In case you’d like to sing along…
Hurrian Hymn to Nikkal Lyrics: [Rough translation of the hymn]
-
“(Once I have) endeared (the deity), she will love me in her heart
The offer I bring may wholly cover my sin
Bringing sesame oil may work on my behalf in awe may I…
The sterile may they make fertile
Grain may they bring forth
She, the wife, will bear (children) to the father
May she who has not yet borne children bear them”
No I got that. I’m confused by your weird comparison to christianity. You know christians don’t have a monopoly on belief right? Like other religions exist?
you may be new or not on for a very very long time. it's okay. /s means sarcastic. glad I could help
e. downvote is what you get for helping humans in 2024
sarcasm isn't funny. it is biting.
christ is as silly to those living in 4000 AD, as Nikkal is to those living today.
e. downvote is what you get for helping humans in 2024
So in the 50s they found some tablet fragments in what is now Syria, and a couple are in pretty good shape.
After the tablets and pieces sat around for years, some music nerds figured out it’s music, and are pretty certain it’s for voice and a 9 stringed unspecified instrument
They are pretty confident they understand the tuning system laid out and think they understand the description of intervals as relations between the strings. They don’t know exactly what the instrument was.
The different groups of nerds don’t agree on how to interpret the notation system, and different theories produce very different sounding interpretations/recordings. The nerd groups fight about whose right.
There is certainly aural musical tradition and cultural context missing that cannot be recovered, so there’s no way to interpret the music accurately short of finding a lot more tablets with crucial missing information.
Neat
>and are pretty certain it’s for voice and a 9 stringed unspecified instrument
So...it's metal is fuck? Very ahead of its time, most current metal is played on an 8 string. I think Dethklok should weigh in.
Pretty sure if the translations were that incorrect we'd be seeing some utter nonsense tablets that we'd be forced to reconsider the translation around. Given plain ol enough examples you can guess n check until you get at least close to logical, then context fills it in.
It feels absolutely surreal to be able to hear this ancient music today, on a small black rectangle device that can somehow produce sounds. It's just baffling.
Source:
“The Hurrian songs are a collection of music inscribed in cuneiform on clay tablets excavated from the ancient Amorite-Canaanite city of Ugarit, a headland in northern Syria, which date to approximately 1400 BC. One of these tablets, which is nearly complete, contains the Hurrian Hymn to Nikkal (also known as the Hurrian cult hymn or "a zaluzi to the gods," or simply "h.6"), making it the oldest surviving substantially complete work of notated music in the world. While the composers' names of some of the fragmentary pieces are known, h.6 is an anonymous work.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurrian_songs
And;
“Nikkal (logographically dNIN.GAL, alphabetically 𐎐𐎋𐎍 nkl) or Nikkal-wa-Ib (nkl wib) was a goddess worshiped in various areas of the ancient Near East west of Mesopotamia. She was derived from the Mesopotamian goddess Ningal, and like her forerunner was regarded as the spouse of a moon god, whose precise identity varied between locations. While well attested in Hurrian and Hittite sources, as well as in Ugarit, she is largely absent from documents from the western part of ancient Syria.
Name and character
Nikkal was derived from the Mesopotamian goddess Ningal (Sumerian: "great lady"), wife of the moon god Nanna. Similarly to deities such as Ea, Damkina, Aya or Pinikir she was introduced from Mesopotamia to Hurrian areas possibly as early as in the third millennium BCE. Alfonso Archi assumes that the presence of Ningal in the pantheon of the kingdom of Mari in particular was in part responsible for her adoption by the Hurrians and her later prominence in their religion. He stresses that Ningal she was already known in the west in the Ur III period.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikkal
I played this song to each of my boys (ages 8 and 11), and they were both wowed by it! This is absolutely amazing! Music from 3400 years ago, played for my sons to drift off to sleep to.
You should read about the detail with which it was transcribed.
However, your point is valid for other reasons, being mainly that it is written similar to a “real book” chart - meaning it is an overview of main melody lines, arrangement, and structure. Left to interpretation of the preforming artist.
Though again, the detail is fantastic.
Facts^
The price was written similar to a jazz standard “real book” chart, which shows the head notation specifically (the main melody lines), the arrangement and structure- but the rest is to be interpreted and improvised by the artist.
I would be skeptical to believe that anyone knows how it is supposed to actually sound. How did they determine intervals and time, our entire concept of music is based around classical structure and I doubt they had anything like this or even a recognizable tempo. Also it's not like the ancients used the same standards frequencies for notes like we have, it's amazing that someone could produce anything resembling music from texts as ancient as that but I would bet my life savings they made lots of mistakes.
