#ethiopian begena

[nyessasundries]

Lament for Gilgamesh, performed by Peter Pringle on a reconstruction of the Gold Lyre of Ur

From the video description:

This video is a performance of a Sumerian incantation and lament upon the death of the hero, GILGAMESH. For those who are interested, the translation and transliteration of the Sumerian cuneiform tablets can be found online at the University of Oxford website - The Electronic Text Corpus Of Sumerian Literature.

“The Gold Lyre of Ur” was unearthed by archaeologist, Sir Leonard Woolley, in the 1920’s during his excavations in the Sumerian city of Ur, in modern day Iraq. Unfortunately, as you can see from the photo at the top of the video, there was little left of the lyre because the Sumerians simply put it into the ground 5000 years ago and covered it over with tons of earth. In the intervening millennia, everything that was degradable turned to dust, and only the imprint of the instrument was left, along with the stone mosaic decorations, the four vignettes made of shell, and the gold.

Thanks to very careful measurements and photos taken by Woolley, museum curators have been able to reconstruct the fragile bits and pieces, and the instrument is now on display in Baghdad. What you see in this video is my own replica, made from cedar like the original. Needless to say, I used brass sheeting instead of gold, but it is unlikely that the ornamentation would change the basic sound of the instrument.

A lyre of this size, whose lowest note is the same as the lowest ‘C’ on a piano keyboard, would probably have been used as a drone instrument, and would not have been used to play melodies like a harp or a smaller lyre. The bench-shaped bridges used on these instruments, suggest that they probably “buzzed” like the modern Indian tamboura, or the Ethiopian “begena” lyre. The buzzing sound made possible by the wide flat bridge, greatly increases the volume output of the string, as well as the decay time of the vibration.

The large “balag” drum you see on my left in the video, is four feet (120 cm) in diameter, and was a common percussion instrument in Sumer, although there are none that have survived the ages. These drums were an integral part of ceremonies to summon the souls in the “Netherworld” because, as you can hear, they make enough noise “to wake the dead”! The belief in an afterlife was an integral part of Sumerian culture, and I highly recommend Dr. Irving Finkel’s wonderful book on the subject, THE FIRST GHOSTS.

The video of my full performance was too long, so I have edited it down to about 8 minutes (still too long IMO). Much of this sort of incantation was repetition, but I suspect the ancient Sumerians had a greater tolerance for long, drawn-out rituals than most of us do today. I chopped several minutes out of the middle.

We have the Sumerian cuneiform texts, as well as some of the musical instruments, but we do not have the melodies because the Sumerians didn’t write them down. I believe that the parts that were sung were probably largely improvised, just as they are today in the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent. Ancient Sumerian teachers did not write down their music because they taught mainly by memory and by ear.

From the standpoint of a singer, I have performed these texts in a loud, declarative style. The Sumerians did not have amplification, and singers had to be heard by large crowds at temple gatherings, or sometimes outside.

#Gilgamesh #Lament for Gilgamesh #the Gold Lyre of Ur #Peter Pringle #Sumerian music #music #Youtube

[zhanteimi]

Sosena Gebre Eyesus - Sosena Gebre Eyesus

Ethiopia, 2018, Ethiopian church music Who had “young girl who sleeps in King David’s bed to keep him warm drops sacred begena album” on their 2018 bingo card?

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#2018 #ethiopia #ethiopian church music #Youtube

[didanawisgi]

Is an Ancient Biblical Lyre surviving in Ethiopia Today?

#Lyre #begena #ethiopian begena #Ethiopia #ethiopians #music #Michael Levy #video #fav #Lost Keys of Freemasonry #history #song #song of solomon #harp #Bible

[dustedmagazine]

Listed: Dr. Pete Larson

Dr. Pete Larson runs Dagoretti Records now, he’s gotten there by an unusually long and winding road. Earlier in his career, Larson fronted 25 Suaves and Couch and ran BULB records. He also trained as an epidemiologist and spent time in Kenya studying the transmission of malaria. While in Kenya, he developed an interest in a lute-like eight-stringed instrument called a nyatiti and studied it with the master player Oduor Nyagweno. All these interests collide in a striking first album from Dr. Pete Larson and His Cytotoxic Nyatiti Band, where the nyatiti “cuts through a haze of electric rock distortion, pinging rhythmically and restlessly against floating euphorias of ululating vocals,” per Jennifer Kelly’s review. Here he lists some favorites from several continents.

