Syriac
ܠܫܢܐ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ Leššānā Suryāyā
Leššānā Suryāyā in written Syriac (Esṭrangelā script)
Pronunciation	/lɛʃːɑːnɑː surjɑːjɑː/
Spoken in	Mesopotamia, Assyria, Roman Syria
Ethnicity	Assyrians/Syriacs
Extinct	marginalized by Arabic from the 8th century, evolved into Neo-Aramaic vernaculars around AD 1200 (conventional date).
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic Central Semitic Northwest Semitic Aramaic Eastern Aramaic Syriac
Writing system	Syriac abjad
Language codes
ISO 639-3	syc
This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters.

This article contains Syriac text, written from right to left in a cursive style with some letters joined. Without proper rendering support, you may see unjoined Syriac letters written left-to-right instead of right-to-left or other symbols instead of Syriac script.

Syriac (ܠܫܢܐ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ leššānā Suryāyā) is a dialect of Middle Aramaic that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. Having first appeared as a script in the 1st century AD after being spoken as an unwritten language for five centuries,^[1] Classical Syriac became a major literary language throughout the Middle East from the 4th to the 8th centuries,^[2] the classical language of Edessa, preserved in a large body of Syriac literature.

It became the vehicle of Syriac Christianity and culture, spreading throughout Asia as far as the Indian Malabar Coast and Eastern China,^[3] and was the medium of communication and cultural dissemination for Arabs and, to a lesser extent, Persians. Primarily a Christian medium of expression, Syriac had a fundamental cultural and literary influence on the development of Arabic,^[4] which replaced it towards the end of the 8th century. Syriac remains the liturgical language of Syriac Christianity.

Syriac is a Middle Aramaic language, and as such a language of the Northwestern branch of the Semitic family.

Syriac is written in the Syriac alphabet, a derivation of the Aramaic alphabet.

Geographic distribution[link]

Syriac was originally a local Aramaic dialect in Persian-ruled Assyria (Asuristan) and northern Mesopotamia that has evolved under the influence of Christianity into its current form. Before Arabic became the dominant language, Syriac was a major language among Christian communities in the Middle East, Central Asia and Kerala.

Although once a major language in the Fertile Crescent, Syriac is now limited to enclaves in the Nineveh plains, Tur Abdin, the Khabur plains and around the Syrian town of Ma'loula

History[link]

The history of Syriac can be divided into three distinct periods:

• Old Syriac (the language of the kingdom of Osroene),
• Middle Syriac (ܟܬܒܢܝܐ Kṯāḇānāyâ: Literary Syriac), which divided into:
  • Eastern Middle Syriac (the literary and ecclesiastical language of Chaldean, Syro-Malabar and Assyrian Christians),
  • Western Middle Syriac (the literary and ecclesiastical language of Syriac and Maronite Christians).

Origins[link]

Syriac began as an unwritten spoken dialect of Old Aramaic in Assyria/northern Mesopotamia. The first evidence we have of such dialects is their influence on the written Imperial Aramaic from the 5th century BC. After the conquest of Mesopotamia and Aramea (Syria) by Alexander the Great, Syriac and other Aramaic dialects lost their status as imperial languages but continued to flourish a lingua franca alongside Ancient Greek.

In 132 BC, the kingdom of Osroene was founded in Edessa with Syriac as its official language. Syriac-speakers still look to Edessa as the cradle of their language.^[5] There are about eighty extant early Syriac inscriptions, dated to the first three centuries AD (the earliest example of Syriac, rather than Imperial Aramaic, is in an inscription dated to AD 6, and the earliest parchment is a deed of sale dated to AD 243). All of these early examples of the language are non-Christian. As an official language, Syriac was given a relatively coherent form, style and grammar that is lacking in other Old Eastern Aramaic dialects.

