Music of the Orthodox Church

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Over the last year or so, I've become a huge fan of Greek, Serbian, and Russian Orthodox music. Regarding particular artists, I could recommend Divna Ljubojevic (Serbia) and Nektaria Karantzi (Greece). However, I'm still pretty new to the genre. I'm under the impression that a lot of this music is made in obscure monasteries that don't go out of their way to market the music in the English-speaking world. I've found some decent recordings on Russian websites, but I can't read Greek. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Don't have any suggestions, but I too like church music. While I prefer the traditional hymns, the choir tunes, and the gregorian chant type tunes too, I also like some of the more modern church tunes. I don't have any disks of it though, but I do sometimes listen to church tunes on Sundays. It's very soothing and beautiful--and I'm not religious--but I also like Christmas music, too. You don't have to join a church in order to listen to, and enjoy the music. I think I will look into adding some church music disks to my meager music collection.

Have you ever heard the music from "Henry the V"? It's great! Years ago my sister had both the cassette and the CD. She gave me the cassette, so I could enjoy it, too. I eventually wore it out (It was my favorite cassette). By that time my sister was tired of "Henry the V", so she sent me the CD, and now it's my favorite CD.

For a fun, and perky pick-up get a Polka CD. One should be enough unless you are a real die hard fan. I know it sounds silly, but the music is cheerful and fun, and does improve the mood. That's why I included one Polka CD in my music collection.

Music can be a really good mood booster. It is one of my coping methods. Have a good time with your music interest.

I'm Orthodox, so I should be able to give you a good recommendation, but I can't. I basically only listen to it in church and occasionally I'll go on youtube and search some out. Next time I'm at church, I'll ask, though.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi3Ix_8g0no[/youtube]
This is my favorite Orthodox hymn, though. It was in the Pascha services, it's just got a special "something" to it.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dlr90NLDp-0[/youtube]
This is Gregorian, but it's another favorite of mine also.

As far as specific singers, though, I really have zero idea. I go to an OCA Church (Orthodox Church of America) and it's small, so singing can be spotty some days. The Greek and Russian churches tend to do a lot better. But, OCA is all in English, and I can like, understand it. So this might not be what you're looking for, but if you wanna hear Orthodox music, there's usually Orthodox churches locall to you, but for some people they might not be, ie, places without lots of immigrants.

That's the very little I know, though, I'll ask more on Sunday. In the meantime, there's always Ancient Faith Radio, 24 hour streaming Orthodox music. http://ancientfaith.com/listen I think they mostly play English, though. Sort of feel like an idiot, being Orthodox and not being too familiar with the music, but oh well.

God bless!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-lJazaPjRk&feature=relmfu[/youtube]