Cherubic Hymn - Χερουβικόν - Grave Tone (Byzantine Chant)

Chanted by Byzantine Master and Professor of Byzantine Music Mr. George Papanikolaos from Samos, Greece.

Cherubic Hymn: Grave tone, composed by Fokaeus, which is chanted in the Divine Liturgy of The Greek Orthodox Church during the Great Entrance...

In the Orthodox Church there are 8 tones that can be chanted: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, Plagal of 1st, Plagal of 2nd, Grave, and Plagal of 4th tone. This is done so that people don't get bored at listening to the same tone over and over again. Each week a different tone is chanted.

"Let us who mystically portray the Cherubim, and chant the thrice-holy hymn unto the life-creating Trinity, lay aside all earthly care, that we may receive the King of all, escorted invisibly by the angelic orders. Alleluia."

No instruments are used when chanting byzantine music, only the human voice can be used and nothing else.

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[Oathblivion]

Wow, this sounds so strange to my ear. But... I think I like it. It must be such a pain for a Western-trained singer to actually perform this. I mean, most of the notes don't even exist in the system I'm familiar with. o.o;

[vagos2006]

@Oathblivion

God Bless! Yes Byzantine music is hard for Western Trained singers...the use of semi tones makes it very difficult, most of the notes in this chant don't exist on a piano. There would be no way of performing this piece on a piano or instrument for that matter, unless you had a really good violinist that could hit those semi tones for you so that you could actually hear what it sounds like....the Beauty of Byzantine music: Reason why the human voice is used.

[jgurrea]

"This is the Faith of the Apostles, this is the Faith of the Fathers, this is the Faith of the Orthodox, this is the Faith which has established the Universe."

-- from the Synodikon of Orthodoxy chanted on the first Sunday of Lent

[neurosisfan]

As an Orthodox Christian, I am deeply moved by the spirituality of the singing. As a musician, I am amazed at how authentically Byzantine this is. His singing is utilizing "semi tones", which is so hard for Westerners to really grasp. Some of the notes he is hitting don't exist on a piano. They would be the "notes" in between the keys!

[TheDeenSpot]

Part 2

I know that Saint Arethas is celebrated in the Orthodox Church on October 24th. Is there a chant reserved for him? It would be helpful to add a background chant of Saint Arethas for my project, as this will be film-based and it will include my actual expedition to the country of Yemen. I would much appreciate your help. Being that the ancient Christian community of Yemen wasn't Catholic, but rather Monophysite (a sect of Orthodox Eastern Church).

[TheDeenSpot]

I'm doing a project on Saint Arethas. The only reason why I'm doing this incredibly huge project is because we are studying Yemen's ancient Christian history. In particular to note is Saint Arethas, or Al-Harith (his Arabic name), the Bishopric of Najran, who along with 3,000 Yemenite Christians were slaughtered at the hands of the Yemenite Jewish King Dhu Nuwas, who then, had intended to convert the entire region of Yemen (and Najran) to Judaism.

[Gandalf930]

These are no "semi tones"... They are quarter-tones. Like semi-semitones. 25 cents higher or lower from what you'd expect the note to sound like.

[vanight]

@Oathblivion This is one very good argument, if you are serious, to master numes, for the very reason you state. There are things that simply cannot be represented in western notation. On the other hand, in small parishes, sometimes the need to simply have people capable of doing the services out ways the needs of a dogmatic chanter.

[phoffeld]

Where can I buy this? 

[phoffeld]

Where can I buy this?

[3Dmidori]

I'm an atheist and this is still an amazing piece of art. Being a singer, I can certainly say that his mastery over his voice is simply astounding ... wonderful music, wonderful voice!

[xplund]

The icon @ 3:20 hangs in my hallway.