Conculture Notes #1 - High Chant: view article

Chant music is a popular genre among angels. Lamallu is already a music-based language, so adding spoken melody can be difficult. Instead, emphasis is more commonly placed on the natural sound of the language and its emotion chords. High Chant is a specific genre of angelic music which stretches and shapes and changes the chords of a traditionally short sentence or phrase until the emotion of the words tells an entire story beyond the words themselves. Long epics are typically sung in this fashion as well.

One of the most famous High Chant songs is the "Lament of the Fallen", composed by the parental figures of the first fallen angels who followed Lucifer out of Īlímel. The lyrics are incredibly simple:

Īlímej tā ijāktavish.
/ɪlɪmej ta ɪjaktaf̠ɪʂ/
heaven.DATDative (case)
indirect object; recipient, beneficiary, location. PDISDistant past (tense)
events which occurred a long time ago-rain-5Fifth person (person)
indefinite or generic; one, "they" say that.VERVeridical (mood)
truthful, certain.
"Long ago in Heaven, it rained."

When expanded, the chanter can add as many chords as they like, in any way they like, ignoring the usual chord pronunciation rules. They may sing to their own emotion or simply narrate an emotional story. In the chant, chord pitch expresses a changing quality to the emotion that it does not usually contain. High pitch conveys moments of intense, pure passion. Mid pitch conveys emotional beginnings and locations. Low pitch conveys transition from one emotion to the next, as well as questions. The emotions of the chant are understood as a story in the context of the lyrics, and translating them to words can be a challenge and essentially a form of original artwork in its own right.

One popular version reads as this:

Īīīììī́lī́ī́íímḗēèḗéj
tāāāāā̀ááá
īīīī̀īìjáááàā́áktāààā́ā́vī́ī́ī́sh

Chord Progression

C˚ - B˔ - A˚ - Bˆ - Cˆ - Gˆ + D˜
E˔ + A˜ - F˜ + D˜ - D♯˜ - D♯˜
A˔ + Gˆ - A˚ - B˚ - A˔ + Gˆ - Gˆ
A♯˜ - F♯ˆ - D˜ - A♯˔
A˔ + D♯˜ - A˜ - Cˆ (B#) - A♯˔
A˔ - Fˆ - C˜ - A˜ + G˔ - A˔ - Fˆ + G˜
C˜ (B#) - B˜ - C˜ (B#) - Dˆ - G˚ + B˔ - B˚
A♯˔ - Dˆ - Eˆ - E˔ + A˜ - A˚ - A♯˔
G˚ + A˔ - G˚ + A˔ - G˚ + A˔

peace-compassion-faith-unease-warning-horror+suprise
-order+loss-chaos+confusion-intenseconfusion-intenseconfusion-
sadness+horror-faith-love-sadness+horror-horror-
intenseloss-intenseanger-confusion-intensesadness-
sadness+intenseconfusion-loss-intenseunease-intensesadness-
sadness-anger-unclarity-loss+uncertainty-sadness-anger+disgust-
intensefear-fear-intensefear-expectation-hope+compassion-love-
intensesadness-expectation-certainty-order+loss-faith+intensesadness
-hope+sadness-hope+sadness-hope+sadness

Translation

"In our place of peace, in the midst of our compassion and faith, we felt a betrayal. We felt the order crumble, fading into disharmony. How great was our confusion? So great it was that our pain lifted above our city, into Grandfather's heart and all their love became pain and horror. In the streets was devastation, the hostile mark of the lost one's anger and rage. In the streets was our anguish and our shame, for we had failed our holiest duty. How great was our misery? So great it was that our tears burned like fire. The lost one was beyond our reach, abandoned and abandoning, and we could feel their sorrow and their hatred like twin suns of terror. How great was our fear? So great it reached out beyond the farthest cliffs and followed the lost one, stretching desperate fingers to catch their wings. In the streets the very world was grieving, for the first time and the longest since. Our order was broken, our faith driven into agony. Sing for the lost ones, sing for the world, sing for our home now shattered." ✎ Edit Article ✖ Delete Article

Comments