The chant in this video

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Cecil_Corn

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Here is a video from the Maronite Monks of Adoration in Petersham, MA. The chant sounds like Gregorian chant in English rather than Maronite chant. I wonder if this was just overlayed in the video as a background or if this is the monks actually chanting??

youtube.com/watch?v=uyaaIntiMlM
 
That is actually the monks chanting.

Bear in mind that Gregorian Chant was influenced by Greek Chant (and vice versa, to an extent), and all developed from Hebrew forms of chant.
 
Thank you. I wasn’t sure since it sounded la lot like chant from a Benedictine monastery.
ByzCathCantor said:
That is actually the monks chanting.

Bear in mind that Gregorian Chant was influenced by Greek Chant (and vice versa, to an extent), and all developed from Hebrew forms of chant.
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Cecil_Corn said:
Thank you. I wasn’t sure since it sounded la lot like chant from a Benedictine monastery.
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Funny you say that, in Petersham there is also a Benedictine Monastery called “Saint Mary’s Monastery”. Just a fun fact 😃
 
I am not sure this can be strictly called Gregorian, which is monophonic, because I can hear polyphony in the recording.
 
From what I’ve been told, that community has developed its own unique style. It appears to be loosely based on Gregorian but there are clearly other influences present. In any case, and be that as it may, one thing is for sure: it’s not real Maronite chant.

(NB: Prior experience tells me that there may well be those who want to argue about all or part of the above, and I’m saying right now that I will NOT accept to be so engaged.)
 
malphono said:
From what I’ve been told, that community has developed its own unique style. It appears to be loosely based on Gregorian but there are clearly other influences present. In any case, and be that as it may, one thing is for sure: it’s not real Maronite chant.

(NB: Prior experience tells me that there may well be those who want to argue about all or part of the above, and I’m saying right now that I will NOT accept to be so engaged.)
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I won’t “engage” (or enrage :D) you my friend, but I would agree. This chant seems reminiscent of Maronite chant, at least as one experiences it on Sundays, but other strong influences and varations are apparent. That said, until this video I have never been exposed to a monastic community of Maronites, which would make for a truer basis of comparison. Just made a research project for myself …
 
ByzCathCantor said:
I won’t “engage” (or enrage :D) you my friend
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😃
ByzCathCantor said:
but I would agree. This chant seems reminiscent of Maronite chant, at least as one experiences it on Sundays. That said, I have never been exposed to a true monastic community of Maronites, which would be a truer basis of comparison. Just made a research project for myself …
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Yes, it’s somewhat reminiscent of certain aspects of the neo-Maronite repertoire in the US, but even that is tenuous. Some things in use are “translations” (if one wants to call them that) set to “standardized” (read: revised) versions of the traditional Syriac chant. The video does not at all reflect any of that. Other things are original (and very highly westernized) compositions using the exact same “translated” texts. The video doesn’t really seem to reflect that either, since even the latter (as much as I despise it) is often metric. It seems to me that the main similarity between the latter and the video is that both are highly westernized. 🤷

Just for comparison, here’s one example of something more authentic (well, except for strumming but it’s the best I can come up on short notice - maybe brother dzheremi will have some things to add).
 
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