Syrian people
الشعب السوري
Sūriyyīn

Julia Domna Philip the Arab Posidonius Simeon Stylites John of Damascus Elagabalus Zenobia Francis Marrash Abd al-Rahman al-Kawakibi Qestaki al-Homsi Hashim al-Atassi Faris al-Khoury Jamil al-Ulshi Yusuf al-Azma Sultan Pasha al-Atrash Sami al-Hinnawi Zaki al-Arsuzi Akram El-Hourani Asmahan Riad Ismat Abdallah Dardari George Mourad Asalah Nasri George Wassouf Ghassan Massoud
Total population
Syria: 22,530,746 (July 2012 est.)[1] Diaspora: 17,000,000[2]
Languages
Contemporary Arabic Ancient languages Eblaite, Amorite, Ugaritic, Aramaic
Religion
Islam, mostly Sunni, and a minority of Alawites and Druze Christianity, mostly Greek Orthodox and Greek Catholic
Related ethnic groups
Other Semitic peoples: (due to Arameans and Canaanite Ancestors): Arabs · Assyrians · Lebanese · Palestinians Jordanians · Iraqis · Bahranis · Maltese · Mizrahi Jews Various Iranian peoples: Kurds · Persians · Ossetians Various Aryan peoples: Albanians · Armenians Bosniaks · Greeks Various Caucasians: Georgians · Adyghe Abkhazians · Chechens Various Turkic peoples: Azeris · Turks Various Afro-Asiatic peoples: Egyptians · Berbers

The Syrian people (Arabic: الشعب السوري‎ / ALA-LC: al-sha‘ab al-Sūrī) are the inhabitants and citizens of Syria and are, overall an indigenous Eastern Mediterranean people. While modern-day Syrians are commonly described as Arabs by virtue of their modern-day language and bonds to Arab culture and history, they are, in fact, largely a blend of the various Aramaic speaking groups indigenous to the region who were Arabized when Muslim Arabs from the Arabian Peninsula arrived and settled following the Arab expansion. Syrians are tied together by geography, linguistic heritage, religion, and similar Eastern Mediterranean ethnicities. Most Syrians reside primarily in Syria; however 17 million Syrians^[2] live outside of Syria and they stay connected to their cultural roots by watching Syrian satellite television, listening to Syrian music and preparing Syrian cuisine.

Damascus, the capital of Syria, is one of the most continuously inhabited cities^[3][4] in the world (for 8000 years straight, Syrians inhabited Damascus), and a large percentage of Damascenes are the descendents of the early inhabitants of Damascus.

Language[link]

Arabic is the mother tongue of some 90%^[1] of Syrians as well as the official state language. The Syrian dialect, which belongs to the same Eastern Mediterranean-Levantine family tree of dialects, varies little from Modern Standard Arabic; however it is uniquely different from the other Arabic vernaculars in that it is saturated with Aramaic, Syriac, Greek, Persian, and Phoenician words. However, the standardized form of Arabic, used in formal settings throughout the Arab world, contains the same vocabulary and grammar for all Arab countries. Kurdish, Turkish, and Circassian are also spoken in Syria by their respective minority communities. A direct decendent of the Aramaic of Jesus Christ, is still spoken in ancient Christian village of Ma'loula as well as widely understood within many other Syrian-Christian communities -- all of whom use Syriac as a liturgical language. English, and to a lesser extent French, is widely understood and used in interactions with tourists and other foreigners.

