Music from the Antiquities

Dating

      Antiquities as an era in Music begins with the oldest recorded artifact of written music, and ends at the fall of the roman empire when Medieval times begins. This means that the dating for this era is variable and likely to change as more archaeological digs uncover older manuscripts, or when already uncovered artifacts are carbonated to an earlier time period than previously thought.

Oldest Recorded Manuscript: Hurrian Hymn to Nikkal

      In the 1950, a series of tablets with musical transcripts was discovered near the city of Ras Shamra, Syria, in a royal palace of what was then known as Ugarit. Most tablets were fragments too small to decipher, but among them was a hymn dedicated to the moon god's wife Nikkal. The piece comes with tuning instructions for a 7 string lyre (harp), as well as manuscripts for the harp as well as a singer.

      The Hurrian Hymn seems to have been studied extensively as there are several interpretations of the piece. Listed bellow are the names and dates of the different interpretations, and when possible a sample of the music:

1. 1971 David Wulstan
2. 1974 A. D. Kilmer
3. 1977 M. Duchesne-Guillemin
4. 1977, 1978 Thiel
5. 1982 Raoul Vitale
6. 1988 Cerny
7. 1993 M. L. West
8. 1998 R. J. Dumbrill
9. 2000 Monzo
10. 2000 Krispijn

      The information I found related to the Hurrian Hymn comes from the University of Toronto, as well as Michael Levy who published a CD with this Hymn, and other ancient songs. 

Prehistoric Musical Instruments

Searching for prehistoric artifacts relating to Music, I found we have three main categories we can find: Wind Instruments, String Instruments and Persecution Instruments. We can't know for certain which was conceived first, but we can tell which artifacts are the oldest. I'll try to bring up as much finds as I can muster, but for now let's start with the oldest found in each category.

Wind Instruments:

I'm starting with Wind Instruments because these are the instruments we can carbon date the farthest back. I found an article about the world's oldest flute uncovered, which predates any other musical artifact I could find.

These flutes were fashioned from vulture bone approximately 40,000 years ago. They were uncovered in 2008 at Hohle Fels in southern Germany. The team of archaeologists was led by Nicholas Conard of the University of Tübingen in Germany.

The instruments were crafted with V shaped notches at the mouthpiece end, and four holes to achieve different notes. I found this youtube video. Since the flutes were found in Germany, this 1:44 clip is also from Germany. Some English spoken in there, but I felt this clip was best to provide a description of the findings, as well as a sound clip so you can hear how the flute would have sounded like when played.

Percussion Instruments:

Though percussion instruments are more likely the first instruments we fashioned, I can't find any artifacts found that predates the vulture flutes. The oldest percussion instruments that we can find are called lithophones. If you don't recognize this word, which the auto-correct dictionary doesn't recognize either, that would be because the concept of lithophones is a relatively new one. The first documentation I found referring to lithophones is dated back to July 28th, 2012, a very well written paper by Duncan Caldwell, which I found here: pdf file.

The oldest lithophone I've found mentioned so far dates somewhere between 2500 and 8000 BC. In fact, this instrument was played in March of 2014 by the French National Orchestra. Below is a clip where the composer, Philippe Fenelon. The clip is in french...I'll try to translate it as much as possible when I have free time. But at first the host explained the origin of the stones, and then we listen to the stones being played.

String Instruments:

Next, I'd like to review string instruments. We see plenty of evidence of string instruments in statues and hieroglyphs, but what's the oldest one we found? Well, in 1929 a team of archaeologists let by Sir Leonard Woolley found a mass grave containing seventy-four bodies; six men and sixty-eight women. Four lyres and one harp were also found in the grave. One of the lyres was found with the remains of one of the women, likely it's owner, with one hand where the strings would have been. This lyre stood out from the reset as it was more ornate with Gold plating and gemstones.

The other lyres along with a harp were found in a pile. One of these was plated with silver, and so was preserved better than the others.

There are musicians who have reproduced the sounds of this Lyre. Here's is one playing on a replica of the Silver Lyre. The sound if very beautiful.

My sources for the information relating to the Lyre or Ur come from The British Museum, a BBC news article, and www.lyre-of-ur.com.

