Armenian Church Music

Armenia · 400s

Epic Sad Dreamy Sentimental Chill

Your digging level

For this genre

0/8

🏆

Description

Armenian church music is the sacred chant and liturgical repertoire of the Armenian Apostolic Church, sung primarily in Classical Armenian (Grabar) and preserved through oral transmission, medieval neumatic (khaz) notation, and later staff transcriptions. It centers on the Divine Liturgy (Badarak), the daily offices, and a vast corpus of hymns known as sharakans.

Musically, the tradition is fundamentally monophonic and modal, drawing on an eight-mode (oktoechos) system with characteristically stepwise melodies, narrow to moderate ambitus, and expressive melismas. While the historical tradition is a cappella and unaccompanied, modern choral harmonizations (notably by Makar Yekmalyan and Komitas Vardapet) are also widely performed, carefully respecting the modal flavor of the original chants. The sound is solemn, luminous, and contemplative, with an emphasis on textual clarity, rhetorical pacing, and devotional atmosphere.

Sources: Spotify, Wikipedia, Discogs, Rate Your Music, MusicBrainz, and other online sources

History

How to make a track in this genre

Top albums

Կոմիտասի երգերը և հայկական հինավուրց մեղեդիներ / Песни Комитаса и старинные армянские мелодии

Komitas Կոմիտաս / Lusine Zakarian Լուսինե Զաքարյան

Armenian Medieval Spiritual Music

Lusine Zakarian Լուսինե Զաքարյան

The Music of Armenia, Volume Two: Sharakan/Medieval Music

Komitas Կոմիտաս / Sharakan Early Music Ensemble

Luys i Luso

Tigran Hamasyan

Divine Liturgy

Men's Choir of St. Gayane Cathedral

The Music of Armenia Vol. 1: Sacred Choral Music

The Haissmavourk Choir

Best playlists

Armenian Church Music

Melodigging

Best user-generated playlists

Main artists

Top tracks

Locked

Share your favorite track to unlock other users’ top tracks

Influenced by

Byzantine Chant

Byzantine chant is the monophonic, a cappella liturgical music of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Church, sung primarily in Greek and organized around the octoechos (eight-mode) system. Its melodies are modal rather than harmonic, unfolding in one line supported in later practice by a sustained drone (ison). The repertory sets biblical psalms and hymnic poetry (e.g., troparia, kontakia, stichera, and canons) to melodies that follow textual accent and rhetorical pacing rather than strict meter. Notation employs neumes that encode melodic direction and ornate formulae, preserving a highly codified oral tradition. The sound is characterized by free rhythm, microtonal inflections in certain modes, and an austere, prayerful timbre designed for resonant ecclesiastical spaces. Byzantine chant remains central to the worship of the Eastern Orthodox Church and has shaped a wide family of chant traditions across the Mediterranean and Slavic worlds.

Syriac Chant

Syriac chant is the ancient monophonic liturgical singing tradition of the Syriac-speaking churches of the Near East, centered historically in Edessa (Urfa), Antioch, Nisibis, and the wider Mesopotamian region. Sung in Classical Syriac, it forms the musical backbone of worship in both the West Syriac (Syriac Orthodox, Syriac Catholic, Maronite) and East Syriac (Assyrian Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic) rites. The repertoire is modal, responsorial or antiphonal, and text-driven, prioritizing the intelligibility and prosody of biblical and hymnographic texts. Over centuries it absorbed Near Eastern modal aesthetics while maintaining a fundamentally unaccompanied, single-line texture designed for prayerful contemplation.

Ancient Greek Music

Ancient Greek music refers to the musical practices of the Greek world from the Archaic period through the Hellenistic and early Roman eras (roughly 8th century BCE to 3rd century CE). It was primarily monophonic, often performed by solo singer-instrumentalists or choruses, and closely tied to poetry, ritual, theater, and civic life. Its sound world was shaped by modal systems (harmoniai), tetrachordal structures, and three genera (diatonic, chromatic, enharmonic), with tuning and intervallic ethos discussed by philosophers and theorists. Rhythm followed poetic meters (e.g., dactylic, iambic, paeonic), not modern bar-based accentuation. Instruments such as the lyre, kithara, and aulos dominated, with occasional percussion and later the hydraulis. Surviving notated fragments (e.g., the Seikilos epitaph, Euripides’ Orestes chorus, hymns by Mesomedes) and treatises (Aristoxenus, Aristides Quintilianus, Ptolemy) guide modern reconstructions. Beyond entertainment, music framed worship (hymns and paeans), athletic and civic festivals, tragedy and comedy, and education. It profoundly shaped later Mediterranean liturgical chant and European music theory.

