The Music of Ancient Greece!

This my arrangement for solo lyre, of a fragment of music from the mostly lost, magnificant culture of ancient Greece! This rare fragment of surviving ancient Greek music, is catalogued as "Poem. Mor 1, 11f, Migne 37, 523" (notes taken from the absolutely amazing CD album of the 1979 recording by Atrium Musicae De Madrid; "Musique de la Grece Antique", where I first heard this haunting, truly ancient fragment of melody).

As this particular fragment of ancient Greek music is so pityfully short, I have added a BIT of measured improvisation at the start and in the middle, before ending the arrangement "Ritornello Style", with a repeat of the theme of this haunting, ancient musical fragment...to create a musically more interesting performance - I have used most of the ancient lyre-playing techniques I could possibly think of, including glissando, tremelo, finger-stopping the strings to strum the improvisory passages at the start and the middle of this musical fragment, and at the end, playing the theme in unison, simultaneously with both plectrum and finger plucking, as well as alternating between using a plectrum in the right hand, and finger plucking of the strings in the left...a technique which can quite easily be infered from the many suviving ancient illustrations of Lyre Players.

The "Lyra" was favoured more for domestic use, rather than the larger, more versatile wooden Kithara of the professional ancient Greek musician.

All of my 9 albums of mystical, ancient lyre music are now available from iTunes...

1)"An Ancient Lyre": http://bit.ly/dhCozi

2)"King David's Lyre; Echoes of Ancient Israel":
http://bit.ly/9PCIua




3)"The Ancient Biblical Lyre": http://bit.ly/9hTDje

4)"Lyre of the Levites": http://bit.ly/9baWuM

5)"Apollo's Lyre": http://bit.ly/dhCozi

6)"Ancient Times -- Music of The Ancient World": http://bit.ly/aRF5PD

7)"The Ancient Greek Modes": http://bit.ly/cZks0o

8)"The Ancient Greek Lyre": http://bit.ly/bxO7Ra

9)"Ancient Visions -- New Compositions for an Ancient Lyre": http://bit.ly/dCPmRN

Physical CDs are also available anywhere in the world from CD Baby, for 3 of my best selling albums:

"An Ancient Lyre": http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/mlevy4

"King David's Lyre; Echoes of Ancient Israel":
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/mlevy

"Lyre of the Levites": http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/mlevy2

For full details about my albums of lyre music, and the fascinating ancient historical background, please visit my official website:

http://www.ancientlyre.com

Category:

Music

Tags:

• ΑΡΧΑΙΑ
• ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ
• ΜΟΥΣΙΚΗ
• Ancient
• Greece
• Bouzouki
• Sparta
• Dephi
• Athens
• Parthenon
• Pyramids
• Roman
• Acropolis
• Troy
• Lyre
• Lyra
• Kithara
• Harp
• Classics
• Homer
• Iliad
• Ἰλιάς
• Οδύσσεια

[mariababyface]

Isn't Kithara the Italian word for Guitar? Lovely music. No wonder the Greeks were known for their talent and knowledge.

[Klezfiddle1]

I think it is, and also I think it is also the modern day Greek word for guitar as well - the Kithara (the large wooden lyre played in ancient Greece) was quite literally the guitar of the ancient world. Like the guitar, it was portable to accompany the singer/songwriter, and the tone was almost the same as a guitar, since the strings were plucked with a plectrum, and passed over a slanted bridge. The only difference, was there was no fingerboard, and the strings were made of gut/natural fibes.

[satyros1988]

you should remake this video on high quolity cause this is great melody and its sounds a bit badd because of the pure quolity of sound

[Klezfiddle1]

I wish I had the funds to buy some decent equipment! However, to hear professional studio quality recordings of my lyre music, both my albums of mysticla lyre music,"King David's Lyre; Echoes of Ancient Israel" & my new album, "Lyre of the Levites" are available from cdbaby. Individual tracks from my 1st album are also available to download from Aplle iTunes & Amazon MP3 Store

[kinzukiwi]

Great, rhythmic tune. But the sound is too high, which ruins the quality slightly. Did you record this in Stereo?

[Klezfiddle1]

Sorry about the dodgy sound quality - unfortunately, the only "recording equipment" I can afford, is my webcam and crappy PC mic! :o(

[Phaedrusgr]

@mariababyface Actually, kithara (κιθάρα written in greek) is a greek word describing an instrument with strings. The word kitharodos (κιθαρωδός) is a common word in many texts describing a singer with a "guitar". This word passed in latin as cithara. Enough said about the linguistic matters. I loved your work! I got really lucky finding your channel! Greetings from Greece.

[insanelook]

Interesting I gotta say !

[ExplicLyrics15]

Epic i love everything Greek i have Greek Blood Woot!

[nickyjames1000]

This music is excellent! How long have you been playing? I'm really interested in Greek music and culture. Actually for my university course I'm making a small performance of the Symposium by Plato and I've been looking for some suitable music for a while now. This would be perfect. I don't suppose I would be able to use a sample? I would make sure you were given full credit and that you got to see the performance. I totally understand if not though. Well done anyway!

[nickyjames1000]

Hi, I this music is amazing! I'm really interested in greek music and and doing a performance soon for my course at university based around 'The Symposium' by Plato. I've been searching for some appropriate music for a while now, and yours would be perfect. Might it be possible for me to sample some of your music? I totally understand if not. Just wondering... Well done with it anyway!

[ArielMig]

@Klezfiddle1

I will order your CD soon. It would be cool if you could include the notes on all the songs you play in a CD...charge a bit more but it would be worth buying it. I'm an novice lyre player.

[gossamerhall]

Thank You, very beautiful!