Is this what Babylonians listened to?

[FourScore]

Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 06:00 PM PST
Is this what Babylonians listened to?
by Joan McCarterFollow for Daily Kos

VIDEO: (Can't embed, sorry.) http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/12/25/1353452/-Is-this-what-Babylonians-listened-to#comments

That's the result of a project by singer and composer Stef Conner on her album, The Flood. Translating the ancient cuneiform poems and writings of Babylon fascinated her, but she wanted more, to know what it sounded like.

So she teamed up with Andy Lowings, who reconstructs ancient instruments and plays a mean lyre, a musical instrument with strings that resembles a harp. The two set out to create music that brings ancient Babylonian poetry to life, and The Flood is the result. [...]

But how does one reincarnate music that no human voice has uttered for millennia? Conner says a key step was to really understand the language. She carefully studied historical analysis of the stresses and intonations of Babylonian and Sumerian for hints as to how it may have sounded, and researched how language is converted into music in similar Semitic languages. Then, after choosing and memorizing a piece of writing or poem, Conner collaborated with Lowings to create the melody.

This may or may not be what the Babylonians sang or heard, but it's still beautiful and still a fascinating project.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/12/25/1353452/-Is-this-what-Babylonians-listened-to#comments

[SheilaT]

1. How absolutely fascinating.

Thank you for posting.

[Initech]

2. Beats By Neb?

[Posteritatis]

3. Ancient music reconstruction's one of the neater esoteric disciplines out there. (nt)