FYI: I am talking about style, not the language it is sung or chanted in. Which is your favorite style? How about your second favorite kind? Why?
What is your favorite type of Orthodox Christian chanting?
I have to put Russian as my favourite as it is what I am used to. Being Japanese Orthodox, the whole singing tradition is based on Russian 4-part harmony. The Japanese must be better singers than the ones Tom has encountered though. The first Orthodox service I went to was Holy Friday in Japan and the singing blew me away for want of a better phrase, and sparked my yearning for God. I also like Znamensky chant. In NZ we have English services at the Serbian Parish which I go to on Saturdays, and a mixture of styles is used though predominantly Byzantine.
I am a parish member of ROCOR (we have Priests come to our Parish ebery so often but no permanent priest) and sing in the choir.
Have to go with the Russian style...don't like English...it's not really a language condusive to liturgical singing....I have never heard Japanese, but German and Spanish lend themselves very well to liturgical singing. No offense intened to any Greeks here, but the greek chanting gives me a sinus headache I simply cannot listen to it very long. Must be the resonance.
Milla
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ducking I like the old Latin chanting that I used to hear when I was a member of the sspx 'church?' before I was Chrismated in the OCA but my favorite would be the Byzantine style and also the Russian 4part harmony chanting... I'm split between the two because I love Church Slavonik and that was the first kind I got used to when I first started going to Liturgy. So I guess that would make it a tie for me between the Byzantine plain chant and the Russian harmony chanting.
(I voted for other since there's more than one that I like)