Site Map

As my blog moves along and I uncover more details about the history of music, my blogging may become disorganized and hard to follow. On the top right, you'll see I added a site map. This will allow you to navigate through the history of music with more coherence and understanding.

Prehistoric Music

What is Prehistoric Music?

First, if we go by what the Oxford Dictionary’s definition of the word prehistoric is: Relating to or denoting the period before written records:prehistoric man, then Prehistoric Music would be what we find as evidence relating to the presence of music before any written records of music. What I would consider to be evidence of the presence of music, without a written form of music, would be an image (hieroglyph, cave paintings), artifacts (excavated musical instruments), or oral tradition.

Cave Paintings

A good example of music and cave paintings are among those we find at Tassili n'Ajjer. Located in Algeria, some of these cave paintings can be dated to about 6000BC. Among them, we can find some paintings that depict what appears to be cavemen dancing, such as the following painting I found on the website http://realhistoryww.com/world_history/ancient/Misc/North_Africa/North_African_History.htm

I also found information about Tassili n’Ajjer at http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/179.

Egyptian Hieroglyphs

In 2001, National Geographic News reported on a finding in Abu Sir by a team of Czech archeologists where they uncovered a 4,300 year old hieroglyph of singers and musicians playing the harp. They don’t show any pictures of the said hieroglyphs, and I couldn’t find any online…but they did use the image of another hieroglyph which is comparable which I’ve copied for you here:

The National Geographic story includes interviews. You can read it here: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/02/0213_1stlovesong.html

A Step Into the Now: Interview with Dead Culture Society

My first interview I was able to secure because I'm friends with one of the band members, Dan. He's the bassist. Here's the interview, let me know what you think. I'd appreciate any feedback relating to the way I interviewed them, and how I present them on this blog.

The Interview:

When did your band get together?

DCS became a full band in 2010 and started playing shows almost immediately, but the trio that wrote and performed on the debut ‘Life Dies Before Us’ (Mike, Paul and Kev) formed in late 2008/2009. We’d known each other from a previous band (we actually shot a video together) and following the dissolution of that band, decided to work together again but on something new. We’d all been in various bands before and were looking for something ‘fresh’ and a total creative outlet. That was basically the genesis of Dead Culture Society and our original “Goth n’ Thrash” label.
Earlier this year our founding guitarist left the band to pursue other interests, but we recently brought a new guitarist to the fold, our good buddy Arnold. He’s a welcome addition to the DCS crew and we look forward to bustin’ out some new tunes on stage soon.

Where was your first live performance?

Our first show was at the legendary Zaphod’s (Beeblebrox) in the heart of downtown Ottawa in I think April of 2010. We played with a band from Montreal that night that was playing for the first time in the city. It was a good show, but I think we all had some jitters about being on stage for the first time with the type of material we’d written. It was kind of un-charted waters for Ottawa, at least to the best of our knowledge. For me, it was also my first time as the front man of a band, singing to a crowd of complete strangers, so there were some nerves to get over, certainly at first. Although we had a lot of support from friends and family, so that helped us feel at ease.
Since then, we’ve played a number of shows with a really diverse list of bands. Everything from rock, industrial, to traditional metal, and even a punk show, I think. But it worked out well for us, as our music is quite diverse as well. Never be afraid to tap into an unfamiliar scene, because you may be surprised by the reaction.

What would you consider your Genre to be?

Well, without getting too convoluted (or pretentious) about it, we’re basically somewhere between hard rock and heavy metal. Originally I think the intent was to create something like To/Die/For meets Nevermore meets Mötley Crüe, but I don’t know if we really got that one figured out by the time we started writing. The writing process sort of led us along, rather than being led by a concrete goal. Music is such a creative process; it’s really difficult, at least for me, to say, “Ok, I’m going to write a song that sounds like Pain or To/Die/For.” If I tried that, I’d get nowhere because I’ve got the attention span and boundless energy of a new puppy.
We’ve used the term Goth n’ Thrash as kind of a tongue-in-cheek thing, given our more prominent musical influences, but it’s hard to say what that even means! Genres are a tricky game. There’s nothing worse than reading about a band that refers to themselves as ‘epic hardcore funkadelic pirate booze groove’ or something ridiculous like that. We play heavy, catchy music. That’s it. And we hope people dig it as much as we enjoy playing it.