I have been asked to create one of these lists for Dusted and here’s what I came up with. Making these lists is kind of difficult. I have a hard time remembering what I’ve been listening to at any moment, but here is a collection of old and new that get frequent airplay in my home. I play a Kenyan lyre, so this heavily leans toward lyre and harps and East African music in general, with some other choice cuts thrown in.

Musicians Of The National Dance Company Of Cambodia — Homrong (Real World Records)

I think I got this record (CD) back in the early 90s when I was selling music to Caroline Records. A friend sent me a box of CD promos, most of which wasn’t very interesting, but fortunately, this one was included. I don’t really know anything about Cambodian music, but for some reason, this collection of mid-tempo Cambodian court jamz plays every couple of months. Lots of weird sort of lurching rhythms and chorus singing with an erhu like instrument over it. A great listen.

Maleem Mahmoud Ghania w/ Pharoah Sanders — Trance of the Seven Colors

The Trance Of Seven Colors by Maleem Mahmoud Ghania w/ Pharoah Sanders

Trance inducing this is. Maleem Mahmoud Ghania is (was) one of the 20th century masters of Moroccan Gnawa music, a sort of spiritual, bass-heavy, rolling kind of music of Morocco. Any recording by Maleem Mahmoud is going to impress, but this mash of up of Gnawa with the great Pharoah Sanders is another level. If you are familiar with Gnawa music, it is a little disorienting to hear Sanders howl over the slow burn trance jamz but you are quickly drawn into what a perfect matchup this ended up being. Released on CD in the 90s, it fortunately has finally gotten a proper vinyl release.

Momoyama Harue — “Lullaby for the mother demon’s baby” (桃山晴衣* ‎– 鬼の女の子守唄)

I was playing the shamisen for a while (a three stringed lute from Japan) and found Momoyama Harue as part of my research. Shamisen is kind of a folky instrument for drinking parlors and entertainment of old Japan. The instrument and the music was nearly dead but saw a revival in the 1960s, similar to folk revivals in the US that brought the banjo back. Momoyama, however, was kind of an outlier, more arty than folky, and more poetry than song. Rather than box the music in an imagined past or try to hopelessly smash it into amplified rock music, she pushed it forward, blending it with ambient synth along with Indian and Middle Eastern musics. One of her best collaborations was with the great Egyptian oud player Hamza el Din that was nearly dead until the 1960s. All of the songs on this record are haunting (as the title suggests), but these tracks with el Din are truly singular. I have been searching for a vinyl copy of this record for years; one day I’ll get lucky.

Lucas Odote — “J. Oreng”

Nyatiti Singles Volume 1 by Lucas Odote

I spent several years in Kenya learning to play the nyatiti, an eight stringed lyre historically played by a group of people in an area around Lake Victoria. I also spent time collecting records, searching for hours in dusty boxes for Kenyan traditional music records. One of my best finds was at Jimmy’s Records in Kenyatta Markets, this record by the great Nairobi based nyatiti player Lucas Odote. Most nyatiti records are just a guy playing solo and more ethno than funky. But this one seems to be Lucas teaming up with what I think to be Nairobi funksters, the Loki Toki Tok band. At least that’s what I can guess. My copy is beat to hell. It took some doing to get some sound out of it, but this is one of my faves in my collection.

