Aramaic

Zaynzma

According to this guardian article (audio slideshow really) the last 50 families who speak Aramaic as a mother tongue are in a small village in Syria.

Aramaic is believed to have been the mother tongue of Prophet Jesus pbuh, it is related to both Hebrew and Arabic. At the end of the audio there is a little speech in Aramaic which ends in ameen so it is either a prayer or some verses of scripture (Christian). It is a beautiful sounding language.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/audioslideshow/2010/jan/08/middleeast-syria-aleppo-souks-aramaic

prinz

If you like Aramaic, I recommend the album Sacred Ragas by IndiaJiva, it includes a wonderful rendition of the Our Father in Aramaic, it's also available on youtube. It may not suit your religious convictions but it's amazing to hear people singing beautifully in such an old and rare language.

oceanclub

There's a few pics here I took when in Maalula in March 2008; no audio unfortunately:

http://picasaweb.google.com/pmoloney/SyriaMarch2008

P.

irishconvert

oceanclub wrote: »

There's a few pics here I took when in Maalula in March 2008; no audio unfortunately:

http://picasaweb.google.com/pmoloney/SyriaMarch2008

P.

Great photos. Thanks for sharing them with us.