Where do you get your inspirations?

We’re certainly a motley crew when it comes to inspiration. We’ve all got very diverse musical backgrounds and influences, so it’s really tough to say. We’ve collectively got roots in hard rock like (oddly enough) GnR/Mötley Crüe, classic rock/metal like Kiss/Priest, modern metal like A7X/LOG, traditional heavy metal like Iron Maiden, and dare we say 80’s pop or even ‘jazz’? Essentially, take the best of traditional metal, mix it with the roots and catchiness of hard rock, and add some goth-oriented mood and themes (we’re all fans of the Dark Side) and that’s where we’re at musically. We take inspiration from just about everything we hear. There are no limits, really.

Apart from your own, what's your favorite band?

That’s easy! Dan = Kiss. Mike = Lamb of God. Arnold = Thin Lizzy. Kevin = Don’t make me choose!

What would be your dream venue to perform in?

What a cool question! If it’s an indoor venue, I guess maybe the Royal Albert Hall in England. But if it was an outdoor thing, I’d love to play a huge amphitheatre somewhere in Europe. Preferably an old castle or some really cool Greek ruins, just to experience a part of the earliest days of the performing arts!

I understand you've played in several venues and on the radio. What would you say is the key to your success so far?

I think the key is not to be afraid to just talk to people and make contacts by being proactive. Sometimes word of mouth works, but the most success we’ve had so far is just putting it out there that we’re here, we want to talk, and we definitely want to PLAY. Be open to different formats, too. I know we’ve been asked if we can play an acoustic song or two for the radio due to space restrictions, which is something we hadn’t thought about previously with our more metal tendencies.

Anything you would like to say to the readers of this blog?

It’s become a bit of a broken record, but honestly, the best thing you can do as a fan of music – any genre – is to get out the door and buy a ticket to a show, particularly for independent bands whose shows are usually in the $10 or less range. And please pay the 99 cents for a song download. Believe me, it cost WAY more than that to produce it for your listening pleasure and the bands only get a fraction of that fee back due to the costs of the service agreement with the digital music provider(s).
And for us, the best part about playing live is seeing people having a good time and meeting them after the show…or during! Audience participation is the best damn thing since tube heads!

Love the art on your website’s home page, http://www.deadculturesociety.com/ Who was the artist?

Thank you! We’re very proud of the artwork, actually. It was something we conceptualized with our friend and artist, Raziel, of Dark Prince Graphix. He’s a real honest dude from down in Mexico who’s done all of our work for us and at a very reasonable rate. We couldn’t have done it without him, so a huge shout-out to our brother in Mexico for his amazing creations!

Discography:

Album:
Life Dies Before Us - Dead Culture Society Released: 15/06/12

Songs:

1 Mirror's Collapse - 04:42

2 Wine For Your Sorrows - 04:25

3 Sweet Lilith - 04:42

4 Interlude - 01:15

5 Suicide Lullabye - 04:51

6 Faded Lust - 05:14

7 Midnight In Stockholm - 04:14

8 Forever Rain - 05:33

9 Hollow Remains - 04:29

10 Hollow Remains - 04:29

11 A Dead Heart's Reflection - 03:59

12 Prelude to Darkness (Instrumental) - 02:33

A Step Into the Now: What to Expect

In my travel through time, I'd like to take a break once in a while and look into the current music scene. I may review or interview a band. I may analyse a musical score, song or track. I may also look into new inventions related to the music industry, whether that be a new type of instrument, or a new computer software. The purpose is simply to keep the blog interesting by adding more dynamics to the project. As I develop the timeline of Music in the historical views, I'll incorporate these step-ins so they flow better.

My first step-in will be an interview which I had with the band of a friend of mine. I'll try to post it today, or within the next few days so you can get a feel of what I'm envisioning.

Today I worked on a rough draft of a timeline. It's basically a roadmap to give direction. The next objective is to write about each era so we can understand the bigger picture of how music progressed with time. Once I've done this, I'll dig deeper and bring up the key moments, key figures and key influences that drove each era.