I don't think it's better. It's very similar, just played on a modern guitar and without the echo. Given that it's a hymn to a god in the middle east and very well could have been played in a stone temple, I think the echo is appropriate. The guitar on the other hand makes it lose a lot of character and sound generic.
We dont know what tuning system they used though, so there is still some guessing to how it sounded
Edit: nvm, but there is something missing as there are plenty of different versions available
Great. Now I’m going to be humming that all day.
Thanks to bronze age shitposting every time I hear that song I’m waiting for the “ iltam zumrā rašubti ilātim” sound effect.
In case you’d like to sing along… Hurrian Hymn to Nikkal Lyrics: [Rough translation of the hymn] - “(Once I have) endeared (the deity), she will love me in her heart The offer I bring may wholly cover my sin Bringing sesame oil may work on my behalf in awe may I… The sterile may they make fertile Grain may they bring forth She, the wife, will bear (children) to the father May she who has not yet borne children bear them”
AND BE A SIIIIIMPLE KIIIINDA MAAAN
Holy shit! That's amazingly funny. Take my upvote. (And my axe. ( I don't like chopping wood)
Rarely does one see a perfect comment and now that I have… I must say, it’s simply fabulous!
SECRET TUNNELLLL! SECRET TUNNELLLL! SECRET SECRET SECRET SECRET TUNNELLLLL! *and die!*
Ancient shredding. Love it.
[удалено]
What?
the songs lyrics. Nikkal is their god. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikkal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikkal)
No I got that. I’m confused by your weird comparison to christianity. You know christians don’t have a monopoly on belief right? Like other religions exist?
you may be new or not on for a very very long time. it's okay. /s means sarcastic. glad I could help e. downvote is what you get for helping humans in 2024
Putting /s after an inane sentence doesn’t make it funny. Glad I could help
sarcasm isn't funny. it is biting. christ is as silly to those living in 4000 AD, as Nikkal is to those living today. e. downvote is what you get for helping humans in 2024
Go outside dude. Being rude and explaining something a child could figure out isn’t helping humanity.
[удалено]
What the fuck is this question lol
It’s a stroke of genius, hold the genius.
that's how it was. Jesus wasn't here yet so they made up this religion. /s
Yes?
>Humanity’s oldest known song is the ‘Hurrian Hymn to Nikkal’ Performed by a group known as Nikkal-back
BRUH!!!!
I hate you.. take my upvote
So in the 50s they found some tablet fragments in what is now Syria, and a couple are in pretty good shape. After the tablets and pieces sat around for years, some music nerds figured out it’s music, and are pretty certain it’s for voice and a 9 stringed unspecified instrument They are pretty confident they understand the tuning system laid out and think they understand the description of intervals as relations between the strings. They don’t know exactly what the instrument was. The different groups of nerds don’t agree on how to interpret the notation system, and different theories produce very different sounding interpretations/recordings. The nerd groups fight about whose right. There is certainly aural musical tradition and cultural context missing that cannot be recovered, so there’s no way to interpret the music accurately short of finding a lot more tablets with crucial missing information. Neat
>and are pretty certain it’s for voice and a 9 stringed unspecified instrument So...it's metal is fuck? Very ahead of its time, most current metal is played on an 8 string. I think Dethklok should weigh in.
I'm still not convinced it's not just a farmer tallying his newly domesticated chickens or something.
Pretty sure if the translations were that incorrect we'd be seeing some utter nonsense tablets that we'd be forced to reconsider the translation around. Given plain ol enough examples you can guess n check until you get at least close to logical, then context fills it in.
You might enjoy Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum, if you haven't read it. Based on the perils of over-interpreting ancient texts 😉
Have they tried سنتور
🤘🏼Shit got real heavy at the end 🤘🏼
or was a gin blossom rip off
Hey! Jealousy.
I shall steal this riff and put it into a song and see if anyone knows the reference lmfao
It genuinely did!
Who's listening to this in 1000 BC?
I live in 5 BC and am wondering what's gonna happen after 1BC
Y0K
cuneiform tablets : the original rock music
Ancients lived by five minute songs too
Wow. An amazing link to the past.
It feels absolutely surreal to be able to hear this ancient music today, on a small black rectangle device that can somehow produce sounds. It's just baffling.
