Ancient music - Oldest complete song "Epitaph of Seikolos" - Greek Lyre, Har-Mose lute

A very old song on very old instruments...
Epitaph of Seikolos is the oldest full length song in existence. Here, I accompany the song on some of the most ancient plucked instruments; Greek lyre, ancient lute, and the Har-Mose (Egyptian) lute which is the oldest surviving lute in the world dating as far back as 1490 bc.

[@readtruth6670]

It’s as if the music has no regard for the thousands of years gone by. It still connects all who hear it.

[@nicolepeixoto9787]

Amen

[@thekingsbard6132]

Probably the best rendition of this piece that I've ever heard! Well done!

[@briankayofficial3237]

Wow. Thank you!

[@frankboogaard88]

Since you went through the trouble of actually re-creating the instruments, this is probably the most accurate version of that song that will ever be posted on KZbin ;)

[@medidkorn]

Wrong because he said it himself he's doing an improvisation on the instrument to the lyrics... he's not playing the actual song.

[@elareyorgoelareyorgo]

Hi Brian, I am truly honoured that you have brought a piece of my ancestry back to life, thank you my friend. Music truly unites humanity 👏🤝

[@cynthiafolio9384]

I love the instruments and the unusual meters in the interpretation (which is usually in strict 6/8 time). I love the freedom!

[@aachen800]

This really brings the past forward. I think of the countless beautiful compositions that have been painstakingly created, enjoyed and then lost to time.

[@victoriaviana8643]

Not only beautiful, and wonderfully performed, but also extremelly moving and inspiring. I'm currently writing a paper on the value of clasic culture on today's world, and your music and your voice I get in the mood to fall in love with early history more than ever. If this is not a love declaration, I don't know what is 😜

[@rlord7053]

Beautifully done.. closed my eyes and listened before I started my day.

[@masterdon3821]

This hymnic style is between happiness and sadness. Today european music is too happy, while midlde eastern is too sad. Such middle ground feeling you can find at the edges of the map, papua ,sahel, in some parts of south east asia,maybe ireland

[@peterfrance702]

Bravo! Spin me back down the years and the days of my youth.

[@Tom-Lahaye]

Beautiful song, you can also hear well where the later music styles from the middle east came from.

[@briankayofficial3237]

Yes I agree

[@johnstartup3938]

Fretting with harmonics . No neck . Wonderful .

[@johnstartup3938]

Sophisticated .

[@frenchpizza9725]

My home. In ancient days. Alula. Thanks for this. Untainted. Complete. Pure. We return to CREATOR knowing the truth. Our Souls DON'T speak English we speak Creator. I love love love love love love love love love love love you all. Your talent is amazing Artist work. Full circle to the True Humans that love CREATOR. Ancestors loving us still.....play on

[@MrGREYMATTERS]

WOW!!! BEAUTIFUL instrument builds! SUBLIME performance! BRAVO!!!

[@briankayofficial3237]

Thanks!

[@unknown_norie]

That's awesome and imperative. Great channel. A pleasure 🛶

[@petercane6376]

That was so beautiful. Can you write that out for me with words and musical notation? I so love it. I have ordered my 7 string lyre from Lutherios is Greece and the lyre Method by Dr Nikolaos Xanthousis. I am an amatuer luthier and would very much like to make my own lyre. Do you have any notes on construction please? I am interested in what skin to use and how it is stretched and secured. I will make the lyre for my own personal use. I am not a business and of no threat to you. Many thanks for your wonderful video.

[@benneven9316]

Impressive!

[@magneticexpansionradio4100]

Nicely done I'm learning banjo and have been researching how ancient Sumerians tuned up , I can't figure out how to tune my 5 string banjo if I were to play along , what would you recommend ?

[@hinditaly2882]

You are special 💛🥇🌟

[@briankayofficial3237]

So are you ; )

[@Zikuth]

The recreation of the instruments is awesome and the performance. Awesome there. I have problems with the version. Greek people loved simplicity, and the lyrics invites to relax and joy, you made it sound almost baroque, almost tedious. I could feel even the air of the sea in the melody, but not in your version

[@thyrn888]

Fascinating and beautiful. thank you!

[@briankayofficial3237]

You are welcome!

[@gorgosaurusful]

¡This is awesome! Thank you for sharing.