Literary Syriac[link]

The sixth beatitude (Matthew 5:8) from an East Syriac Peshitta.
ܛܘܼܒܲܗܘܿܢ ܠܐܲܝܠܹܝܢ ܕܲܕܟܹܝܢ ܒܠܸܒܿܗܘܿܢ܄ ܕܗܸܢܼܘܿܢ ܢܸܚܙܘܲܢ ܠܐܲܠܵܗܵܐ܂‎
Ṭûḇayhôn l'aylên daḏkên b-lebbhôn: d-hennôn neḥzôn l'allāhâ.
'Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.'

In the 3rd century, churches in Edessa began to use Syriac as the language of worship. There is evidence that the adoption of Syriac, the language of the people, was to effect mission. Much literary effort was put into the production of an authoritative translation of the Bible into Syriac, the Peshitta (ܦܫܝܛܬܐ Pšîṭtâ). At the same time, Ephrem the Syrian was producing the most treasured collection of poetry and theology in the Syriac language.

In 489, many Syriac-speaking Christians living in the Roman Empire fled to Persia to escape persecution and growing animosity with Greek-speaking Christians.^{[citation needed]} The Christological differences with the Church of the East led to the bitter Nestorian schism in the Syriac-speaking world. As a result, Syriac developed distinctive western and eastern varieties. Although remaining a single language with a high level of comprehension between the varieties, the two employ distinctive variations in pronunciation and writing system, and, to a lesser degree, in vocabulary.

An 11th-century Syriac manuscript.

Western Syriac is the official language of the West Syrian rite, practiced by the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Syrian Catholic Church, the Maronite Church, the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, the Mar Thoma Church, and the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church.

Eastern Syriac is the liturgical language of the East Syrian rite, practiced in modern times by the Assyrian Church of the East, the Chaldean Syrian Church, the Ancient Church of the East, the Chaldean Catholic Church, and the Syro-Malabar Church.

	Abûn d-ḇašmayâ The Lord's Prayer, Abûn d-ḇašmayâ, sung in Syriac
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Syriac literature is by far the most prodigious of the various Aramaic languages. Its corpus covers poetry, prose, theology, liturgy, hymnody, history, philosophy, science, medicine and natural history. Much of this wealth remains unavailable in critical editions or modern translation.

From the 7th century onwards, Syriac gave way to Arabic as the spoken language of the region. The Mongol invasions of the 13th century further contributed to the rapid decline of the language. In many places outside of northern Mesopotamia, even in liturgy, it was replaced by Arabic.

Current status[link]

Although Syriac isn't used as an everyday language, there have been several attempts to revive it. Revivals of Syriac in recent times have led to some success with the creation of newspapers in literary Syriac (ܟܬܒܢܝܐ Kthābānāyā), similar to the Arabic Fuṣḥā has been used since the early decades of the 20th century. Modern literary Syriac has also been used not only in religious literature but also in secular genres often with nationalistic themes.^[6]

Syriac has been recognised as an official minority language in Iraq.^[7] It is also taught in some public schools in Iraq, Israel and Sweden.^[8][9]

Among the Syriac churches of Kerala, Malayalam often replaces Syriac. Literary Syriac is often used as a spoken language by clerics who do not speak the vernacular dialects.

Grammar[link]

Many Syriac words, like those in other Semitic languages, are built out of triliteral roots, collations of three Syriac consonants with variable vowel sets as a "glue". For example, the root ܫܩܠ, ŠQL, has the basic meaning of taking, and so we have the following words that can be formed from this root:

• ܫܩܠ – šqal: "he took"
• ܢܫܩܘܠ – nešqōl: "he will take"
• ܫܩܠ – šāqel: "he takes, he is taking"
• ܫܩܠ – šaqqel: "he has lifted/raised"
• ܐܫܩܠ – ašqel: "he has set out"
• ܫܩܠܐ – šqālâ: "a taking, burden, recension, portion or syllable"
• ܫܩ̈ܠܐ – šeqlē: "takings, profits, taxes"
• ܫܩܠܘܬܐ – šaqlûṯā: "a beast of burden"
• ܫܘܩܠܐ – šûqālâ: "arrogance"

Nouns[link]

Most Syriac nouns are built from triliteral roots. Nouns carry grammatical gender (masculine or feminine), they can be either singular or plural in number (a very few can be dual) and can exist in one of three grammatical states. These states correspond, in part, to the role of grammatical cases in some other languages.

