By Karen Vance
Enquirer contributor

They sought to make music no one's ever heard, sing songs in a dead language and play instruments with 2,000-year-old roots.

What Christopher and Covita Moroney, both 47, of the San Antonio Vocal Arts Ensemble found was a deeper understanding of their faith as they created an album of music unlike any other, Ancient Echoes. It's a collection of pieces sung in Aramaic, the language of Jews during the time of Jesus and the Second Temple of Jerusalem.

"I feel much more closely connected to the Middle Eastern roots of my faith, and how closely connected the roots of Judaism, Christianity and Islam are," said Christopher Moroney, who with his wife Covita founded SAVAE.

On Sunday at 3 p.m., the seven-member group will perform pieces from the album at the Cathedral of St. Peter in Chains downtown. The concert is open to the public with donations at the door.

Two years in the making, Ancient Echoes has received critical praise from experts in the history of music.

Members of SAVAE studied Aramaic from a Christian and Hebrew from a rabbi. They learned Arabic from a Muslim - an Egyptian phonetics coach - to impose a dialect on that language that would closely match that of the ancient world. They researched ancient Jewish harmonies and learned to play Middle Eastern instruments.

"No one has really done this before. There was no road map to go by. We just put one foot in front of the other," Christopher Moroney said.

The group members, who formed SAVAE in 1989 to perform Renaissance madrigals, are not strangers to researching forgotten music. Their first three albums centered on church music written 400 years ago in colonial Latin America.

"It was easy, though, because it was all heart-driven. We were enthusiastic and excited about doing this," Covita said. "For us it's been a marriage of our spiritual life and our artistic expression.

"We feel that there's a growing longing to be with the original Jesus. We feel like we're part of a movement to bring Aramaic back into prayer life."

The Abwoon Study Circle, an organization spreading the language of Jesus named for the Aramaic name of the Lord's Prayer, accompanies the group on tour.

But they stress the concert, which will be repeated for the National Pastoral Musicians convention, has something for people of many faiths.

"I would hope that it would broaden and expand their sense of faith and their understanding of the history of Judaism and Christianity and see the close ties that exist between Judaism, Christianity and Islam," Christopher Moroney said.

Magic to spread gospel

Morrow United Methodist Church, 510 Welch Road, Morrow, hosts "Magic with a Mission" at a service at 1 p.m. today.

On July 20 at 10:30 a.m., Morrow and Zoar United Methodist churches will feature Soul'd Out at a joint service at Morrow.

"We want to share the love of God with the community where the Gospel will be present in creative ways," said Pastor Joni Manson.

To submit religion news, e-mail kvance@fuse.net or send a fax to 755-4150.