[@clawhammer704]

How did you discover how it tuned? I noticed in one of the old pictures shown here one guy is playing rhythm with a plectrum while the other fellow is playing lead with possibly a singer standing there. Could also be a listener.

[@wesleykalor5267]

Epically wowed!

[@istinapravda7956]

it reminds me of white rabbit jefferson airplane 4:36 only this is more pleasing to my ears

[@Tuesoctloth]

Hello Brian Kay. I was wondering if you would be willing to share your sheet music with a fellow lyrist. I found your rendition to be very beautiful and it is something I would like to play, however I am not skilled enough to learn by watching your movements. Best regards, Rusty ps. disregard my funny channel name and pfp. It is simply for giggles.

[@chapstick-217]

can i like get a download of some melodies you have with these instruments? am a producer the vocals are nice too

[@chapstick-217]

[@darylhudson777]

I'd like to see what the original notes were they written down because I think you're just making it up as you go but correct me if I'm wrong

[@TheNephilli]

aaaaaaaaand subscribed!

[@vinceraineing]

Wow

[@mauriziosorelli9566]

Mi sorprende che ci siano tanti commenti entusiastici riguardo a musica modale di due millenni fa. Non risentendo di attrazioni tonali, non può che sonare alquanto vacua, abituati come siamo da quattro secoli alle più smaglianti architetture dei geni della musica tonale occidentale, da Monteverdi a Stravinskij

[@patriciawilson605]

Almost modern music!

[@dbadagna]

Isn't "A Zaluzi to the Gods" older? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurrian_songs

[@BlackberryOrchestra]

Hurricane hymn no.6 is older, and substantial, but not a complete song. Some of it is missing, requiring reconstruction for performance.

[@nesrinakan4001]

@@BlackberryOrchestra But that missing part is not an obstacle to render. You can play it. I like your this song rendition.

[@briankayofficial3237]

This is true, but that is why the song, the way it comes to us, is considered incomplete. There is missing music.

[@stacygunz88]

Isn’t the lyre use in Egyptian music?

[@stringsandpipes7548]

Very interesting. Could you post the music sheet for those who want to try playing the first piece on another instrument?

[@briankayofficial3237]

The music is available in modern notation with a simple google search. The original tablet image is available in Wikipedia if you want a crack at that...

[@kathrynblack9022]

This is beautiful! Thank you! ✨

[@almishti]

What is that image (vase painting?) at :55 from?

[@huynhaucour4957]

Thanks for research of instruments played by greek civilization: cords by tremolo revoke modern rebeticca actual rhythms.

[@monsieurlemon]

I thought it was in the major key not minor

[@DanHoward-pt5hg]

Bro is that Nile lol

[@repeatdefender6032]

So haunting, music reaching across the centuries, heard by me in the most modern way possible, via the internet. Beautiful instruments, wonderful work.

[@Viamdei-x5t]

If I could, I would put ten thousand likes. Thank you very much for continuing to post the video here. Your work is incomparable. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

[@briankayofficial3237]

I wish you could!! Thanks so much. Reactions like this really mean a lot to me.

[@_koza]

Amazing that these instruments & musical style sounds like it sits exactly in the middle of all the cultural music from around the world. I hear hints of European, East Asian, Middle Eastern, Indian, African, & even Aboriginal Australian. Native American music isn't too far off, but has a bit more uniqueness than the rest.

[@briankayofficial3237]

Thanks so much for saying this. I was hoping to convey this so it’s great to hear that it landed.

[@pinktheaxolotl5428]

​@@briankayofficial3237 what is the second instrument, I wanna play it. And I am willing to break a few nails and finger bruses for it.

[@tariizm1500]

sorry but i dont hear it north African and north Indian music both influenced by middle easterns and Greco-Roman was influenced by Mesopotamian but they upgraded it in Islamic golden age Arabs adopted Greco-Roman style so today's middle eastern music + Balkan especially Greek music is direct continuity of Mesopotamian + Greco-Roman music so there is that

[@natheria4933]

it is absolutely incredible that a song managed to survive for over a thousand years. What a beautiful song too. Its such a terrible shame we lose so much to time.

[@Илья́Впрямь]

" 🎵O Kronos Apaitei 🎵" ... Time Requires its due

[@jeremiahfrancis8145]

Great Composers: Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Bach, Chopin, Kay... You are a Genius, Young Man... All the Former may Have Created Great pieces, and Played many instruments, However, You Make Them; and, Play and Sing With a Spirit far Beyond tHis Realm, Heavenly. You Brought Me Peace... Thank You.