• The absolute state is the basic form of the noun – ܫܩܠܝ̈ܢ, šeqlîn, "taxes".
• The emphatic state usually represents a definite noun – ܫܩ̈ܠܐ, šeqlē, "the taxes".
• The construct state marks a noun in relationship to another noun – ̈ܫܩܠܝ, šeqlay, "taxes of...".

However, very quickly in the development of Classical Syriac, the emphatic state became the ordinary form of the noun, and the absolute and construct states were relegated to certain stock phrases (for example, ܒܪ ܐܢܫܐ/ܒܪܢܫܐ, bar nāšâ, "man", literally "son of man").

In Old and early Classical Syriac, most genitive noun relationships are built using the construct state. Thus, ܫܩܠܝ̈ ܡܠܟܘܬܐ, šeqlay malkûṯâ, means "the taxes of the kingdom". Quickly, the construct relationship was abandoned and replaced by the use of the relative particle ܕ, d-. Thus, the same noun phrase becomes ܫܩ̈ܠܐ ܕܡܠܟܘܬܐ, šeqlē d-malkûṯâ, where both nouns are in the emphatic state. Very closely related nouns can be drawn into a closer grammatical relationship by the addition of a pronominal suffix. Thus, the phrase can be written as ܫܩܠܝ̈ܗ ܕܡܠܟܘܬܐ, šeqlêh d-malkûṯâ. In this case, both nouns continue to be in the emphatic state, but the first has the suffix that makes it literally read "her taxes" ("kingdom" is feminine), and thus is "her taxes, those of the kingdom".

Adjectives always agree in gender and number with the nouns they modify. Adjectives are in the absolute state if they are predicative, but agree with the state of their noun if attributive. Thus, ܒܝܫܝ̈ܢ ܫܩ̈ܠܐ, bîšîn šeqlē, means "the taxes are evil", whereas ܫܩ̈ܠܐ ܒܝ̈ܫܐ, šeqlē ḇîšē, means "evil taxes".

Verbs[link]

Most Syriac verbs are built on triliteral roots as well. Finite verbs carry person, gender (except in the first person) and number, as well as tense and conjugation. The non-finite verb forms are the infinitive and the active and passive participles.

Syriac has only two true morphological tenses: perfect and imperfect. Whereas these tenses were originally aspectual in Aramaic, they have become a truly temporal past and future tenses respectively. The present tense is usually marked with the participle followed by the subject pronoun. However, such pronouns are usually omitted in the case of the third person. This use of the participle to mark the present tense is the most common of a number of compound tenses that can be used to express varying senses of tense and aspect.

Syriac also employs verb conjugations such as are present in other Semitic languages. These are regular modifications of the verb's root to express other changes in meaning. The first conjugation is the ground state, or Pə`al (this name models the shape of the root). form of the verb, which carries the usual meaning of the word. The next is the intensive state, or Pa``el, form of the verb, which usually carries an intensified meaning, The third is the extensive state, or Ap̄`el, form of the verb, which is often causative in meaning. Each of these conjugations has its parallel passive conjugation: the Eṯpə`el, Eṯpa``al and Ettap̄`al respectively. To these six cardinal conjugations are added a few irregular forms, like the Šap̄`el and Eštap̄`al, which generally have an extensive meaning.

Phonology[link]

Phonologically, like the other Northwest Semitic languages, Syriac has 22 consonants and 3 vowels. The consonantal phonemes are:

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Phonetically, there is some variation in the pronunciation of Syriac in its various forms. The various Modern Eastern Aramaic vernaculars have quite different pronunciations, and these sometimes influence how the classical language is pronounced, for example, in public prayer. Classical Syriac has two major streams of pronunciation: western and eastern.

