Mor-Folk ensemble cancels Iyık Janyl teahouse concert

IYIK JANYL — A Mor-Folk ensemble from Talas has cancelled a concert planned for Saturday at a teahouse in Iyık Janyl after local clergy objected to its use of church chant, the ensemble said yesterday. It is the second music event in the holy city to be called off this month, after a Mor-Wave concert was cancelled following protests by parishioners.

The ensemble, Eski Ün ("Old Voice"), plays komuz, choor and frame drums over analog synthesizers and sets Iradi verses to melodies drawn from the liturgical chant of the Syro-Iradi Catholic Church. Its concert in a teahouse on Khunuk Creek had been advertised with a poster showing a bull-headed figure beneath a starry sky. Two parish priests wrote to the teahouse owner that chant "belongs to the liturgy, not beside the image of Morkhan", whom church tradition identifies with Satan.

Not all clergy share that view. A priest in Talas who has heard the ensemble said he welcomed young people singing the old melodies. "Better they learn the chant from a komuz than not at all," he said.

The ensemble said it would not perform where it was not welcome and would refund tickets. "We sing about loneliness and the road home," one of its members said. "The melodies are older than any of us. We thought Iyık Janyl of all places would recognize them."