[@145FREE]

Greek beat! Love it! And to think it came together using modern digital editing. Exciting artistic interpretation... old and new. Bravo!

[@hellomate639]

Seems like you're farther along the same journey, making your own instruments because they're hard to come by. I just finished up building a lyre. One project I have in mind is building the instruments from Middle Earth, especially since music was fairly emphasized in the books. I kind of want to try to develop styles for dwarves and elves, but really focus on using the most appropriate things from older and newer traditions, really trying to get in deeper touch with the emotional and intuitive language of music. I've been thinking of producing some of these older instruments and figuring out how to market them, especially easy ones to make like the anglo saxon lyre. But, I also see these cheap 100 dollar lyre harps being fairly popular, and they don't fit any particular tradition, but rather are treated as a beginner instrument. I also have something in mind for that type of thing, but perhaps with more old world inspiration so that the instrument has more of that old world magic.

[@TheSound0fsilence]

Thanks Brian! It was enlightening and very beautiful. The lute part's so hypnotizing, it took me away for a couple of minutes. Btw, it would be nice to see a tour on your instruments.

[@briankayofficial3237]

Great suggestion. I will probably begin to do more talk videos with demonstrations of my instruments.

[@AntonL1994]

It seems I have reached the absolute limit of finding the ‘deep cuts’

[@gaughinred]

What is life without music It is a panacea in the era of hue & cry Thank you for sharing your gifts with us! If Seikilos only knew what a treasure he was leaving for us by carving his all-too brief composition into stone; one can only imagine the volume of the enchantments composed on paper that have been lost to the ravages of time.

[@pabhb]

How can this video not have 10 million views? Amazing work, thank you!

[@stefanheintzelmann5744]

So ancient and mystic! Bravo! 👌🏻🏛👏🏻

[@joek600]

Congratulations for the research, instrument building/playing and your singing voice. The pronunciation is very off, because of the Erasmian plague on the Greek language. Because I dont want this to evolve into an Erasmian VS anti-Erasmian football match, I will just say that even if that Dutch guy had some good points on his theory of how a language, that he was not a natural speaker, sounded, his hypothesis was about the Classical era. That means 5th to 4th centuries BC. Seikilos wrote down his lyrics and melody in 200 AD, at that point the Attic koine sounded extremely close to the modern Greek pronunciation and the best proof of that, is the Greek Orthodox liturgy, that serves literally as a linguistic time capsule. So this version here is much more accurate pronunciation wise, kzbin.info/www/bejne/rJuZm6CBnrWija8

[@hiddenhope7569]

Here we go thats how you recall music properly. You need the original instruments.

[@dbadagna]

Seikolos => Seikilos (Σεικίλος)

[@Antiagingalchemy]

So enthralling!! Thank you for putting your time and dedication into recreating what these beautiful songs must have sounded like ❤

[@thecitizen49]

Making music is the best thing that humans have ever done.

[@triosefardi5268]

Truly impressive and very beautiful, Brian. You continue to amaze!

[@briankayofficial3237]

Thank you and miss you all!

[@fromthebackseat4865]

This is absolutely incredible. Music is such an amazing thing and I feel like you’ve taken me back in time. Thank you for sharing this. Im extremely grateful people are keeping this stuff alive.

[@toasty12354]

only first century Greece kids will remember this

[@Agent_Frank_Horrigan]

I love that youve put the time and effort to bring us as close as possible to the authentic sound as you could. How many people would do that? Also the turtle shell instruments remind me of a Turtle shell banjo Ive seen around. Crazy to think what I used to consider a creative hillbilly instrument is now closer to being an ancient instrument than a modern lute

[@ghostboy4115]

Mind if I ask how you’ve learned to play the lyre? And also what kind of strings you ended up using? I’m constructing one of my own and would love any advice!

[@frenchpizza9725]

True frequencies of God. Thanks family

[@cynthiamathers8933]

Yes 🙏✨✨

[@richarddumbrill]

No, not the oldest song. Hurrian H.6 is complete. I know I have translated it! Have you translated the seikilos song?

[@ryanradpictures]

What an exceptionally beautiful and historic performance! Listening to the very ancient piece of music, 'Epitaph of Seikolos,' played on Greek instruments such as the lyre and Har-Mose lute, is a truly amazing and exciting experience. I highly recommend this video to all enthusiasts of historical music.

