Religious music applications of Antakya Arab Orthodox cultural identity framework

In this study, religious music applications from Antioch Orthodox Church (Antakya Orthodox Church of Saints Peter and Paul) are studied within the framework of cultural identity. The method of the study is qualitative and its study model is cultural analysis. To collect data, the study has used methods like literature survey, content analysis, interviews, musical analysis, and sensory (auditory) analysis. Culture becomes dynamic and variable in time. This change can be very slow in deeply rooted cultures such as the folk culture, which shares a collective nature. Therefore, analysing the reflections of the folk culture of a specific region on religious music, this dissertation will be an important precedent for prospective researchers studying the use of cultural analysis. The lack of research with entirety on the subject in the region with emphasis on music increases the importance and originality of this research. At the outset, the study focuses on historical and demographic distribution of the Antioch Orthodox Christian Arabs community in the region. Then, evaluating the relationship between "religious music" and "cultural identity" with emphasis on Antioch Orthodox Church (Antioch Saints Peter and Paul Orthodox Church) community, musical rituals, which are divided according to annual cycles and significant social events, are examined in terms of performance, style, repertoire (religious resources), and structure. As a result, it is concluded that Antioch Arab Orthodox community music is church-centred, the community appoints hymns in certain modes, which show cultural similarities to and effects on Traditional Turkish Court Music with a modal structure, to certain calendar weeks, and that these numerically designated modes, called "notes," are given different names. The data of the research were obtained by observations, sensory analyses, and interviews with experts on the subject. The hymns performed in the Church were originally in Latin. Today, these hymns have been translated into Greek, Arabic, and Turkish, respectively. Throughout the research it has been observed that plain Arabic texts are performed with modes; that plain texts separated by commas are performed as hymns with influences from various modes from Traditional Turkish Court Music; and that Turkish texts are plainly performed without modes.