SAVAE - Song of Seikilos (1st century Greek song)

Hoson zes phai-nou,
(As long as you live, shine!)

Meden holo-os sy lypou-ou.
(Let nothing grieve you beyond measure.)

Pros oligon e-esti to ze-en, to telos ho chronos apaitei-ei.
(For your life is short, and time will claim its tribute.)

In Greek:
Ὅσον ζῇς, φαίνου

Μηδὲν ὅλως σὺ λυποῦ

Πρὸς ὀλίγον ἐστὶ τὸ ζῆν

Τὸ τέλος ὁ χρόνος ἀπαιτεῖ


This is the interpretation performed by the religious musical group SAVAE. Enjoy.

Copyright is theirs.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• folk
• religious
• greek
• Ancient
• Echoes
• god
• goddess
• world
• music
• SAVAE

[Stratopeter87]

Most beautiful song I heard in a long time! It's so full of joy and love and it feels like the ghosts of a long forgotten past have awoken once again. Thank you for sharing that experience through a wonderful playing and a lovely female voice!

[P2K725]

@Stratopeter87 The pleasure is all mine, friend! I feel the same way.

[Thekateful7]

That's strange to see how many people are living in the pass.

[P2K725]

@Thekateful7 In order to cherish where you're going you must acknowledge how and where it had begun. ^_^

[kaimialana]

Funny how the first recorded song said everything there is to say.

[yudego22]

in my humble opinion this will be like this for the englis speakers

Hoson dzes phai-nou,

Meden holo-os sy lypou-ou.

Pros oligon e-esti to dze-en, to telos ho hronos apaitei-ei.

but i dont know how dou you say the ou , the "t" must be no so much dental, just like spanish speakers

anyway , ist a wontherfull song !!! thank you very much

sorry for my english

[MushroomedAnymore]

@P2K725 Well, I suspect that spiritually the next incarnation in progress of soul toward enlightenment may be so-called backwards-in-time (eg from 2012 to birth in Rome 212 BCE). Skeptically who knows really. It stikes me looking at the Fayum Mummy Faces and other remnants of Antiquity that Matters of Self & Soul have ultimately little to do with Time! Thanks for the wonderful video! Oh, have you heard Ensemble De Organographia's reconstructions of Ancient Music? They are haunting! :-)

[MushroomedAnymore]

@Stratopeter87 I think you about summed it up for me too! Nice to see a like mind! ;-)

[armcelt]

@mudkipero Yep, the notes with flats you've mentioned (like in Wikipedia article about Seikilos epitaph) which tonally resemles E Dorian are in A Mixolydian in truth )). This tune always comes in Mixolydian mode (modern). The only subject of change is its key ).

[mudkipero]

@armcelt It seems i didn't express myself in the proper manner, what i meant was this piece of music its in the key of D, which has the two sharps i mentioned, but its in e because the the highest and lowest notes are an E, okay here's the part that i didn't explain, i was talking about the old tonos phrygian mode, which is the equivalent to the modern dorian mode. So in a nutshell what im trying to say is that the piece is in the key of D, and it was written in E dorian.

[armcelt]

@mudkipero You've mixed up everything )))))).

First, neither G Mixolydian nor E Phrygian contain any sharp or flat.

Second, where did you find C sharp and F sharp here??? They're absolutely absent in this melody.

And then, try to play the tune on piano and you'll be able to manage it perfectly only on the white keys with G starting and finalising the tune )).

[mudkipero]

@armcelt nope again, you're wrong. G Mixolydian doesn't have c sharp, a note which is present in the song, it's the Phrygian scale of E, that scale has A as tenor, a note which is repeated a lot of times in the song, the second being E, which is also an important note in this particular mode, and has c and f sharp, both notes used at least once in the song.

[armcelt]

@mudkipero Nope. You're quite mistaken. It's G Mixolydian.

[mudkipero]

@armcelt It's Phrygian, actually.