Consonants[link]

Syriac shares with Aramaic a set of lightly contrasted plosive/fricative pairs. In different variations of a certain lexical root, a root consonant might exist in plosive form in one variation and fricative form in another. In the Syriac alphabet, a single letter is used for each pair. Sometimes a dot is placed above the letter (qûššāyâ, or strengthening; equivalent to a dagesh in Hebrew) to mark that the plosive pronunciation is required, and a dot is placed below the letter (rûkkāḵâ, or softening) to mark that the fricative pronunciation is required. The pairs are:

• Voiced labial pair – /b/ and /v/
• Voiced velar pair – /ɡ/ and /ɣ/
• Voiced dental pair – /d/ and /ð/
• Voiceless labial pair – /p/ and /f/
• Voiceless velar pair – /k/ and /x/
• Voiceless dental pair – /t/ and /θ/

As with other Semitic languages, Syriac has a set of five emphatic consonants. These are consonants that are articulated or released in the pharynx or slightly higher. The set consists of:

• Voiceless pharyngeal fricative – /ħ/
• Pharyngealized voiceless dental plosive – /tˤ/
• Voiced pharyngeal fricative – /ʕ/
• Pharyngealized voiceless alveolar fricative – /sˤ/
• Voiceless uvular plosive – /q/

Syriac also has a rich array of sibilant consonants:

• Voiced alveolar fricative – /z/
• Voiceless alveolar fricative – /s/
• Pharyngealized voiceless alveolar fricative – /sˤ/
• Voiceless postalveolar fricative – /ʃ/

Vowels[link]

As with most Semitic languages, the vowels of Syriac are mostly subordinated to consonants. Especially in the presence of an emphatic consonant, vowels tend to become mid-centralised.

Classical Syriac had the following set of distinguishable vowels:

• Close front unrounded vowel – /i/
• Close-mid front unrounded vowel – /e/
• Open-mid front unrounded vowel – /ɛ/
• Open front unrounded vowel – /a/
• Open back unrounded vowel – /ɑ/
• Close-mid back rounded vowel – /o/
• Close back rounded vowel – /u/

In the western dialect, /ɑ/ has become /o/, and the original /o/ has merged with /u/. In eastern dialects there is more fluidity in the pronunciation of front vowels, with some speakers distinguishing five qualities of such vowels, and others only distinguishing three. Vowel length is generally not important: close vowels tend to be longer than open vowels.

The open vowels form diphthongs with the approximants /j/ and /w/. In almost all dialects the full sets of possible diphthongs collapses into two or three actual pronunciations:

• /aj/ sometimes monophthongized to /e/
• /aw/ usually becomes /ɑw/
• /ɑj/ usually becomes /aj/, but the western dialect has /oj/
• /ɑw/ sometimes monophthongized to /o/

See also[link]

	Assyrians portal
	Syriac Christianity portal

• Syriac alphabet
• Syriac literature
• Peshitta
• Ephrem the Syrian
• Syriac music
• Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium
• Turoyo
• Syrian Arabic

References[link]

