Badarak Recording Takes Service Outside the Church

The inspired music of Makar Yekmalian has long been a treasured element of Sunday worship services.  Now, thanks to a compact disc produced by the Eastern Diocese in 2002, that sublime music can be listened to anytime, anywhere.

As part of its "Year of the Holy Badarak" in 2002, the Diocese recorded the complete Yekmalian setting of the badarak, including both the priest and deacon parts, using a professional choir in Armenia.  Previous recordings did not include the complete score for all parts of the liturgy.

"This is a good way to learn the badarak," said Khoren Mekanejian, director of Music Ministry for the Diocese and conductor of The Divine Liturgy of the Armenian Church.  "If everyone listens to this CD in their home or in their car, they will correctly learn the deacon part, the priest part, the choir part -- each part."

Traveling to Armenia, Maestro Mekanejian directed 36 professional singers from Armenia's Komitas Chamber Choir to make the recording.  Renowned Armenian musicologist Sahan Arzruni acted as executive producer, coordinating this recording effort and editing the master copy.  The end product wasn't a concert so much as a recorded prayer.

"When they sang the badarak, I asked my singers to feel God with us, to sing with faith so it will be lovely to God," Maestro Mekanejian said.

With the CD in hand, that sense of prayer is available anywhere.  When Heather Tarpinian, an active member of the Church of the Holy Ascension in Trumbull, CT, went to the hospital in 2002 for surgery, she took the CD with her.

"I have been praying every day, as usual, but I have missed the spiritual nourishment of participating in badarak," she told her parish.  "The CD of the liturgy is heavenly.  I've listened to it countless times in lieu of being able to come to church.  I even played it for the hospital pastors who visited me, to their delight."

Musical Education

Sold through the St. Vartan Bookstore, the two-disc recording was accompanied by a 50-page, hardcover booklet detailing the history and importance of the badarak and its music.  It also included an English translation of the service.

The CD project was conceived not only as a way to get more people to listen to the music of the badarak, but also to inspire people to think about its meaning.

"It puts our badarak into the ears of people who might not otherwise feel obliged to come to a liturgy or read through the pew book," said Fr. Daniel Findikyan, dean of St. Nersess Armenian Seminary who wrote an introductory essay for the CD booklet.  "By making our badarak service more accessible, we help guide people into a Christian life."