Siti Muharam — Siti of Unguja (Romance Revolution On Zanzibar)

Siti of Unguja (Romance Revolution On Zanzibar) by Siti Muharam

I swear I saw Siti Muharam sing on the deck of a hotel bar while vacation in Zanzibar several years ago. I can’t be certain, but I am pretty sure it was her singing for the band I saw. The traditional form of Taarab music is something to be experienced. Taarab music comes from the Arab coast of East Africa, and is this fantastic mix of local feel and Arab sounds, overlapped with heart wrenching songs of lost love and longing. I think there are some foreigners involved in this production, but this is an excellent document of Taarab music at its best.

Grandmaster Masese — “Orogena rwa Baba”

Grandmaster Masese: New African Soundz Singles No.1 by Grandmaster Masese

It might be gauche to put records from your own label on a list like this, but I am first a music fan and second a musician and third a music seller… so this one stays. G-master is a friend of mine from Kenya and one of the best humans I know. One of just a handful of people who play the Obokano, a giant 8 stringed lyre that emits an unforgettable sub-bass buzzing sound and this was his first release in the US and one of my favorite records ever. We recorded this in his kitchen in Nairobi with just a couple of mics over dinner. G is a cool guy. You should listen to his music.

Yagi Michiyo — Seventeen

Yagi is another Japanese musician who specializes in what one would think is a “traditional” instrument, but who brings much more to the table than one would expect. Yagi is a koto player by training. You have probably heard koto in the background music for scenes of Japan in American movies. The version you hear there is mostly lifeless and flat, kind of like a plastic chair in the corner. Yagi, however, plays the 17 string bass koto, invented in the 1920s or so, to try and give new life to the instrument. Yagi creates weird percussive, dissonant music that I can’t really get enough of.

Asnakech Worku (featuring Hailu Mergia) — Asnakech

Asnakech by Asnakech Worku

Asnakech Worku was a lot of things; pioneer, actress, but most notably a female Krar player. Certainly there might have been other female Krar players in Ethiopia at the time, but Krar players are mostly men. The Krar is a lyre from Ethiopia, mostly played with one hand, though there are several playing styles out there. Worku plays haunting sounds on her Krar on this record, backed up by famous Ethiopian keyboardist Hailu Mergia, who really needs no intro.

Ogola Opot — “Domtila Ogola”

This will probably be the only 78 on this list. Ogola Opot is considered the grandfather of the Kenyan nyatiti, coming to prominence in the 1960s and 70s, and creating the genre we know as Siaya style “traditional nyatiti.” If someone asks me what nyatiti music sounds like, this is probably where I would have people start. I include this first because it is a great record and second because it was my holy grail for a while (though I always have new holy grails) and managed to find a pristine copy for sale from a place in France recently. I am not going to say how much I paid for it.

Sosena Gebre Eyesus — S/T (Little Axe Records)

Sosena Gebre Eyesus by Sosena Gebre Eyesus

I bought this record off the net because I am a huge fan of Begena music, this haunting, trance inducing music from Ethiopia that appears to be the go-to for Ethiopian Christians… but this record explained nothing of that. Just a picture of a lady with a begena and no other info…. It took me a while to put together what the record was and where it came from, but the sounds contained within are impeccable. Just 40 minutes of weird undersea tones on a giant bass lyre.

#dusted magazine #listed #dr. pete larson #Dagoretti Records #Musicians Of The National Dance Company Of Cambodia #maleem mahmoud ghania #pharoah sanders #momoyama harue #lucas odote #siti muharam #grandmaster masese #yagi michiyo #asnakech worku #hailu mergia #Ogola Opot #sosena gebre eyesus

[didanawisgi]

A begena player strumming.