Religion[link]

Religious differences in Syria have historically been tolerated, and religious minorities tend to retain distinct cultural, and religious identities. Sunni Islam is the religion of 74% of Syrians. The Alawites, an ancient off-shoot of Shia Islam that is distinct from Sunni Islam, make up 12% of the population and mostly live in and around Latakia. Christians make up 10% of the country. Most Syrian Christians adhere to the Byzantine liturgical rites, the two largest are the Greek Orthodox and the Greek Catholic churches^[5][6]. The Druze, are a mountainous people who reside in Jebel Druze. The Druze, who helped spark the Great Syrian Revolt, are known as fierce soldiers. The Ismailis are an even smaller sect, that originated in Asia. A small number of Armenian Christians fled Turkey during the Armenian Genocide and settled in Syria. The Kurds, although Sunni Muslim, are very secular and have a distinct language. The Circassians, are of North Caucasus origin and are mostly Sunni Muslim, following the Hanafi school of thought. The Circassians number about 100 000 and mostly live in northern Syria. The nomadic Beduoin lead a lifestyle that keeps them largely separated from the rest of society, herding sheep and moving through the desert, although some have settled in towns and villages. One group that remains on the outside of society both politically and socially, is the roughly 100,000 Palestinian refugees, who were expelled from their homeland in 1948 after the creation of Israel.

Beliefs[link]

As a Mediterranean people, the Syrian people are a mosaic of West and East. Conservative and liberally minded people will live right next each other, and hold debates with each other. Like the other countries in the region, religion permeates life; the government registers every Syrian's religious affiliation.

Cuisine[link]

Syrian cuisine is dominated by Mediterranean ingredients. Olive oil, garlic, olives, peppermint, and sesame oil are some of the ingredients that are used in many traditional meals. Traditional Syrian dishes enjoyed by Syrians include, tabouleh, labaneh, shanklish, wara enab, makdous, kebab, sfiha, moutabal, hummus, maneesh, bameh, and fatoush. Before the main courses, Syrians eat maza, which is basically an appetizer. Syrian Muslim men are more likely to drink tea with their maza; whereas Syrian Christian men prefer to drink Arak with their maza.

Ancient Syrians[link]

100 Syrian pound note with Philip the Arab.

Ancient Syria has stood as a testament to the many cultural and artistic achievements in ancient human civilization. Modern archaeological discoveries have produced extensive writings, which illustrate a brilliant culture rivaling those of Egypt and Mesopotamia in and around the ancient city of Ebla, Syria. Later Syrian artists and scholars contributed to Hellenistic and Roman thought and culture. Shortly after becoming a province of the Byzantine Empire, an indigenous Syrian^[7], Philip the Arab became emperor in 244 AD and quickly signed a peace deal with the Persian Empire. According to the historian Eusebius, Philip the Arab is the first Christian emperor of the eastern part of the Roman Empire. Even though he was from the equestrian order, Philip the Arab rose through the Roman rank and file by merit. After Decius's victory over the Goth invasions, Decius's army declared him Emperor and he went on to defeat Philip the Arab's forces in the battle of Verona^[8].

Zenobia or Zainab in Arabic, was a "warrior queen" who ruled Syria from 267 AD to 272 AD and built the Palmyrene Empire that included the conquest of Egypt. After realizing Zenobia's threat to the Roman Empire, the Roman emperor Aurelian decided to turn his attention away from fighting the Gauls to stopping Zenobia's quest for more Roman territory. In the ancient capital of Syria, Antioch, Aurelian's army defeated Zenobia's forces and put an end to Zenobia's conquests.^[9]

Zeno of Sidon helped found the Epicurean school of philosophy; Cicero was a student of Antiochus of Ascalon at Athens. Posidonius's chronicles of Apamea influenced Livy and Plutarch. Syrians have made many contributions to Arabic literature and music and have an impressive tradition of written poetry and Oral literature.

Famous people from Syrian ancestry[link]

• Rosemary Barkett (born 1939), was the first woman to serve on the Florida Supreme Court, and the first woman Chief Justice of that court. She currently serves as a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
• Hala Gorani (born March 1, 1970), is a news anchor and correspondent for CNN International.^[10]
• Steve Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011), was the co-founder and former CEO of Apple, the largest Disney shareholder,^[11] and a member of Disney's Board of Directors. Jobs was considered a leading figure in both the computer and entertainment industries.^[12]
• Teri Hatcher, is an actress most famous for her role in Desperate Housewives. Her mother is part Syrian.

