THE SOUND OF THE ANCIENT JEWISH TEMPLE LYRE!
MY CD OF MYSTICAL, ANCIENT LYRE MUSIC IS OUT NOW!!! Please visit my Youtube Profile Page for details on how to order a copy...
This is another track from my CD "KING DAVID'S LYRE; ECHOES OF ANCIENT ISRAEL". For all updates on the progress of my first CD album, please visit my Myspace website :
http://www.myspace.com/jubalsl...
This is a re-mix of an earlier arrangement I tried of this piece of the lyre.
In this, my latest little "Musical Adventure in Time Travel", I have tried experimenting much more with the ancient "block & strum" lyre-playing technique...the result is some sort of TOTALLY funky, "Flamenco/Klezmer" FUSION!!;o)
Incredibly, ths very same truly ancient lyre-playing technique can be still be heard TODAY - in the amazing Krar Lyre players of Eritrea, East Africa:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
There is a fascinating Ethiopian tradition, that the lyre was actually introduced to Africa from ancient Israel! According to Ethiopian tradition, Menelik I brought the instrument to Ethiopia from Israel. He is traditionally believed to be the son of King Solomon of ancient Israel and Makeda; the Queen of Sheba. Menelik I (originally named Ebna la-Hakim, "Son of the Wise"), was the first Jewish Emperor of Ethiopia and founder of the Solomonic Dynasty.
With every one of these little musical experiments here on Youtube, I am discovering, more and more, that the lyre is just SO much more versatile than the boring modern harp...I wonder WHY, therefore, the lyres of antiquity were "replaced" by the harp?? Are there any really cool "ancient music boffins" out there know the answer???
The melody I am playing & improvising around, is called "Odessa Bulgar"; a traditional Jewish Klezmer CLASSIC, played here on the ancient Kinnor Lyre..the lyre once played by King David himself, 3000 years ago, as he danced before the very Ark of the Covenant!
The replica Kinnor Lyre I am playing, is based on an illustration of the Kinnor on the back of an ancient Jewish coin - photographs of which can be seen all over my incredibly fabulous Youtube Channel page...
The scale used in this melody features the augmented 4th...an ancient Jewish mode which can be heard in parts of some of the original 3000 year old melodies of the Psalms, as deciphrered by Suzanne Haik-Vantoura.
Today, this scale is known by Klezmer musicians as the "Misheberakh" mode:
E,F#,G,A#,B,C,D,E
This scale is strikingly similar to one of the 3000 year old Biblical scales deciphered by Suzanne Haik-Vantoura. Here is the ORGINAL music of Psalm 148 which she deciphered :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
The only difference between the ancient Biblical scale and the "Misheberakh" mode, is that in the original Biblical scale, there is a D# instead of a D natural:
E,F#,G,A#,B,D#,E
I find it absolutely fascinating, that 3000 year later, the aural memory of these truly ancient Biblical musical modes is STILL preserved in almost all traditional Jewish music as we know it today!
Even MORE amazing, I have just discovered that exactly the same musical scale which forms the intervals of the "Misheberakh" mode heard today in traditional Jewish Klezmer music, was also used in some of the precious, surviving fragments of music we have of Ancient Greece!! Here is an example I found on Youtube, of an orchestral arrangment of an original fragment of ancient Greek music, which uses EXACTLY the same scale:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
There was no doubt some fascinating cross-cultural exchange of musical ideas going on over 2000 years ago, just as there continues to be today!
Sit back, relax, & enjoy travelling back in time with me, 3000 years ago, to the Court of King David, when the sound of these ancient lyres were heard gently wafting on the breeze, through the groves of olive trees...
Channel: Music
Uploaded: November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am
Author: Klezfiddle1
Length: 03:06
Rating: 5.00
Views: 1037
Tags: Ancient Ark Begena Covenant Egypt Eritrea Ethiopia Greek Harp Haza Hebrew Israel Itzak Jerusalem Jewish Klezmatics Klezmer Kotel Krar Ladino Lyre Matisyahu of Ofra Parthenon Perlman Pyramids Sefardic Sephardic Temple the Yiddish
Video Comments
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eritreantigaraly (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
It is like a instrument of semetic people!
Klezfiddle1 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
The CD & instant digital download of "King David's Lyre; Echoes of Ancient Israel" is out now! It is $13.99 on cdbaby - check out my Youtube Channel page for the direct URL link to the cdbaby website :o)
Klezfiddle1 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
It was absolutely fascinating to see just how similar the Krar is to this reconstruction of the ancient Hebrew Kinnor - even the names of these lyres are similar! I'm certain there must have beem some amazing musical cross-cultural influences going on, way back in ancient times, just as there is today...
Klezfiddle1 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
Both the CD & instant digital download of my album is out now on cdaby for just $13.99! I'm also offering a 40% discount for anyone who buys more than one copy of the CD...so that everyone can buy loads of copies for all their friends! Check out my Youtube Channel Page for the direct link to the cdbaby website :o)
eritreantigaraly (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
hey thanks for the warm welcoming of Eritreans..
look at my Eritrean war of independence video, you will hear a different instrument the krar that sounds and looks more similar to that of yours
BombayRepertoire (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
this would be awesome with that Moskowitz guy on cymbalum or whatever it is.... Abe Schwartz version of this Odessa Bulgar is sure haunting.... "King Davids' Lyre" is on my shopping list!!
Klezfiddle1 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
I think you are quite right - consider the ancient Greek "Kithara"...it is virtually identical to the ancient Jewish Kinnor - even the names are similar! Also, consider the "Krar" lyre of East Africa, still played today - the similarity in the sound of these names, to me, certainly at the very least, IMPLIES an ancient link to the Semitic Kinnor, which probably predates these ancient Greek and African lyres by a few thousand years...
seblw (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
I love this and as you said about the lyre it was introduced from Israel! Actually several of our originally jewish instrument has been copied and introduced to other cultures.
JenniThegreat (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
Hi! My boyfriend does I think, how does it work, can you just send me a mail to my youtube account? plus he would like to know about the lost music of the jew/gipsy fusion... he wanted to ask if you have any books, documents regarding that subject. Thanks!
Israbit (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
Beautiful !!!
זה פשוט נהדר, המוזיקה שלך נפלאה כל הכבוד !!!
איזה כלי נגינה מיוחד ! |
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