#Ethiopia #ethiopians #judaism #begena #ethiopian begena #spirituality #lyre #harp

[didanawisgi]

Ethiopian Orthodox Begena Mezmur - የበገና መዝሙር #1

#begena #ethiopian begena #Lyre

[didanawisgi]

HAVE THE BIBLICAL LYRES SURVIVED TO THE PRESENT DAY? 

by Michael Levy - Composer for Lyre

“In Ethiopia, there is tantalizing evidence, that a lyre still played today by musicians of this region, and traditionally known by them as the "Begena", is an almost exact replica of the one of ancient Jewish Temple Lyres, namely the Nevel Asor - as explained earlier in the section about the Biblical Nevel, this was probably a 10-string version of the Biblical Nevel. Incredibly, according to Ethiopian tradition, the Begena is often referred to as 'King David's Harp' - introduced to Ethiopia in Biblical times, (along with the actual Ark of the Covenant, which according to the same tradition, still is housed in Ethiopia, in the chapel of Axum) by Menelik I - whom according to ancient Ethiopian tradition, was none other than the son of King Solomon himself and the Ethiopian Queen of Sheba... Exactly like the Ethiopian Begena, all the evidence suggests that the Nevel Asor of Biblical times, was a bass register instrument (for the reasons outlined in my discussion of the Biblical Nevel and outlined again below in this section), and according to the first hand writings of the 1st century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, was played with the fingers (instead of a plectrum, which he described the Kinnor being played with). Also like the Biblical Nevel, the Begena also generally has a soundboard of skin!

There is a fascinating video clip of a Begena Lyre player which I have recently found on YouTube:  

According to Ethiopian tradition, Menelik I brought the Temple Lyres to Ethiopia from Israel...crucially, the Begena Lyre also has 10 strings - identical in number to the 10 sheep gut strings of the original, ancient Hebrew Kinnor of King David and the Nevel Asor, played in the Temple of Jerusalem!

COULD THE ETHIOPIAN BEGENA BE  IDENTIFIED AS EITHER THE BIBLICAL KINNOR OR THE BIBLICAL NEVEL?

The essential difference I can think of, between the contemporary Ethiopian Begena and the ancient Biblical Kinnor, may be one of pitch - the Begena is a bass register instrument. This leads me to believe that the Begena could maybe regarded as a relic of the Biblical Nevel lyre, rather than the Kinnor. As discussed earlier, according the the Mishnah, the Biblical Nevel had thicker strings made of the sheep's large intestines, whereas the Kinnor's thinner strings were made from the small intestines.

Another clue to the hypothesis that the Nevel was a bass instrument, also comes from the number of Nevels which were used in comparison to the number of Kinnors used in the Levitical Ensemble - according to the Mishnah, the use of the Nevel in the Levitical Ensemble was limited to "no fewer than two and no more than six", whereas "never fewer than nine Kinnorot, and more may be added" (Mishnah, Arak 2:5)

This implies that the Nevels provided the bass, over which the treble Kinnors provided the melodic lines - just as in a modern string orchestra, where the number of violins greatly outnumbers the number of double basses/cellos.

Further evidence in my attempt at identifying the Begena with the Biblical Nevel, can also be deduced from the playing style itself - according to the first-hand observations and records by Flavius Josephus, who actually witnessed the Levitical Ensemble in the 1st century CE, the Nevel was played with the fingers, whereas the Kinnor was played with a plectrum (Antiquities, vii.12.3). The Begena is always played with the fingers...just like the description of the Biblical Nevel!

Quite often, the Begena has a soundboard of taut leather, as in the video clip - this could be evidence of the interpretation mentioned above, of the elusive Biblical Nevel as having a skin membrane.

However, what of the twelve strings of the original Biblical Nevel, which Josephus also informs us of in his Antiquities vii. 12.3? The modern Begena has ten strings, like the Biblical Kinnor. This anomaly can be explained by the Biblical reference to another type of Nevel - the "Nevel Asor". This name literally means "A Nevel With Ten Strings"!

