Coptic Music

Coptic music is the liturgical chant of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church, an almost entirely vocal repertory of hymns, the alhan, transmitted orally since late antiquity and sung in Coptic, Greek and Arabic. Cantor and deacons, answered by the congregation, deliver long melismatic chants whose ornaments can stretch a single syllable for a minute or more, accompanied only by hand cymbals and the metal triangle that articulate the beat. Preserved by generations of blind cantors, the mu'allimin, who memorised the whole cycle, it is among the oldest continuously sung Christian repertories and a claimed living link to pharaonic temple song.