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Syrian chant is the chant used in Syriac Christianity. As Syria was one of the earliest centers of Christianity, its style of chant is among the oldest in the world. However, as no early musical manuscripts exist, it is conjectural to what extent the modern repertoire reflects the early traditions.

In the early church, the music consisted of hymns and antiphonal psalmody. The earliest extant work is the Gnostic Psalter of the 2nd century, a collection of Psalm texts in hymn form reflecting a Gnostic theology. The first orthodox work are the hymns of Ephrem the Syrian (306–373), some of which are still used today. Both hymns and antiphonal psalmody were brought by St. Ambrose to Milan and are apparently the basis for Ambrosian chant.

Modern Syrian chant is much more rhythmic and syllabic than Gregorian chant.

Syria has had a long ancient historical attachment to the chant. Syrian chants have been spread throughout regions of the world as brought by Syrian immigrants. However, never before has there been such a decline in a musical practice as the military expulsion of Syrian Christendom has been threatened by Islamic military forces since 2014. The chants of Syria have remained thus far as aural/oral traditions and have been passed down through the generations who have kept loyally to their faith and culture. Syrian chant has been miss represented in the years of its study and has also been misrepresented through wrongful association. Syriac chant is Christian at heart but cannot be adopted by other forms of Christian worship present in Europe or America. Although it is from the Levant, it cannot be associated or counted synonymous with Islam. It has traits that suggest a derivative of the Arabic musical system but it does not have associations with any maqamat. It is understood at a model musical system yet it does not have any existing theory also it has almost no similarities to the Byzantine or Gregorian chants that are from the surrounding areas.

Difficulty in Studying Syrian Chant.
When looking at Syriac chant, one has to look to its performance to understand its historic context. This is due to the orality of its tradition and the minimal writing on the chant. Syriac chant has been greatly marginalized throughout its history. The first known source to write about it was during the Napoleonic conquest of Egypt. Villoteau wrote down details about the chant in which he says that the Syrian nation chose to sing songs that expressed the identity of its people. Syrian chant has eleven different types of rhythmic meters. The earliest information that Villoteau gathered was all derived from a Catholic priest that he encountered in Syria. Although Villoteau attempted to transcribe some of the chants, they used the Arabic quartertones. This proved difficult to interpret as the Syrian Christians only used oral language to pass on the chants which meant the music was not scripted or theorized. Only three sources have dealt with a Syriac chant in the modern centuries leaving this area greatly unexplored and currently threatened by political powers and movements in the Middle East.

Syriac Chants from South India.

The Christian liturgy that developed in Syriac as the Christian Aramaic came to be known in the early Christian era flourished in South India among Saint Thomas Christians. Early Christian chants by such saintly poets as St. Ephrem the Syrian (d. 372) became part of the Christian experience in this part of the world.