See also[link]

Ottoman Syria

References[link]

v t e Syrian people and diaspora By country Brazil Canada Chile Colombia Israel Mexico Pakistan Turkey United States

v t e Syria topics History Timeline · Ancient · Roman · Islamic · Ottoman · Arab Kingdom of Syria · French Mandate · Independent Syria · Modern (Syrian uprising against the Ba'athist regime) Government Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party (Regional Command · National Command) · National Progressive Front · Constitution · President · Vice President · Cabinet (Prime Minister, Ministries) · Parliament (Speaker) · Judiciary (Council, Supreme Court) · Military (Army, Air Force, Navy, Air Defense) Politics Elections · Political parties · Arab nationalism · Syrian nationalism Geography Fertile Crescent · Greater Syria · Governorates · Districts · Cities · Southern Syria · Hauran · Golan Heights · Al-Jazira · Syrian Desert · Anti-Lebanon mountains · Hermon · Euphrates · Orontes · Rivers  · Volcanoes Infrastructure Communications · Education · Energy · Health · Media · Transport  · Waste · Water Economy Syrian pound · Central Bank · Companies · International rankings Society Demographics · People · Diaspora (Refugees) · Religion · Holidays · Health · Scouting Culture Music · Television · Cinema · Cuisine · Holidays · Flag · Anthem · Emblem  · Smoking Issues Golan Heights · Iskandaron · Human rights · Terrorism · WMDs Portal

The Books were an American duo, formed in New York City in 1999, consisting of guitarist and vocalist Nick Zammuto and cellist Paul de Jong. Their releases typically incorporate samples of obscure sounds and speech.^[1][2] They have released three critically acclaimed albums on the German label Tomlab, and released their fourth studio album, The Way Out, on Temporary Residence Limited in July 2010.

History[link]

[edit] 1999–2002: Thought for Food

Zammuto and de Jong first met in New York City in 1999 as they shared the same apartment building.^[3] De Jong invited Zammuto to dinner at his apartment, where he played him some of his collection of audio and video samples, including a Shooby Taylor record.^[4] Zammuto said of their meeting that "we both kind of knew at that moment that we listened (to music) in interesting ways and had similar approaches to music."^[5] Soon after, they began playing what they considered to be pop music, in comparison to their own works, under the name The Books.^[5]

In 2000, The Books started work on what would become their début album Thought for Food.^[6] Zammuto and de Jong moved locations constantly during this time,^[6] recording in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and finally in the basement of a hostel in North Carolina where Zammuto worked for a while after hiking the Appalachian Trail.^[5][7]

Thought for Food was released on October 22nd, 2002.^[8] Praised by critics for its distinctive sound,^[9] it featured extensive sampling from obscure sources coupled with mostly acoustic instrumentation.

[edit] 2002–2003: The Lemon of Pink

Shortly after the release of Thought for Food, the band relocated to North Adams, Massachusetts, near where Zammuto had graduated from Williams College in 1999, studying chemistry and visual arts.^[10] Zammuto and de Jong began the recording of The Lemon of Pink around this time. Anne Doerner, a guest vocalist on the album, said the process was much more arduous than the recording of Thought for Food, with Zammuto working on the album for five straight months.^[5]

The Lemon of Pink was released to critical acclaim^[11] on October 7th, 2003.^[12] It is similar in style to Thought for Food, but oriented more around vocals performed mostly by Anne Doerner.

[edit] 2003–2006: Lost and Safe, Music for a French Elevator, Prefuse 73 Reads The Books

In 2004, the French Ministry of Culture asked The Books to compose music for a new elevator in their building. The Books released a Mini CD of this work in 2006, under the name Music for a French Elevator and Other Short Format Oddities by the Books.^[13]

On April 5, 2005, The Books released their third studio album, Lost and Safe. Zammuto has a greater vocal presence in this album, and the album was criticized for this change of sound.^[14] Aside from this, Lost and Safe was well received by critics.^[15] Throughout early 2005, The Books collobarated with the electronica artist Prefuse 73. The Books appear on his album Surrounded by Silence ("Pagina Dos"), and the E.P. Prefuse 73 Reads the Books E.P. collects remixes of material sourced from The Books' albums.

