The song that is sung at this Mongolian papal audience and prayer service doesn’t sound Mongolian to me. It sounds like an Italian religious ditty sung in Mongolia’s vernacular. Italian liturgical songs have a sing-songy sort of sound that becomes an ear worm in one’s head, Lord have mercy, I sing!
Or, to me, it had an American 1960’s folk Mass sound. Who knew Mongolian culture loves 1960’s American folk songs! I certainly did not.
And then, who knew that Mongolian culture loves grade school hand motions as we sang our Italian and American sounding ditties.
UGH! UGH! UGH!, talk about the west corrupting the east!
UPDATE!
I googled Mongolian religous chant and I found the video below! Unlike the imported Italian/American singing ditty in the papal video above this, Mongolian religous chant has a quality to it that sounds a bit like Gregorian Chant or Easter Catholic or Eastern Orthodox chant, not to mention Jewish chant.
Those who proslytized the Mongolians to bring a western version of Cathoicism's worst of liturgical music in the modern idiom have done Mongolian Catholics no favor.
This chant is not Christian, but could easily be Christianized and inculturated into the Church in a fabulous way:
2 comments:
There are so many things one could say about this particular papal trip, but if nothing else, it certainly convinces one that the Vatican has no shortage of disposable income if they can afford to burn the money it takes to send a papal entourage to a far-away Asian country with .04 percent Catholic population.
All those Catholic Appeal pitches are getting increasingly shrill.
The Tuvan style throat singing ala the second video is what I would have expected. Just as French, Irish and English folk tunes made their way into Western religious music it would be great to see Tuvan style music in Catholic music. Check out “The Orphan’s Lament” by Huun Huur Tu for a great example of their version of bel canto.
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