I mean, obviously everything sounds like the Zelda theme when you play it on a midi keyboard. I’m not trying to make any sweeping claims here. But listen to this:
and tell me it isn’t just this:
and this:
put together.
Oh, also, you can listen to a few minutes of the Epic of Gilgamesh in Akkadian here, while we’re on the subject of ancient Sumer. It doesn’t — I mean, he could be spitting gibberish for all I know, but it sounds authentic.
Tags: legend of zelda, music, the mighty boosh
The ancients made really boring unimaginative music.
But, hey, maybe I’m being mean. That was probably really innovative then.
(awaits the inevitable toastie who has studied ancient music to tell me it was)
It would have been the soundtrack for an epic like Gilgamesh or the Odyssey, so it’d have repeating patterns that wouldn’t be too tough to riff off of, the same way that Homer keeps mentioning Dawn’s rosy fingers and the wine-dark sea.
Speaking of Homer and his wine-dark sea, there’s a neat Radiolab episode about why Homer’s seas and oxen were both purple, and how languages acquire words for colour gradually.
http://www.radiolab.org/story/211213-sky-isnt-blu…
It sounds so cute, though. Not what I’d expect on the Gilgamesh OST.
It’s not an epic – here are the words:
Hurrian Hymn #6 – Translation by Theo J. H. Krispijn
For the ones that are offering to you (?)
prepare two offering loaves in their bowls, when I am making a sacrifice in front of it.
They have lifted sacrifices up to heaven for (their) welfare and fortune (?).
At the silver sword symbol at the right side (of your throne) I have offered them.
I will nullify them (the sins). Without covering or denying them (the sins), I will bring them (to you), in order to be agreeable (to you).
You love those who come in order to be covered (reconciled).
I have come to put them in front of you and to take them away through a reconciliation ritual. I will honour you and at (your) footstool not….
It is Nikkal, who will strengthen them. She let the married couples have children.
She let them be borne to their fathers.
But the begetter will cry out: “She has not born any child!” Why have not I as a (true) wife born children for you?”
“Nikkal” is Nikkal-wa-Ib, a goddess associated with orchards, fruit, summer harvest etc. She was married to Yarikh, a moon god. Jericho is named for him.
Here’s someone singing it –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZatnTPhYWc
Somebody liked major thirds and parallel fourths, that’s for sure.
i don’t know quite enough about music theory to really get this but i can appreciate the cadence of a sick burn all the same
It sounds like something that might have been used as a rhythm for chanting or storytelling. Kind of a funny thing to imagine – why was music originally created? Spittin rhymes seems like a good reason.
MY EXACT THOUGHT WHEN I HEARD IT YESTERDAY.
If this is what I think it is, I was actually lucky enough to see the tablet it’s written on, which, let me tell you, was one of the highlights of my life. I hope so much it’s still intact. (It’s in the national museum in Damascus.)
ETA: I just listened to the Akkadian and OMG I’M FREAKING OUT. I’m a giant nerd for all things Ancient Mesopotamian. I’ve known, of course, that Akkadian was a Semitic language (Sumerian was not, which made the mixing of the two fascinating), but listening to this it is SO EVIDENT that it’s a Semitic language and it brings me great joy.
Okay yes but WHAT ABOUT the music on some guy’s butt in a Bosch painting??? This is very important news, obviously, and I suggest you all examine it immediately.
OH WOW YEAH! I want this to be, like, my ringtone for everything great. Thank you for the best in Butt News Today.
I am having people over tomorrow and am pretty sure ancient butt music will be interspersed with Kanye as the soundtrack, so THANK YOU
But how can we be sure that the music on the guy’s butt wasn’t the result of him sitting on a large page of sheet music while the ink was wet? In other words, what if they are playing it ass-backwards?
Dearest music nerds, please rejoice in the link to the original article! Revel in the possibilities of the source material! http://www.assyriatimes.com/assyrian/knowledge/th…
(Also, GOOD HEAVENS would someone come up with an improved interpretation, I bet that this would sound killer scored for, say, flute or oboe or…..BRB just transcribing)
Here’s an orchestral interpretation – “Echoes from Ugarit” by Malek Jandali (very different from the more faithful lyre version I linked above, and no lyrics).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeP_AS0DqaU
This sounds like the kind of music I would make in Mario Paint. Maybe this is also the work of a lazy seven year old? Has anyone checked the back to see if there are also drawings of pooping butts and weird colored Mario heads?
I linked to a version with vocals above – the original lyrics were (mostly) preserved along with the notes. It's written to be performed on a lyre on a heptatonic diatonic scale. It's possible that it was a hymn/cult song/blessing given at weddings but no-one's really sure.
Yep. Checks out.
I thought it was about time that we investigated important issues like the Legend of Zelda, and that one episode of the mighty boosh where they have doppelgangers steal their identity. Well played….well played
I'm listening now, and also read the lyrics you posted. Thank you! Yes, with voice and lyre it changes into something more reverent and yearning, and the repetition feels like it is ritual rather than like the 'hmm. hmm, ok' in the midi, which I don't mean to blame excessively.
Oh man, it sounds like the song from Civ 5.