Ancient Music

Ancient music refers to the musical practices of the literate civilizations of antiquity (e.g., Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, the Levant, Persia, India, and China) before the medieval period. It is largely monophonic, text-driven, and modal, and survives today through a small corpus of notated fragments, theoretical treatises, iconography, and instrument remains. Its sound world is characterized by modal pitch systems (e.g., ancient Greek harmoniai built from tetrachords), rhythm tied to poetic meter, and timbres from lyres, harps, auloi (double-reed pipes), flutes, rattles/sistra, frame drums, and early lutes. Because authentic performance practice must be reconstructed, modern revivals rely on scholarship in archaeology, philology, and organology as much as on musical craft.

Armenian Music

Armenian music is the collective musical tradition of the Armenian people, spanning sacred chant, bardic (ashugh) song, folk-dance repertories, classical composition, and contemporary popular styles. Its sound world is marked by modal melodies (often related to the broader maqam family), expressive melismas, heterophony, and asymmetrical dance meters. Characteristic instruments include the duduk (a warm, plaintive double‑reed with a sustaining drone), zurna (shawm), dhol (double-headed drum), kanun (zither), oud, tar, kamancha (spike fiddle), shvi (end-blown flute), and various regional lutes. In the sacred sphere, monodic hymns (sharakans) and psalmody developed a distinctive chant tradition notated with khaz neumes; in the secular sphere, village dances (e.g., kochari, shalakho, tamzara) and ashugh poetry-songs form a core identity. Diasporic history has brought Armenian timbres (especially the duduk) into film scores, new age, and global fusion.

Rabiz

Has influenced

Hymns

Hymns are strophic, text-driven songs of praise, devotion, or instruction intended for congregational or communal singing, most closely associated with Christian worship. They typically use clear, memorable melodies, regular poetic meters, and straightforward harmonies so that large groups can sing together with ease. While the concept of a hymn as a sacred song predates Christianity (e.g., in Ancient Greek and Jewish traditions), Christian hymnody coalesced late in the 4th century with Ambrosian practice in Milan and then expanded through Latin and Greek liturgical cultures. Over time, hymn singing moved from monastic and cathedral settings into congregational life, especially after the Protestant Reformation, where metrical psalms and vernacular hymns became a defining feature of worship. Modern hymnody ranges from chant-like, modal melodies without accompaniment to robust, four-part chorale harmonizations with organ, and even contemporary arrangements that adapt classic hymn texts and tunes to newer popular styles.

Choral

Choral refers to music written for and performed by a choir—an ensemble of voices organized into sections such as soprano, alto, tenor, and bass (SATB), or same-voice groupings (SSA, TTBB). It encompasses both sacred and secular repertoire and may be sung a cappella or with accompaniment by organ, piano, or full orchestra. Stylistically, choral music ranges from chant-like monophony to intricate polyphony and rich homophonic textures. Texts are drawn from liturgy, scripture, poetry, and vernacular sources, and are set in many languages. Performance contexts include church services, concert halls, and community events, making choral one of the most socially embedded and widely practiced forms of ensemble music. Across history, choral music has served as a laboratory for vocal counterpoint, word painting, and text-driven form, while functioning as a cultural bridge among religious rites, national traditions, and contemporary concert practice.

Western Classical

Western classical is the notated art-music tradition that developed in Europe from medieval Christian chant into the large-scale secular and sacred forms of the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and modern eras. It is characterized by staff notation, evolving systems of modality and tonality, and forms such as symphony, sonata, concerto, mass, opera, and chamber music. Across its history, Western classical established an extensive theory of harmony and counterpoint, refined orchestration across strings, winds, brass, and percussion, and cultivated performance practices from a cappella chant to full symphonic and operatic forces. Its repertoire, pedagogy, and institutions (conservatories, orchestras, opera houses) made it a global reference point for compositional craft and instrumental technique.

Armenian Folk Music

Armenian folk music is the traditional music of the Armenian people, shaped by centuries of oral transmission, regional dance practices, bardic (ashugh) song, and village ritual. It is marked by expressive, melismatic vocals, modal melodies, and distinctive timbres—most famously the plaintive sound of the duduk (an apricot-wood double reed) accompanied by a drone. Core instruments include the duduk (with a second "dam" duduk providing the continuous drone), zurna (shawm), dhol/daul (double-headed drum), shvi and blul (end-blown flutes), kamancha (spike fiddle), kanun (zither), tar (long-necked lute), and, in modern contexts, violin and accordion. Dance repertory (such as kochari, shalakho, yarkhushta) often uses asymmetrical meters like 5/8, 7/8, 9/8, and 10/8, articulated as additive groupings (for example, 2+2+1 or 3+2+2+3). Melodic language is modal and ornamented, drawing on maqāmic pitch collections with microtonal inflections. Textually, songs range from love lyrics and pastoral imagery to historical epics and laments, reflecting both village life and national memory. The repertoire was extensively collected and systematized by Komitas (Soghomon Soghomonian) in the late 19th–early 20th century, and its instruments—especially the duduk—have become global emblems of Armenian sound.

Challenges

Digger Battle

Let's see who can find the best track in this genre