EDIT: I’d wish for this thread to list the best religious music of all faiths, but it ought to be good music, not “schmalzy” stuff you’d find on CBN news.
I don’t expect anyone else to contribute as there aren’t many religous people here, but please feel free to post your religion’s best songs.
I am only here briefly (aren’t we all) but I’d like to showcase the best Sufi songs here. I only know Islamic sufi music but other eastern religions have had sufi practices too (this is not meant to be a Grammarly advert showcase but sadly YT is monetised thus):
My faves:
Opening words: Batti batti bulbul, ya Rasul ya Rasul (Lamp, Lamp, Nightingale, Oh Messenger, Oh Messenger):
The original version of the same song:
I think this song celebrates the white cloak of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) - the Sufi group that made this song are known for doing some type of breathing exercise during their songs, which you hear in the background:
(as per Qur’an 42:5 "Almost might the heavens above be rent asunder while the angels hymn the praise of their Lord and ask forgiveness for those on the earth. Lo! Allah, He is the Forgiver, the Merciful.")
Last, but no means least, for me this is the sound of the entire cosmos praising its Lord (sung by the same Sufi group that does the breathing exercises):
Why my religion’s? Why should one have to be religious in order to contribute?
My primary Spotify playlist currently contains 9,612 songs (577 hr 37 min), and they’re preponderantly religious (because, as I rule, I only add songs from before around 1600 C.E., though it also contains quite a bit of later folk and Middle-Eastern songs. I had to split it to prevent it from reaching the 10,000 song limit, by the way; the split playlist now contains 1,595 songs (129 hr 48 min). And then there’s the 4000+ songs I have on my computer and would add if they were to be found on Spotify! And of course then there’s the other kinds of music I listen to (extreme Metal and Goa trance, mostly).)
Here’s one of my favourites, l’ve loved this since a teenager - an Orthodox Jewish song, l think it’s from Russia or Poland - the cantor’s voice is incomparable especially in this one specific song, his best performance in my mind:
I have a wide range of musical tastes but l’m interested in the best of the best religious music here. Not evangelical stuff with a donations hotline scrolling across the screen. Feel free to showcase your interests.
Farya Faraji is probably one of the most authentic interpreters of early and ancient music. Quite a bit of it is secular (and the same goes for my playlist/s), though.
Hi there thank. Is there any reason you prefer 1600CE and earlier? I imagine it’d be hard to get anything so old that is authentic. For example most Ukrainian cossack songs are probably from the 1800s onward, but they are posed as Baroque era.
I’m guessing the Occitan song was played on the Lute or a drone zither. EDIT: the description explains it was a modified hurdy gurdy?
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The oldest known piece of music in the world… the Hurrian Hymn
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The oldest known piece of music is the Hurrian Hymn to Nikkal, which dates back to around 1400 BCE. It was found on a clay tablet in the ancient Syrian city of Ugarit.
There may well be music that precedes the Hurrian Hymn, that has been lost to time… there’s some decent strumming at the end of the piece.
I like the song at t=1123 seconds, the mix is probably hard to find, other versions of that song are more bland. It’s about the creation of Eve from Adam, it’s about Man first seeing Woman.
Song title: David K & The Oh Hello’s - Like the Dawn (unsure what the precise mix is called)
@Zeroeth_Nature@Ichthus77
It would help to post individual videos as YT links, playing them through this thread seems to strip them of adverts. Also maybe add a line or two to explain the spiritual significance.
Yeah, “Baroque” is really a term from Western Europe and its colonies, so it’s questionable in how far it applies to the Cossacks etc.
The reason I prefer 1600CE and earlier is that that’s when modernity really begins, including the Baroque: music starts to get overwrought around that time (prime example: Monteverdi).
It’s possible for reconstructed music to be quite authentic, though, as Faraji indeed demonstrates with that hurdy-gurdy correction.
Hi there, the thing is, the Grammarly adverts are nauseating but that’s not all, it helps to focus on a particular song and your feelings about the song if you put the direct link in your post.
I would hope the song is posted for its meaning, rather that how good it sounds. For example, l notice in your playlist a song called “Summer is acumen in”, which l find beautiful, but l don’t know if you realise, the lyrics mention pigs farting - which kind of illustrates that spiritual significance to you is as important as the tune (but the tune in turn trumps all in the case of a showcased evangelical artist in CBN, singing some derivative boring song even if the lyrics are good).
I think early cossack music was “Baroque”, and l’m sure the Cossack Hetman was expected to play the Theorban / Theorbo, a kind of lute that appears to have about 15 courses among which look some look like extreme contrabass free strings, alongside a standard fertboard. Origin: Italy (though the name is Turco-Slavic). In fact the Ukrainian Bandura was originally fretted as you will see in the Cossack Mamai motif (Mamai being a cossack mythical archetype, sat cross legged with his bandura, and horse stood behind him, oddly the name is Turco-Mongol - you will see him at the start of the video l’ll post next).
Here are examples of the Baroque style from the 1600s, l don’t wanna digress too much so i’ll leave it after posting this:
Back to the religious theme (l don’t like cossacks much, they’re not religious for one thing - case in point: even as Christians they used to loot churches and steal females within a hundred metres radius) Here’s an Israeli song l’ve always liked. Ashkenazi music seems sometimes to be directly taken from north and east European music but l think Hinne Lo Yanum sounds like it could date all the way back to King David (peace be upon him):
I was quoting the song from memory but l’ve just read the lyrics: it mentions a billy goat farting not a pig haha. Maybe l saw a different version. It’s a well known song here and was featured in the death scene of The Whicker Man (1973). It’s a beautiful song to be sure.
@promethean75 Only just heard it haha, l haven’t heard that song in 30 years. I used to listen to that type of music, it made me feel really unwell, but that may have just been teen angst.
Just post whatever, if you want.