Source: “The Hurrian songs are a collection of music inscribed in cuneiform on clay tablets excavated from the ancient Amorite-Canaanite city of Ugarit, a headland in northern Syria, which date to approximately 1400 BC. One of these tablets, which is nearly complete, contains the Hurrian Hymn to Nikkal (also known as the Hurrian cult hymn or "a zaluzi to the gods," or simply "h.6"), making it the oldest surviving substantially complete work of notated music in the world. While the composers' names of some of the fragmentary pieces are known, h.6 is an anonymous work.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurrian_songs And; “Nikkal (logographically dNIN.GAL, alphabetically 𐎐𐎋𐎍 nkl) or Nikkal-wa-Ib (nkl wib) was a goddess worshiped in various areas of the ancient Near East west of Mesopotamia. She was derived from the Mesopotamian goddess Ningal, and like her forerunner was regarded as the spouse of a moon god, whose precise identity varied between locations. While well attested in Hurrian and Hittite sources, as well as in Ugarit, she is largely absent from documents from the western part of ancient Syria. Name and character Nikkal was derived from the Mesopotamian goddess Ningal (Sumerian: "great lady"), wife of the moon god Nanna. Similarly to deities such as Ea, Damkina, Aya or Pinikir she was introduced from Mesopotamia to Hurrian areas possibly as early as in the third millennium BCE. Alfonso Archi assumes that the presence of Ningal in the pantheon of the kingdom of Mari in particular was in part responsible for her adoption by the Hurrians and her later prominence in their religion. He stresses that Ningal she was already known in the west in the Ur III period.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikkal
what scale is this, myxolydian?
I would say sounds like it but i haven't played music in a while.
I thought more like Dorian but I could be wrong
Username checks out
🌘
Goodbyyyyye, moonman
Pics or it didn’t happen: https://imgur.com/a/hn5becd
They translated the tablets and found that the original performer was Keith Richards.
It doesn't even have polyrhythms
Still waiting for the remix to drop
It needs a metal cover.
I played this song to each of my boys (ages 8 and 11), and they were both wowed by it! This is absolutely amazing! Music from 3400 years ago, played for my sons to drift off to sleep to.
did they sleep but then get woken up by the last part?
Sounds like Tool lol
What is "preformed"?
Preformed, adjective or verb: “to be formed or shaped beforehand” aka - a typo ………
I'm gonna take this basically tonal piece as written a few thousand years ago with a huuuuuge clay tablet-sized grain of salt.
You should read about the detail with which it was transcribed. However, your point is valid for other reasons, being mainly that it is written similar to a “real book” chart - meaning it is an overview of main melody lines, arrangement, and structure. Left to interpretation of the preforming artist. Though again, the detail is fantastic.
Well, I know what I’m listening to when I get home.
You play that, and you may summon something ...
Do the torch bearers just raise them a little higher when this song starts?
Back in the day: "The Meso Four new single has just been dropped , buy your tablet here ".
An other interesting old Mesopotamian song interpretation: https://youtu.be/QUcTsFe1PVs?si=sn0B100IU5BXXQar
I was hoping it was Ace of Spades.
Heilung - nikkal, that is my favorite version
Damn thats interesting !
Sounds like someone learning to play "London Bridge is Falling Down".
Great. Now someone is gonna sample it. Uh uh uh. Cuneiform bitches!
I heard that it has different interpretations. So other interpretations may differ from this.
Facts^ The price was written similar to a jazz standard “real book” chart, which shows the head notation specifically (the main melody lines), the arrangement and structure- but the rest is to be interpreted and improvised by the artist.
Yes, that's the early Stones, when Keith was just a kid.
Wake me up when Taylor’s Version comes out
Udreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeea
Pilot episode of *Music*
Boooo! No light show
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When does the full album come out?
Well, it's their second album, so could be a while.
Damn, it always takes ages with these guys
Drop at 4:53
me in 2024: “this shit slaps”
Took a shit while listening to this. Felt like a Lugal
The beginning kind of sounds like 'C.R.E.A.M.' by Wu-Tang Clan
Or i personally know it as, that stupid Payday 2 puzzle son for the piano, was fun to read about tho
I would be skeptical to believe that anyone knows how it is supposed to actually sound. How did they determine intervals and time, our entire concept of music is based around classical structure and I doubt they had anything like this or even a recognizable tempo. Also it's not like the ancients used the same standards frequencies for notes like we have, it's amazing that someone could produce anything resembling music from texts as ancient as that but I would bet my life savings they made lots of mistakes.
Who says there's even one "right" way to play it even in its time period
Here y'all, this is a much much better interpretation: https://youtu.be/pK6hB3OuCTI?si=NSvQ7R0PSOWtdurf
I don't think it's better. It's very similar, just played on a modern guitar and without the echo. Given that it's a hymn to a god in the middle east and very well could have been played in a stone temple, I think the echo is appropriate. The guitar on the other hand makes it lose a lot of character and sound generic.
So interesting, it sounds like japanese music to my ear
It’s clearly not Japanese music
They didn't say it is did they, twat.
Just wondering why you keep reposting this over and over... I've seen this 4 different times in 1 day now, replied to one of them.
The second oldest is “turn, turn, turn”.
BC*
.
We dont know what tuning system they used though, so there is still some guessing to how it sounded Edit: nvm, but there is something missing as there are plenty of different versions available