Before starting a three-month^[16] tour of North America in April 2006, The Books had played only one concert,^[7] in October 2003 at a festival in Chicago, Illinois.^[17] Zammuto has expressed apprehensiveness towards touring, but says it is necessary to make a living, given his belief that people downloading The Books' music via file-sharing^[18] has put him under financial strain.

[edit] 2006–2012: Hiatus, The Way Out and break-up

Following the release of Music for a French Elevator, the band took a break from recording to tend to their new families, tour in support of their albums, and pursue some of their own projects, which included Zammuto scoring a feature documentary about the Biosphere 2.^[10]

In 2007, The Books released Play All, a DVD of thirteen music videos and three previously unreleased tracks.^[19] The Play All videos are composed of found footage transformed into a collage that matches their music. The Books often screen these videos during their live performances.^[20]

The Books toured heavily between 2005 and 2007, including two tours in Europe and two Canadian shows.^[6] In early 2009 The Books covered the Nick Drake song "Cello Song" in collaboration with José González for the Red Hot Organization's Dark Was the Night fund-raising album.^[21]

The Books began working on The Way Out in late 2008.^[22] Zammuto spoke of the album's New Age themes in an interview in April 2009, saying they took samples from self-help and hypnotherapy cassettes. When asked to describe the album, Zammuto said "You're getting verrry sleepy."^[3] On April 5, 2010, the duo announced that The Way Out would be released through Temporary Residence Limited in July.^[22] On April 27 Pitchfork Media began streaming the track "Beautiful People",^[23] which Zammuto described as "a three part christian harmony mixed with a sort of euro-disco-trash beat, an orchestra’s worth of sampled brass and lyrics about the twelfth root of two (my favorite irrational number), trigonometry and tangrams".^[24] The album was released on July 20.

The Books played the ATP New York 2010 music festival in Monticello, New York, in September 2010 and are currently touring North American tour with the Black Heart Procession. The band have been chosen by Portishead & ATP to perform at the ATP I'll Be Your Mirror festival that they will curate in July 2011 at London's Alexandra Palace.^[25]

In January of 2012, Nick Zammuto announced in an interview via Pitchfork Media that The Books were splitting up to focus on other projects.^[26]

On April 3rd 2012, Nick Zammuto released Zammuto, under the moniker Zammuto.

Musical style[link]

The Books are commonly cited by critics to be of a genre of their own,.^[27] Zammuto has described it as collage music.^[18] Paul de Jong described it as "the new folk music...[w]e make our own instruments, use our own libraries of sound bites while trying to create something universally human."^[28] Although they have said that their influences include Nirvana, David Bowie, Roxy Music as well as new wave and classical music, these do not show prominently in their music,^[29] though Zammuto was directly influenced by electronic musicians Squarepusher, Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada.^[30][31] The Books' music usually consists of acoustic instrumentation of folk melodies usually played on guitar, cello, banjo and more, combined with a diverse range of samples obtained from cassettes found in thrift stores,^[18] which are digitally processed and edited.^[5] They also rarely use a drum kit in recordings and performances, instead favouring inanimate objects like children's toys and filing cabinets, which are sampled and looped.^[29] Some observers contend that their music is aleatoric,^[32] but Zammuto has disagreed, saying the music is very tightly controlled.^[18]

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

• Thought for Food (2002)
• The Lemon of Pink (2003)
• Lost and Safe (2005)
• The Way Out (2010)

EP[link]

• Music for a French Elevator and Other Short Format Oddities by the Books (2006)

DVDs[link]

• Play All (2007)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• The Books on Myspace
• The Books discography at Discogs
• [1] Interview with The Books
• [2] Interview with Nick Zammuto about his new band and the break-up of The Books