Kerala:
In Kerala's Kottayam district, the bastion of orthodox Syrian Christianity, the Zumoro choir works hard to keep the sacred language of their faith alive through liturgical music. The music of the Zumoro choir is part of the orthodox theological seminary founded in 1815 by the Malankara Orthodox Church.
Zumoro means song in the Syriac language and members of this choir sing in Aramaic. Aramaic, is said to be the language of Christ and Syriac its later development, an ancient language and holy for Christians across the world.
Father MP George who directs the Zumoro Choir said, "In our church, we usually use Malayalam, Syriac and sometimes English. Officially we use Syriac language as it is considered as the later development of the mother tongue of Jesus that was Aramaic. After 1950s, our Father translated these old prayers and hymns from Syriac to Malayalam..A lot of manuscripts are to be translated, so we are teaching this language to the younger generation and also to some Syriac study centers."
Zumoro choir which will celebrate its 200th anniversary this year is one of the few places in the world where this rare tradition of music is being kept alive.