[@stacygunz88]

The Roman’s tries to control music or people didn’t they? So this was before Roman Catholicism?

[@RyanNelly]

Nothing will appeases thy loneliness. Only death. And to play for the Gods can only rain strength and the sickness of love

[@djl1on641]

beautiful but not the oldest complete song i believe that title would go to the hurrian hymn no.6 from the ancient sumerians which existed long before the greeks

[@dbadagna]

Is that really a depiction of a Greek lute from an ancient pottery piece at 00:55? The depiction is a bit crude.

[@briankayofficial3237]

It is very crude. The instrument I built is hypothetical because there isn’t much iconography. But lutes and Ouds supposedly have a round back because it’s a holdover from a more ancient lute with a turtle shell back.

[@dbadagna]

@@briankayofficial3237 Fascinating. There is more speculation about the genesis of round-backed lutes in an article by Harvey Turnbull entitled "The Genesis of Carvel-Built Lutes" (Musica Asiatica 1, Oxford University Press, 1977, pp. 75-84), in which a lute almost exactly matching the one you built (the one without the cuts in the top skin) is depicted. Turnbull discusses Curt Sachs's ideas about the matter and discusses various materials and production techniques used for ancient lute resonators, including mention of dried gourds and carvel-built wooden construction as well as tortoise shells.

[@dwddindin]

I'm trying to make electronic music like this with these drums instead of the drums from jungle or drum n bass.

[@marienkijne]

I've got a question. I'm trying to make a replica of the lute, and the only thing I've not found out yet is how the hide was attached to the body. How did you attach yours? Edit: in specifically talking about the one with 6 holes in the resonating membrane. It looks like you used nails or wooden pegs? Very interesting to think how they made these 3500 years ago

[@BradfordtheEclectic]

All that is missing is boisterous applause at the conclusion.

[@seashelly6387]

So gorgeous, bless you for keeping it alive ❤❤❤

[@medidkorn]

He's singing the song but not playing it weird that's an improvisation

[@Mac_an_Mheiriceanaigh]

You have the lyrics wrong. The lyric is "to telos ho khronos" not "to telos e khronos"

[@natey6256]

About what tuning are the instruments here? especially interested in the 3 stringed lute.

[@allancerf9038]

Brian Kay Official - Absolutely fantastic.

[@rickdynes]

.. working on an extensive immersive electronic music project ... this is already an absolutely inspiring reference ... thank you Sir for this gifting of a perfect introduction to this perfect masterpiece

[@johnfoley8260]

What was the source for the musical accompaniment?

[@talanyale5826]

Wow best musical chain ever

[@ERK_hanna]

By any chance was this made into a single i want to put rhis on Spotify

[@RyanNelly]

Now that's living the dream.

[@superfluffyfun]

wonderful...my guitar weeps

[@rrodizio5298]

Sounds just like the modern Greek bouzouki.

[@jadechan8673]

soft and haunting. Thank you for your dedication. you have a beautiful voice

[@3John-Bishop]

I want to hear Honky Tonk Women on these instruments.

[@ucanihl]

it's in phyrgian mode :)

[@EricOwensFlute]

Bro! You are a super badass! Respect!

[@ciccioconti0]

Good morning, can i use a few seconds of your music inside a personal documentary?

[@binxbolling]

Turtle shell products are illegal.

[@arvydas0069]

Wow....fuckin great

[@lauraestes9304]

This is the origin of the guitar !

[@murattaner7384]

Come to İstanbul. be my guest. :)))))

[@DanHoward-pt5hg]

Seriously you are awesome

[@albertoexp]

how you tune?

[@stringsandpipes7548]

What are you holding in your right hand while strumming the lyre? A microphone or a pic?

[@jonspatton]

Cool rendition and beautifully sung as always. Did you diary the process of making the instruments at all?

[@briankayofficial3237]

Barely. I only took a few photos, so not enough content for a video unfortunately. I get so into the individual project that I forget to document. But this is a good reminder for me in future endeavors.

[@VictorGreco]

What is the tuning of the har mose

[@robabnawaz]

I love this Har Mose lute

[@stoneybrotherbass]

Awesome, I am writing a story where two of the characters often play music together one with a Lute one with a Lyre I searched to hear what it might sound like, i never heard a lyre before,