• Journal of Sacred Literature, New Series [Series 4] vol. 2 (1863) pp. 75–87, The Syriac Language and Literature
• Beyer, Klaus (1986). The Aramaic language: its distribution and subdivisions. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht. ISBN 3-525-53573-2.
• Brock, Sebastian (2006). An Introduction to Syriac Studies. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press. ISBN 1-59333-349-8.
• Brockelmann, Carl (1895). Lexicon Syriacum. Berlin: Reuther & Reichard; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark.
• Healey, John F (1980). First studies in Syriac. University of Birmingham/Sheffield Academic Press. ISBN 0-7044-0390-0.
• Maclean, Arthur John (2003). Grammar of the dialects of vernacular Syriac: as spoken by the Eastern Syrians of Kurdistan, north-west Persia, and the Plain of Mosul: with notices of the vernacular of the Jews of Azerbaijan and of Zakhu near Mosul. Gorgias Press. ISBN 1-59333-018-9.
• Nöldeke, Theodor and Julius Euting (1880) Kurzgefasste syrische Grammatik. Leipzig: T.O. Weigel. [translated to English as Compendious Syriac Grammar, by James A. Crichton. London: Williams & Norgate 1904. 2003 edition: ISBN 1-57506-050-7].
• Payne Smith, Jessie (Ed.) (1903). A compendious Syriac dictionary founded upon the Thesaurus Syriacus of Robert Payne Smith. Oxford University Press, reprinted in 1998 by Eisenbraums. ISBN 1-57506-032-9.
• Robinson, Theodore Henry (1915). Paradigms and exercises in Syriac grammar. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-926129-6.

Footnotes[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Syriac language

Syriac language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• Syriacdictionary.net, Syriac Dictionary in four languages
• Langues araméennes on wikisyr.com
• Beth Mardutho – The Syriac Institute
• New Aramaic Bibel in mp3 and Worshipsongs
• Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies
• Payne Smith's Compendious Syriac Dictionary
• Ethnologue report on Syriac
• Suryoyo Online – Online Journal of Syrian Orthodox Church, Syriac Studies and Aramaeans
• Introduction To The Syriac-Aramaic Language – an introduction and resources from a popular Maronite website
• Syriac–English–French Online Dictionary – poor general coverage
• Beth Sapra: A Scribe's Library: contains two old Syriac grammars in the public domain and the Gospels in Syriac
• Other Public Domain Syriac grammars at the Internet Archive

Sebastian Paul Brock (born 1938, London) is generally acknowledged as the foremost and most influential academic in the field of Syriac language today.^[1] He is a former Reader in Syriac Studies at the University of Oxford's Oriental Institute and currently a Professorial Fellow at Wolfson College. He is a Fellow of the British Academy.

Sebastian Brock completed his BA degree at the University of Cambridge, and a DPhil at Oxford. He is the recipient of a number of honorary doctorates and has been awarded the Medal of Saint Ephrem the Syrian by the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch and the Leverhulme prize and medal of the British Academy. He is a widely published author on Syriac topics. His best selling books are The Luminous Eye: The Spiritual World Vision of Saint Ephrem the Syrian (Kalamazoo: Cistercian. ISBN 0-87907-524-4) and The Syriac Fathers on Prayer and the Spiritual Life (Kalamazoo: Cistercian. ISBN 0-87907-601-1).

He is married to Helen Hughes-Brock, an archaeologist specialising in Minoan Crete and Mycenaean Greece.

Notes[link]

1. ^ AbouZayd, Shafiq (1993). "Sebastian Paul Brock: Life and Work". Aram Periodical (Leuven: Peeters) 5 (A Festschrift for Dr. Sebastian P. Brock) (1 & 2): 2. ISSN 0959-4213. "The Syriac heritage owes much to Sebastian Brock and, as in the old adage "all roads lead to Rome", all aspects of Syriac studies lead one way or another to Sebastian Brock.. His voluminous work on Syriac, and related fields, is unique in our modern times." 

External links[link]

• Sebastian Brock's faculty page at the Oriental Institute, Oxford.

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Abeer Nehme (in Arabic عبير نعمة) (born 19 May 1980) is a Maronite Lebanese singer and a musicologist.^[1] She performs traditional Tarab music, Lebanese traditional music, Rahbani music, and sacred music from the Syriac-Maronite, Syriac-Orthodox, and Byzantine traditions. In 2009 she joined Jean-Marie Riachi for the album Belaaks. The song "Belaaks" (On the Contrary) is a duet with Ramy Ayach and is an oriental jazz arrangement of "Quizás, quizás, quizás" in the Lebanese dialect.

