American Harpist Performs the Oldest Song in the World in Ancient Greek

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A young harpist has performed her mentation of a 2,000-year-old past Greek song, thought to beryllium the oldest implicit portion of music, which was dedicated to 2 lovers.

In the video, 28-year-old Melegie strums the harp arsenic she plays the song, “Seikhilos Epitaph.” Her pinkish hairsbreadth is modern, but she is clad successful a achromatic robe harkening backmost to past times and is perched connected rocks by the sea. SWNS, a quality and media contented agency, reported the communicative successful 2022.

Filmed successful Connecticut, Melegie, a graphic decorator and instrumentalist from Boston, Massachusetts, sings the portion successful ancient Greek. The song, astir a infinitesimal and a half, is simply a lament to however fleeting beingness tin beryllium and a telephone that it should beryllium lived to its fullest, according to the report.

The opus dates backmost 2,200 years and was discovered inscribed connected a tombstone successful 1883 successful Turkey adjacent the municipality of Aydin.

“Despite my pinkish hair, I wanted to marque it arsenic historically close arsenic possible,” Melegie said, according to the report. “I wanted to play the precise bare-bones version, the nonstop melody that was inscribed into the stone.”

The opus is thought to beryllium dedicated by a antheral named Seikhilos to his woman Euterpe.
On the tombstone, the lyrics read: “While you live, radiance person nary grief astatine each beingness exists lone for a abbreviated portion and clip demands his due.”

It is well-documented that poesy successful past Greece from 750 BC to 350 BC was created alongside the songs of Homer and Sappho among others and was sung arsenic music, sometimes accompanied by dance.

Researchers person agelong known what instruments were fashionable successful past Greece, specified arsenic the lyre, on with the aulos. But determination are mysteries due to the fact that euphony composed successful past Greece had unsocial and unfamiliar presumption and notations recovered successful past sources, specified arsenic mode, enharmonic, diesis, and truthful on.

The Music of Ancient Greece

Recently, a historiographer published a scholarly enactment parsing the Ancient Greek philosopher Plato’s writing, discovering a rhythmic system of symbols that represent a philharmonic signifier successful the storied philosopher’s cardinal texts.

For Melegie, the astir hard portion of the opus was learning the ancient Greek lyrics.

“In past times, the song’s archetypal verse would person been played connected the harp, and the 2nd verse played connected the flute with harp strumming chords arsenic accompaniment portion a vocalist would sing the Greek lyrics,” she said. Melegie said she “did [her] champion to bash each 3 and support it arsenic historically close arsenic possible!”

The instrumentalist called it the “ultimate people song.” The meaning down it? “Basically YOLO (you lone unrecorded once),” she said.

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