Call Number : RR-006

Syriac Translation of Latin Chants

The CD, Qambel Maran: Syriac Chants from South India contains six chants (tracks 19 to 24) from an interesting repertoire of texts that were translated from Latin into Syriac in Kerala during the Portuguese period. These texts were composed anew in Kerala, mostly for paraliturgical services. See a preliminary study of the Syriac version of the famous Latin chant Pange Lingua by St. Thomas Aquinas, in Palackal (2005: 112-117). These chants are reference points for a special period in the history of Christianity and Christian music in India .

Please refer the Booklet (p11 to p13) accompained by the CD - Qambel Maran: Syriac Chants from South India

Call Number : RR-005

Kerala Kaldaaya Suriyaani Reethile Thirukkarmma Geethangal

കേരളാ കൽദായ സുറിയാനി രീതിയിലെ തീരുകർമ്മ ഗീതങ്ങൾ

 By

Fr. Mathew Vadakel

• Imprimatur - Mar Seb. Vayalil (Bishop of Pala)
• Publisher - Fr. Mathew Vadakel
• Year of Publication - 1954
• Copies of Ist Edition - 1000 nos.
• Printed at - Codialbail Press, Mangalore.
• Copyright © - S. H. League, Aluva. 1954.

See Cover page and Table of Contents.

Call Number : RR-004

The Syriac-Malayalam Hymnal, edited by Rev. Saldanha A, S. J.

 Printed at Codialbail Press, Mangalore, for the Cathedral Church, Calicut, in 1937. Pp. 27 + 181 + x + v. Part I: Syriac chants of the solemn high mass of the Chaldeo-Syrian rite of Kerala (text transliterated in Malayalam, music in Western staff notation). Part II: Malayalam devotional songs in Western staff notation. This is the first publication of Syriac melodies in staff notation in India. Probably, these melodies were composed in Kerala. The Preface (in English and Malayalam, pp. 9-18) by Rev. Saldanha is quite informative, among other things, on the status Christian music in Kerala in the first quarter of the twentieth century.

See Foreword, Preface, and Table of Contents

Call Number : RR 003

Manuscript of Syriac chants in staff notation

By

Fr. Aiden Kulathinal, CM I

Copied in 1948 from an earlier manuscript (now lost) by Fr. Aiden Kulathinal, C. M. I., at St. Theresa's Monastery at Ampazhakkadu, Kerala. So far as we know, this manuscript contains the earliest transcriptions of model melodies from the liturgy of the Hours in the Chaldean rite of the Syro-Malabar Church, India. The 27 pages are divided into three sections: pages 1-14 contain 51 Syriac melodies from the Hours; pages 15-19 consist of notation of what looks like Western melodies (to be verified) without text underlay; and pages 20-27 contain Marian litanies in Latin with Syriac translation. The Syriac texts are written in Malayalam script. The original copy is at the library at Acharaya Palackal Jeevass Kendram, Aluva, Kerala. See more details in Palackal 2005, pp. 134-135.

Letter written by

Fr. Aiden Kulathinal, CM I to Joseph. J. Palackal. CMI

Call Number : RR-002/JT

DEWALAYA GEETHANGAL - Church Hymns

FIRST EDITION (1902)

ദേവാലയ ഗീതങ്ങൾ (സുറിയാനി/മലയാളം)
ആദ്യ പതിപ്പ് (1902)

 Edited by:

Fr. Basselios of St. Theresa, T. O. C. D.

• Printed at - St. Mary's Press, Elthuruth (1902). 172 pages (10 cms x 15 cms)

The book contains text of Syriac hymns for various occasions, for the use of the church choir. A large number of hymns are translations of Latin chants that were composed anew in Kerala. Names of translators and composers of the melodies are unknown. The text is printed in Malayalam script, indicating that Syriac literacy was on the wane among the lay people in the Syro-Malabar Church, by the end of the 19th century.

Call Number : RR-002A/JT

CHURCH HYMNS (Syriac/Malayalam)
7th Edition (Dewalaya Geethangal)

ദേവാലയ ഗീതങ്ങൾ (സുറിയാനി/മലയാളം) 
ഏഴാം പതിപ്പ്

 Edited by

 Fr. Basselios of St. Theresa, T. O. C. D.

• Printed at - St. Joseph's A.S. Press
• Year - 1954
• Total Pages -188

Courtesy - Joseph T.P.

Call Number : RR-001

The Marriage Customs & Songs
Of the Syrian Christians of Malabar

കേരള നസ്രാണികളുടെ വിവാഹാചാരങ്ങളും
തൽസംബന്ധമായ പാട്ടുകളും

By

Dr. P. J. Thomas

• Printed at - THE DIOCEAN PRESS, VEPARY, MADRAS
• Year - 1936

For a digital copy of the book please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.