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Of Many things
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America, Of Many things >>
[excerpt]
So given my interest in the historical Jesus, I was delighted to receive a few weeks ago a new CD called "Ancient Echoes." Recorded by the San Antonio Vocal Arts Ensemble, the CD is a collection of described as "re-creations" of music from the time of Jesus and the Second Temple of Jerusalem.
The ensemble's artistic director, Chirstopher Moroney, and its founder and general manager, Covita Moroney, have devoted themselves to rediscovering and recreating the sounds and prayers of the period, spending many hours studying the languages of the time, learning to play traditional instruments and tracking down rare musical manuscripts. The texts used - in Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek - include the Lord's Prayer, the Beatitudes and the Shema prayer ("Hear O Isreal..."). The instruments are modern reproductions of those known to have existed at the time of Christ, as well as contemporary Middle Eastern instruments that have evolved over the ages. They include the harp, the kinnor (or lyre), the shabbabah (a sort of flute) and the oud (a kind of flute).
The resulting CD is hauntingly beautiful and a remarkably good companion to prayer. The knowledge that one could be listening to sounds like those Jesus and his disciples may have heard (perhaps not the ispsissima sounds, but close enough) was, to me, deeply moving.
Now, did Jesus and his friends ever chant the Lord's Prayer? Are we hearing melodies like those heard, say, at the wedding feast at Cana? To that hypothesis Father Meier would probably say "Non liquet" - it can neither be proved nor disproved.
But, hey, you never know.
James Martin, S.J. 03/17/03
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