Biography[link]

Abeer has been referred to as "The All Styles Specialist" because of her talent in performing dialogues between different styles of music with her amazing voice: Oriental modal traditional styles, Lebanese styles, Syriac-Aramaic religious ethnic style, Greek Byzantine religious style and Opera and modern western styles.

Abeer is a Qanun player (an oriental traditional instrument) and earned a bachelor degree with the highest ever earned grade in oriental singing from the USEK University (Université Saint-Esprit de Kaslik). She was a student of Ms. Aida Chalhoub, director of the oriental music program at USEK. Her renown exceeded quickly the Lebanese audience to reach the Arab then the Greek and the Syriac international audiences.

As a professional in ethnic old music, Abeer interpreted, amongst other interpretations, a complete album of traditional Orthodox Syriac chants (a dialect of Aramaic) with the Syrian National Philharmonic Orchestra under the patronage of the Syriac Patriarch of Antioch, his Holiness Moran Mor Ignatios Zakka Iwas II.

As an Oriental modern singer, this elegant performer played the leading role in various musical plays. Abeer participated as an honored guest amongst major superstars in international festivals throughout the world, and preformed as a soloist in several concerts accompanied by various International Philharmonic Orchestras among which the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Greece, Germany, Egypt, Tunisia etc. "Abirou Salati" (Aroma of my prayer) is a spiritual journey through different styles of music; from the old music traditions of the fathers of the church, traditions of prayer and profound spiritualism, to the modernism of the people of God in the twenty first century, a modernism of grandiosity and majesty.

Awards and titles[link]

• 2000 The award of the Lebanese Diva Wadih Safi, Lebanon
• 2007 Honor Award from the Apostiliki Diakonia, Greece
• 2010 the Murex D'Or distinction award.

Theatre[link]

In 2006, Nehme appeared with Fairuz in a play for the Rahbani Brothers at the Baalbeck International Festival. In 2007, Nehme interpreted the leading female role in Andalusia, Jewel of the world, a play by Elias Rahbani produced by the royal family in Qatar and Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al Missned.

She is now playing the leading role in Elias Rahban’s play Ila.

Movies[link]

Nehme recorded all the songs of the Al-Bosta movie sound track produced by Dark Side Company and directed by Philippe Araktanji.

Releases[link]

2010: "Only The Desert Knows"

2009: Aroma of My Prayer^[2]

Nehme released one CD titled Aroma of My Prayer that represents a panorama of the sacred music from the Syriac Orthodox to the Syriac-Maronite to the Byzantine to the Armenian traditions till the contemporary religious chants of major composers.

2009: Bel Aks

Nehme is the main singer on Jean Marie Riachi's album Bil Aks released in 2009. Her next release is a western music CD in English produced by Darren Michealson (21st Artist Century).

Performance[link]

Vatican

1998 and 2004: Paul VI hall, Basilica of St Peter (At the occasion of the beatification and canonization of Lebanese Maronite Monk Nehmetallah El Hardini). 2001: Multiple performances in concerts and ceremonies (At the occasion of the canonization of Lebanese Maronite nun Rafqa)

Germany

2002: Invited by the Embassy of Germany and the “Young Musicals”, Nehme participated during two weeks in the Master Classes and music workshop in Weikersheim. She was the only Lebanese performer in the event not only as a performer but also as a lecturer in Oriental music.

France

2002 and 2003: Concerts in Notre Dame de Paris, Avignon, Marseille, St Raphael, Nice 2007: In the context of the International Musical Festival and Conference at Royaumont- Paris, Nehme delivered a concert focusing on improvisation with the artist Zad Moultaka. Nehme was the main participant as well in a workshop addressing improvisation in tonal and atonal music. Nehme delivered a concert with musicians from the Orchestra of Strasbourg: She was the only representative of the Arab world with the participation of the most important composers and musicians from around the World, especially Europe and the USA Nehme taught a Master Class in Oriental Maqam and gave a concert representing the Lebanese traditional music and improvisation.

