Okay, this is really, really cool. I’m not a big fan of lazy bloggging with just a link but I’m happy to make an exception for truly awesome stuff. This certainly qualifies.
From the arranger: “This unique video, features my first of 2 arrangements for solo lyre, of the 3400 year old “Hurrian Hymn no.6″, which was discovered in Ugarit in Syria in the early 1950s, and was preserved for 3400 years on a clay tablet, written in the Cuniform text of the ancient Hurrian language – The Hurrian Hymn (catalogued as Text H6) was discovered in Ugarit, Syria, in the early 1950s, and was preserved for 3400 years on a clay tablet, written in the Cuniform text of the ancient Hurrian language – except from a few earlier Sumarian fragmentary instructional musical texts from c.1950 BCE (Musical Instructions for Lipit-Ishtar, King of Justice) the Hurrian Hymn it is the oldest written song yet known, in History!”
And in the world of accompaniment, check these out:
Flutes from somewhere around 43,000 years ago. Nope, I didn’t type that wrong, Neanderthal man seems to have been into making tunes (and amazingly round holes). Wow.