Search - Marie Keyrouz, L'Ensemble De La Paix :: Cantiques De L'Orient

Modern Christian Music in Middle Eastern Style

B. Marold | Bethlehem, PA United States | 12/24/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"'Cantiques de L'Orient' by composer and vocalist Sceur Marie Keyrouz is a real ear opener. I ran across this artist while browsing the early music bins and assumed this was a recording of 1000 year old music, especially since it was published by harmonia mundi, the house which does so many 'early music' artists and since the cover design was similar to, for example, Anonymous 4 covers.



These seven pieces are actually modern compositions based on the style of some of the very earliest Middle Eastern musical forms. The first cut entitled 'Magnificat' could easily have been the sound track for early scenes of 'The Exorcist' filmed in the middle east. It is especially interesting to see the author say that improvisation played an important role in this music. To my knowledge, this would be my first encounter with improvisation in classical liturgical forms.



If you happen to be looking for something 'really different' in music, this comes about as close to that criteria as I can name.



Highly recommended to the adventursome!"