Great Britain

2003: A concert in London

Belgium

2004: A concert at Place Falgey international Festival- Brussels: Addressing Mouchahat 2004: A Concert at Evillerses : addressing Syriac and Lebanese music

Tunisia

2002: A concert with other major Tunisian soloists in the context of a joint musical project organized by USEK and the University of Tunisia. The concert was accompanied by the Tunisian National Philarmonic Orchestra.

2003: A concert organized by Masrah Al Madina addressing Lebanese and Arabic Music

2004: A Syriac music concert in the context of studies at the Congress of Tonal Music (with Ecume).

Egypt

2002 and 2004: 2 solo concerts at the opera of Cairo and Alexandria in the context of the congress of Arab Music.

Nigeria

2005: Two religious concerts in Lagos at the occasion of the presence of the relics of St Charbel.

Syria

2003: A solo concert accompanied by the Syrian Philharmonic National Orchestra at the occasion if the opening of the House of Opera. Abeer performed opera music as soprano. 2006: A solo concert accompanied by the Syrian Philharmonic National Orchestra at the Palace of Congress, to underline the Orthodox Syriac musical patrimony and reveal its treasures.The concert was first of its kind in the context of Traditional Music. A CD with the recording of the concert is to be released soon in Europe. 2007: A solo concert accompanied by the Syrian National Orchestra in the context of the 19th Bosra International Festival. An audience of 33,000 person attended the concert. 2008: A solo concert at the Palace of Congress with the Philharmonic National Orchestra, in the context of the festival of Damascus as a CAPITAL OF CULTURE of the Arab world 2007 and 2006: A solo concert at the Palace of Culture in Lattaquieh in the context of the “Agafi Festival”

Greece

2007: At the occasion of the anniversary of the “Apostoliki Diakonia”, Nehme was invited as a guest of honor to a major concert with the Philharmonic National Orchestra of Greece conducted by Kalkhanis Eleotherios at the “Megaro Mousiki” – the palace of music in Athens. Greek stars were participating in the concert as well: Marita Paparizo, Chronis Andronidis, and Yorgos Voukanos.

Australia

2008: A fundraising concert aiming to help the students of USEK. Other concerts in Sydney and Melbourne were delivered as well by Nehme addressing the religious chants of the Holy Week.

Iraq

2008: Due to the war in Iraq, the Iraqi youth were not allowed to travel and participate in worldwide day of the youth (JMJ (Journee mondiale de la jeunesse)). Hence, Nehme was the only singer who volunteered to go to Iraq. In order to give the Iraqi youth their chance to have their own worldwide day of the youth in Iraq. Accordingly, Nehme delivered many concerts in Arbil, Karkook, Ankawa, Shaqlawa, and Aradel.

Sweden

2008: Nehme delivered 2 concerts in Stockholm and Trolhaten addressing the Syriac and Lebanese musical heritage.

2010: Nehme delivered 2 concerts in Södertälje addressing the Syriac and Lebanese musical heritage.^{[3] [4]}

Switzerland

2008: Nehme delivered a fundraising concert in Geneva for the help of children who have cancer in the context of the international Sabrina action.

Other

Many other concerts were delivered by Nehme in Bahrain, Dubai and Kuwait either for cultural or fundraising purposes.

See also[link]

• Syriac people
• Syriac music

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Website
• Second Official Website

v t e Assyrian/Syriac musicians Folk music Gabriel Asaad Evin Agassi Sargon Gabriel Linda George Juliana Jendo Jean Karat Elias Karam Paulus Khofri Habib Mousa Ashur Bet Sargis Janan Sawa Nawfal Shamoun Shamiram Urshan Sacral music Fairuz Nouri Iskandar Hanna Petros Abeer Nehme Wadih El Safi Elias Zazi Western/Assyrian music Aril Brikha Josef Özer