The Music of Ancient Greece - ON A BANJO!?!

For DEFINATELY the first time in over 2000 years... a genuine fragment of ancient Greek music by Mesomedes of Crete - ON A BANJO?!? Actually, this video is not such a bizzare musical experiment as it sounds! One of the most common of all the lyres of ancient Greece, the "Lyra", was quite literally, a "banjo without a fingerboard"...

Like the banjo, the Lyra had a soundboard of taut skin, which was stretched over a resonator made out of a tortoise shell...which served exactly the same function as the resonator found on a contemporary Bluegrass-style 5 string banjo - to project and amplify the vibration of the strings. Also, as there were only between about 4 to 7 strings, open tunings were commonly used, for ease of playing arpeggios and basic harmony - for exactly the same reason that open chord and open modal tunings are used on the modern banjo!

Also, just as on a modern banjo, on the ancient Greek Lyra, the strings were stretched over a floating (ie non-fixed position) wooden bridge; the function of which served to transmit the vibrations of the strings to the skin soundboard & resonator - just like on a contemporary banjo!

Indeed, about the ONLY differences between the ancient Lyra and the contemporary banjo, is the lack of a fretted fingerboard, the fact that the strings were made from either gut or natural fibre instead of loop-end steel...and just MAYBE, that the ancient Greeks hadn't quite yet discovered how to make MOONSHINE!;o)

This ancient, haunting melody by Mesomedes, written almost 2000 years ago, is known as "Hymn to the Sun".

Mesomedes of Crete was a Greek lyric poet and composer of the early 2nd century AD. I found the following information at:

http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Bios/Mesomedes.html

"He was a freedman of the Emperor Hadrian, on whose favorite Antinous he is said to have written a panegyric, specifically called a Citharoedic Hymn (Suidas). Two epigrams by him in the Greek Anthology (Anthol. pal. xiv. 63, xvi. 323) are extant, and a hymn to Nemesis that begins "Nemesis, winged balancer of life, dark-faced goddess, daughter of Justice". The hymn is one of four which preserve the ancient musical notation written over the text. Two other hymns, one to the muse Calliope and [this one which I am playing], "Hymn to the Sun", formerly assigned to Dionysius of Alexandria, have also been attributed to Mesomedes. A total of 15 poems by Mesomedes are known...Prior to the discovery of the Seikilos epitaph in the late 19th century, the hymns of Mesomedes were the only surviving written music from the ancient world. Three were published by Vincenzo Galilei (the Father of the Astronomer Galileo Galilei) in his Dialogo della musica antica e della moderna (Florence, 1581), during a period of intense investigation into music of the ancient Greeks. These hymns had been preserved through the Byzantine tradition, and were presented to Vincenzo by Girolamo Mei".

This piece is written in the ancient Greek "Dorian" mode; the equivalent intervals as heard in a scale of E-E on the white note of the piano - not to be confused with the MEDIEVAL "Dorian" mode, which was D-D!

Due to a misinterpretation of the Latin texts of Boethius, mediaeval modes were given the wrong Greek names! For the CORRECT names of the ORIGINAL ancient Greek modes, see:

http://www.harmonics.com/lucy/lsd/corrections.html

For what Plato & Aristotle themselves had this to say about these ancient musical modes, please see this fascinating link:

http://www.pathguy.com/modes.htm

YEEEE HA! Almighty Zeus...now passeth me some of Thine Own Divine MOONSHINE !!! ;o)

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[brummeister1]

Gm tuning 4 banjo?

[Klezfiddle1]

@brummeister1 The banjo is tuned to lonesome "Mountain Minor" tuning: GDGCD - exactly the same tuning used for such oldtimey Mountain music classics as "Old Cluck Hen" & "Shady Grove"...YEEEEEE HA!

[Nupharluteum]

Very good. As I said before, I like your banjo.

[Klezfiddle1]

@Nupharluteum Glad you like some of my more "wacky" stuff...roll over,Bela Fleck! For "proper" Appalachian oldtime classics, such as "Shady Grove", "Wildwood Flower", as well as my arrangements of oldtime fiddle tunes for clawhammer banjo, such as "Soldier's Joy" & "Liberty", pleeeeease check out my new album on iTunes, "The Appalachian Banjo"...many thanks for watching :o)

[tuxedomoon]

Are these gut strings?

[Klezfiddle1]

No, these are just regular plain ball-end steel banjo strings....I jus wish I tortoise shell as a resonator for my banjo, for the cructial "Ancient Greek Lyra Vibe" I was trying to create here! ;o)

[wackid89]

So modern Phrygian

[MATSAROK]

hahahahahahahahahahahahaha

[YiannisThiakos]

giutar tabs or notes avaiable?

[5alrico]

my goodness you play very lovely music! banjo is a west african instrument though.

[JacGout]

use fingerpicks man, not a plectrum on a 5 string, blehh

[brummeister1]

@Klezfiddle1 ahhh...Sawmill Tuning :)

[brummeister1]

@Klezfiddle1 so if I were to play a scale using half steps between 1-2 and 5-6 ex key of G on Najo tuned gDGBflatD?? would I be close to this Mode. That would make my Cmaj...in this style a C, Eb, G or the Fmaj F, Ab, C....well, been playin around with my banjo tuned this way anyways, and it sounds good, almost scary at times...hypnotic..thanks for the vid! always looking for new ways to play :)