Discussing
Salvaging sacred music in Syria

An interview with former Frodus drummer Jason Hamacher, who recorded ancient Christian chants in Syria just before civil war broke out.

Love it.

The Middle East has had the gospel a lot longer than the rest of the world, It's good to be reminded of that, and even better when it comes with a musical soundtrack. Thanks, JJT.

Last Saturday, I spent the afternoon in a Messianic Jewish Synagogue and was moved to tears as the rabbi sang the Hebrew benediction that we hear so often spoken in English at the end of our services. I believe the initial stirring in my spirit was a visceral response to the winding melody, but then was compounded by the notion that this song had been upon the lips of God's people for ages. It had been treasured up in their hearts and there was smuggled through years of suffering and adversity and had survived for His glory as a lasting relic of hope.
Today, I listened to a recent Radiolab podcast that mentioned the fact that music has the ability to activate certain empathic responses in the brain, and again, I was moved at God's power to minister to the human spirit through music. Even now, as I listen to the chants of these Christians, I am covered in goose flesh. God finds His way to minister to us in the deepest parts of our innermost selves by plucking the secret strings He has lain there. How precious this recording is, a testimony that God's message endures and will tenaciously find His followers and that when his suffering and brutality have ended, there will be song. Song everlasting. Songs of celebration.