Assyrian music in Mardin area

Mesopotamia dates back to around 5000-6000 years ago. Assyrians, as the most ancient community that lived in that area, are crucial elements of those lands. Semitic races such as Acadians, Babylonian, Canaans and Arami gave birth to Assyrians. Assyrians is the earliest Christian group. Before turning into Christianity, they were pagan. But once ?Saint Aday?, one of Christ?s messengers, came to Mesopotamia and started propagating Christianity. Then Assyrians started to call themselves ?Assyrians? meaning ?Syriac Christians? in order to be distinguished from their pagan fellows. Music is as old as humanity itself. In their earlier periods, Assyrians used to use music for witchery and magic. After, it gained a religious identity and came to light as holy music. They used to play keyboards called organ during religious ceremonies in the past. Its main aim was to produce sounds in better harmony, and to submit to a godly atmosphere. Archaeological excavations and drawings in caves prove that Assyrians were interested in music and it is quite an ancient trend. The reason why plainchant was more developed than folk music is that the latter was not in harmony with the former and ruined spirituality. Music is a universally recognized cultural instrument which have guided communities and survived throughout the scientific and historical developments. Different communities living in that region have shades. Different groups in this region have shades. Our main aim is to identify these shades, to compare their music with Turkish classical music, and analyze selected pieces in musical terms. Following details about Assyrians dating back to early times are provided supported with literature review. Chapter one gives information about history, territory, cultural, artistic, literary and philosophical background of Assyrians as well as Assyrian composers and musicians. Chapter two includes introduction of music to the church in Assyrian history, nature and effect of musical modes, and musical chant types. In chapter three, musical analysis is done on musical chants Assyrians hymn in their religious ceremonies, mode and tempo of their music. Lastly, conclusion is provided, which is followed by bibliography and attachments. This study gives an overview about history, main land and music of Assyrians and introduction of Assyrian music to praying along with musical analysis of Assyrian musical chants. We hope to contribute to further studies as an example. Key Words: Mardin, Assyrian, Music, History, Church