Here is the Biblical musicologist, John Wheeler's thoughts on this fascinating possibility:

"The ten-stringed wooden lyre I've seen from Ethiopia might well be a descendant of Egypt's version of what the Bible calls kinnor al - ha-Sheminit. Suzanne haik Vnatoura thought that might be like the Greek magadis with ten pairs of strings, but another possibility is that it was simply a bass lyre - a kinnor tuned an octave lover, "upon the Eighth" in Hebrew. Whereas the nevel `al -alamot "upon Maidens" or of "maidenly pitch" was more numerous and thus apparently of higher pitch than the specialized kinnor (all this referring to 1 Chronicles 15). The regular kinnor and nevel likely had a reverse pitch relationship, with the kinnor higher than the nevel (given the latter's thicker strings). As far as I've ever seen in archaeology, bass versions of the kinnor and other bass lyres were only played with the fingers - that practice going back to ancient Mesopotamia. Lyres with plectra are at lowest of about high tenor range. I can play my Celtic harp with a guitar pick readily enough all the way down, but it sounds a whole lot better on the upper monofilament strings, again from high tenor range up."

If this hypothesis is true, then the Ethiopian Begena, therefore, could be quite literally described as the elusive Biblical Nevel Asor - unchanged, in over 3000 years! A truly fascinating possibility...

THE SOUND OF THE BEGENA AND THE SOUND OF THE RESTORED BULL LYRE OF UR - AN ONOMATOPOEIC ORIGIN OF THE ANCIENT HEBREW WORD FOR "MELODY"?  It is also fascinating just how similar the contemporary Begena Lyre sounds, compared to the playable reconstruction of the famous 4600  year old "Bull Lyre of Ur":

It is particularly interesting to hear the same "buzz" the gut strings make, in both the replica Lyre of Ur, and the Begena - maybe, the reason the Hebrew words for melody; "Zemer"‎ and Psalms, "Mizmor", sounds like they do, is because originally, these words were onomatopoeic - the actual sounds of the words "Zemer" and "Mizmor", sound like the buzzing of the gut strings as they would have sounded on the original, ancient Biblical lyres? Yet another fascinating possibility!

Indeed, the flatter bench-shaped bridges most commonly depicted on almost all illustrations of ancient lyres, suggest that some sort of subtle buzzing quality was common to the timbre of most of the actual lyres of antiquity. The buzzing quality of the strings is associated with this type of bridge, in contrast to the 'clean' harp-like tone produced by a more modern 'A' shaped pointed bridge found on most modern 'replica' lyres, whose bridge is actually based more on the design of the bridge of a modern guitar! My replica ancient Greek chelys (tortoise shell form lyre) made by Luthieros in modern day Greece, has this more authentic 'bench-shaped' bridge, and produces just such a subtle buzz, similar to that of a sitar. I am therefore almost certain, that it is more likely that the original Biblical lyres also had this hypnotic buzzing timbre.

The fact that the Ethiopian word for melody is the strikingly similar sounding word "Mezmur", to me, reinforces the evidence for an ancient musical connection going back to Biblical times, between the music of ancient Israel and Ethiopia.

Whatever the facts or fiction in the Ethiopian tradition of Menelik I being the son of King Solomon from his marriage to the Ethiopian Queen of Sheba, there certainly seems to be more facts than fiction in the ever growing grains of evidence I have so far explored! However it may have actually happened, to me, I am now almost certain that somehow, the ancient sound of the Biblical Nevel Asor can still be heard today, amazingly preserved since Biblical times, in the enchanting, exotic buzzing timbres of the Ethiopian Begena...”

Source: http://ancientlyre.com/have_the_biblical_lyres_survived_to_the_present_day_in_africa/

#Michael Levy #Solomon #song of solomon #ethiopia #ethiopians #sheba #begena #music #fav #queen of sheba #queen of the south #king solomon #judaism #Lion of Judah #mezmur #Nevel Asor #Kinnor #nevel #Bible #Lost Keys of Freemasonry #lyre #harp #ancient #ancient egypt #greece #egyptian mysticism #sufism #sufi #Ethiopian Begena #Menelik I

[didanawisgi]

ethiopian ortodox tewahdo sprutual songs

#begena #ethiopians #Ethiopia #Dn Tadele #music #vocalist #spirituality #fav #song #solomon #judaism

[didanawisgi]

Dn Tadele begena mezemure(sigefugne)

#begena #music #ethiopia #ethiopians #Dn Tadele #vocalist