MORE ON THE SAN ANTONIO VOCAL ARTS ENSEMBLE (SAVAE) and their ancient Aramaic CD.

This Catholic Telegraph article begins:

CATHEDRAL DEANERY � A musical project has become an avenue of expanded spirituality for the San Antonio Vocal Arts Ensemble (SAVAE), which recently performed at the Cathedral of St. Peter in Chains. Their latest CD, "Ancient Echoes," is a collection of music from Jerusalem�s Second Temple era (after about 540 B .C.) and the time of Christ. Saying prayers in the language Jesus spoke, said artistic director Christopher Moroney, "is a way to understand Jesus in a more authentic way."

They also had to learn about the anthropology, sociology, religion and language of the time, he said. Although he and his wife, Covita, SAVAE�s general manager, had talked about the project for 20 years, they couldn�t proceed because they couldn�t find anyone to teach them Aramaic.

Twenty years? I can't imagine that they tried that hard. There are plenty of hungry Aramaists out there, I regret to say.

Anyhow, toward the end, there is this odd paragraph:

In some instances, the English translation can be almost opposite the original. The couple offered as an example the word "Abwoon," from the Lord�s Prayer, which emphasizes the relationship between the Creator and the created rather than the masculine connotations of the word "Father."

The word "Abwoon" sounds to me like some dialectal variant of Aramaic for "our father." Unless I'm missing some deep philological subtlety, the rest is New Age, P.C. claptrap.

Ah well, at least their music is kind of interesting.