Notes

Fr. THOMAS KANJIRATHUMOOTTIL, Athirampuzha in conversation with Dr. Joseph J. Palackal

Fr. Thomas Kanjirthumottil belongs to the generation of priests that lived through the transition of the Chaldean liturgy of the Syro Malabar Church from Syriac to Malayalam. He was ordained in 1964, two years after the Syro Malabar Church inaugurated the vernacular liturgy. The solemn form of the Syro Malabar Qurbana was not available in the vernacular, yet. Therefore, Fr. Thomas celebrated the solemn form in Syriac on festival occasions until 1972. During the following years, Fr. Thomas continued to cherish the Syriac melodies. Currently, he serves St. Mary’s Forane Church at Athirampuzha, in the Archdiocese of Changanacherry . He celebrates the solemn sung Syriac Qurbana about twenty times a year. In this recording, Fr. Thomas sings a rare melody of the Resurrection hymn (“Laku mara”). We heard this melody only once before; that was from Fr. Paul Kodamullil, who belongs to the Diocese of Kothamangalam (see Aramaic Project 3B). Probably they both learned the melody from Fr. Mathew Vadakel, who was professor at the St. Joseph’s Seminary at Mangalappuzha, Aluva. Fr. Thomas recalled the melody and performance practice of the famous Christological hymn, “Sagdinan mar” (see more on this hymn at http://christianmusicologicalsocietyofindia.com.). Fr. Thomas regrets the loss of the Syriac music heritage from the younger generation of the Syro Malabar Catholics. The interview ended with a pleasant surprise. Fr. Thomas recognized me through my bhajan from my LP record (1979, http://christianmusicologicalsocietyofindia.com... ). He said that he liked those songs and apologized for not recognizing me before the interview. It was, indeed, a pleasure to get to know someone who is open minded to appreciate varied genres of Christian music.