voice

Hamatoura (Fennesz Remix) - Kristo Rodzevski · Fennesz
Orthodoxia Kai Thanatos (2025)

Orthodoxia Kai Thanatos takes a linguistic, psychoanalytic, and anthropological approach to Christian Orthodox chants. The hymns, absorbed over time and recorded in a single take, draw from a wide range of traditions and languages, including Aramaic, Arabic, Coptic, Ethiopian, Greek, Macedonian, and Church Slavonic.

This record is neither academic nor strictly theological. Instead, it attempts to capture how an everyday person might experience these words and melodies. It meditates on the Orthodox understanding of solace and death, while also exploring the nuances of singing, storytelling, and expression within the Christian Orthodox communities of Southeast Europe, the Middle East, and Northeast Africa.

Born from extensive travels throughout these regions, the project seeks to unify, and it reminds us of the common ground shared across centuries. It offers a momentary space in which the fragmentation and acrimony of the present can be set aside, if only briefly.

Via Jakub Knera for The Quietus (Inner Ear: North Macedonian Music for September): Kristo Rodzevski - Orthodoxia Kai Thanatos

Idrîsî Ensemble - Prayer for Peace: Syriac, Old Roman & Maronite Chants
Filmed live at Temple Church, London, as part of Prayer for Peace, an intimate concert of sacred music performed by Idrîsî Ensemble Choir.

ܬܰܘ̣ ܢܺܐܡܰܪ (Taw Nimar) - Syriac chant (IV-XIX)
Ἀλληλούϊα “Δεῦτε ἀγαλλιασώμεθα” (Alleluia “Deute galliasometha”) - Old Roman chant (IV-XII), previously unrecorded
ܒܝܰܘܡܰܝ̈ ܡܰܠܟܳܐ / ܨܠܽܘܬܶܟܝ ܥܰܡܰܢ (Byawmay Malko / Sloutekh ‘Aman) - Syriac and Maronite chants (IV-XIX)

Direction: Thomas Fournil
Lead Voices: Layale Chaker, Dunja Botic
Singers, left to right: H, Alex Tay, Henry Tozer, Leonard Maassen, Thomas Fournil, Lucine Musaelian, Kerttu Sormunen, Isadora Pulman, Noémie Ducimetière, Eliza Oakes, Vasileios Voulgaropoulos, Layale Chaker, Dunja Botic

Previously on the blog: Idrîsî Ensemble - Kyrie Eleison (Corsican Polyphony)