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Judi Lynn

(160,219 posts)
Thu Dec 18, 2014, 06:21 PM Dec 2014

What Did Ancient Babylonian Songs Sound Like? Something Like This

What Did Ancient Babylonian Songs Sound Like? Something Like This
By Douglas Main 12/14/14 at 10:05 AM

What really lasts in this world? What dies, what can be revived? Are humans basically the same now as in ancient times?

I was left pondering these questions after listening to singer and composer Stef Conner’s album The Flood. It’s probably the first ever to be sung in ancient Sumerian and Babylonian, and it’s hauntingly beautiful.

One concrete answer to the first question: clay. Clay lasts.

That’s a good thing for Conner, who after completing a degree in music composition got deeply interested in Babylonian literature and poetry—which was originally recorded in cuneiform, wedge-shaped marks on clay tablets.

But the words on the paper, the modern incarnations of these mineral etchings, were not enough for Conner. She wanted to know what these languages sounded like, to summon life from stone. Many of these poems and snatches of writings were sung and chanted, according to historians. The tunes played an important part in rituals in Mesopotamian societies, from funerals to lullabies, Conner says.

More:
http://www.newsweek.com/what-did-ancient-mesopotamian-hits-sound-something-291543

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What Did Ancient Babylonian Songs Sound Like? Something Like This (Original Post) Judi Lynn Dec 2014 OP
This is beautiful! mntleo2 Dec 2014 #1
Nice link! Really interesting. Judi Lynn Dec 2014 #2
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