THE MUSIC OF ANCIENT GREECE: "SONG OF SEIKILOS" c.100BC

This video features my arrangement for solo lyre, "The Song of Seikilos", unique in musical history, as it is the only piece of music from antiquity in the entire Western world, that has SO far been found, which has survived in its COMPLETE form, and unlike much earlier surviving fragments of melodies that have been found, this song is written in a totally unambiguous ALPHABETICAL musical notation, which can be played, note for note, as it was written...2000 YEARS AGO:

http://www.amaranthpublishing.com/SongOfSeikilos.htm

This melody is an amazing musical legacy from ancient Greece; a precious remnant of a long-forgotten musical culture now forever lost in the mists of time...

About 2000 years after it was written, this melody was rediscovered in 1883, in its complete & original form. It was found inscribed in marble on an ancient Greek burial stele, bearing the following epitaph: "I am a portrait in stone. I was put here by Seikilos, where I remain forever, the symbol of timeless remembrance".

The timeless words of the song are:

"Hoson zes, phainou
Meden holos su lupou;
Pros oligon esti to zen
To telos ho chronos apaitei"

Translation - "While you live, shine
Don't suffer anything at all;
Life exists only a short while
And time demands its toll"

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:

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Tags:

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[legallyawesome1]

Where on Earth other than Greece do you find someone who teaches the lyre? I can't even find someone who teaches how to play the banjo near where I live.

[Klezfiddle1]

@legallyawesome1 Check out my series of "online lyre lessons"! There is a link these in the blogs section of my "ancientlyre" website (URL given on my Youtube Channel Page)

[legallyawesome1]

@Klezfiddle1 One more question. Where can you buy a lyre for cheap? I am 15 so I don't have a job that pays a lot. So around the 100-300 dollar range if possible

[Klezfiddle1]

@legallyawesome1 For full details on thbis, check out the blog I have written in the "Blogs" section of my ancientlyre website, entitled "How To Acquire a Lyre"! For cheap & cheerful, the "Kinnor Harp" by Mid East Ethnic Instruments is ideal...they also do a mini version of the Kinnor. which is only about $60!! Although the Mid East Kinnors are not brilliant as a pure acoustic instrument, when properly recorded & mixed, they can sound magnificent!

[wannabeKeithMoon]

where do u find this music?

[Klezfiddle1]

@wannabeKeithMoon The modern notation for "Epitaph of Seikilos" can be found on Wikipedia! The anccint Greeks notated music by simply puting alphabetical notation representing the pitches, above the text of their songs - rhythm can easily be inferred from the syllables of the song text. For a complete set of all the surviving music of ancient Greece so far discovered, there is a book by Martin L West which I'm pretty sure is on Amazon...

[legallyawesome1]

@Klezfiddle1 Thanks. Oh and thank you for putting this music up on YouTube. It is really cool to be able to listen to the music that Herodotus, Homer, and King David listened to. It really makes reading the Illiad a lot more interesting. :)

[ShaNagmaImmuru]

you are very skilled! this is one of the best played versions i have heard! well done my friend!

[chasen47]

You seem to know a lot about ancient music. I am doing a dramatic presentation of a fragment of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice for drama school, and in it Orpheus sings to Hades and Persephone. Do we have any idea of what ancient Greek singing would have sounded like, especially singing in verse? I would like to know, as I would like to actually sing his words to Hades.

[SHOEGAZEFAN73]

Truly beautiful!