise the first of four volumes in the “Sacred Voices of Syria” series on Hamacher’s Lost Origins label. Here is the ancient Sufi chant “Fasel Al Sawi” from Ancient Sufi Invocations & Forgotten Songs from Aleppo, out June 17 on Lost Origins/Electric Cowbell.