Debut of my Ancient Egyptian 'New Kingdom' lute reconstruction

I had a Balkan instrument that wasn't terribly playable, so I decided to use the body of to make another instrument: a reconstruction of an Egyptian ancient New Kingdom-era lute, popular in Egypt between 1500-ca. 800 BCE. I used images of this lute from tomb paintings, and an actual instrument found in the tomb an official named Har-mose from about 150 BCE.
I made a few modifications, like using tuning pegs instead of tuning rings. Some paintings indicate frets, so in keeping with the 'ankh'-shapes of the pegs, which are closer I suppose to the symbol for Aphrodite from Cyprus (Alashiya, as known then) which is also the symbol for copper, her favorite metal, mined on Cyprus in the Bronze Age, I made the frets from copper and filed them down to match the curve of the fingerboard.
We don't know how the Egyptians actually tuned their string instruments but we do know how the Mesopotamians--who apparently originated the lute at least 600-700 years earlier--tuned theirs, b/c we have the clay tablets that tell us! Since New Kingdom Egypt had conquered or made vassals of the kingdoms of Canaan and Syria, I reasoned that they might have adopted the tuning used in the courts of these regions. The Mesopotamians used a sort-of 'Pythagorean' tuning system, but 1,000 years before Pythagoras; the Master was reputed to have studied in Egypt for some time, I further reasoned he may have partly come about his music theory ideas from them.
I then used a fret calculator to determine where the frets should go in a Pythagorean tuning. It was designed for use by players of the European lute, so it gave the fret positions for sharps and flats separately (long story for another video!): e.g. d# and eb are two different frets. This is why the frets on this lute look 'doubled'. Some of them I made as 1/2 or 2/3 frets.
Finally, I got some plain gut strings, as that was the material used in Egypt and Mesopotamia.
I'm very happy with how it turned out and how good it sounds, and will before long make another one to try out some different things in the design. This is me playing around with some musical ideas and seeing what this baby can do. Hope you all enjoy it as well.

[@AsymptoteInverse]

I find myself growing very fond of the sound of ancient instruments like this one.

[@almishti]

Glad to hear it. Me too!

[@williamsmyth5047]

King Tutankhamun would have been pleased. Sounds authentic, with beautiful tone.

[@almishti]

thank you, that is high praise indeed!

[@justicebeske5704]

I'd sure be proud if something I invented is played thousands of years in the future.

[@almishti]

Right? If only they could see it now. :)

[@FM_1819]

This is awesome, and your explenation in the description just goes to show the effort put in. I love it

[@almishti]

Thanks! I recently put up a 2nd video with this instrument. FYI. :)

[@goutamkarmoker4602]

Nice instrument

[@CalcMaster900]

Looks like an excellent recreation of an ancient spike lute. I’ve been doing some reading on them and I decided I wanted to maybe hear what one sounded like. Also, with the way you’ve tuned it, it sounds very similar to maqam music. Overall, very interesting piece.

[@almishti]

Thank you! The tuning doesn't have true 1/4 tones but it's interesting playing with the slightly differing # and b intervals. :)

[@robabnawaz]

Brilliant handwork, respect.

[@almishti]

Thank you Nawaz, nice to see you here.

[@robabnawaz]

@@almishti Anytime with pleasure

[@VTPfirewolf1994]

this is so cool! well done!

[@alejandroalbores6061]

Hi, i'm mexican interested in this kind of instruments, could be great talk about them.

[@almishti]

Hiya, yeah i'm always up to talk about them :) I do have another video up that's a zoom workshop I did about my reconstruction of another kind of ancient lute too, if you're interested it's on my channel!

[@treboroat3026]

sounds good!

[@almishti]

Thank you! :)

[@donnprivate8090]

Reminds me a lot of modern African lutes like the Akonting, and by extension the Banjo

[@donnprivate8090]

Kat, are you a Banjo player by chance? Just looking at your playing made me want to ask

[@donnprivate8090]

Bill Evans playing the Akonting: m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/sKHCeax5ec-LpcU

[@almishti]

@@donnprivate8090 Hi Donn, I wouldn't call myself a 'banjo player' per se, but I've been known to make some decent sounding music on banjos if there's one around. :) I kinda fake it, but tbh I don't *really* know how to claw-hammer.

[@michaelduncan5870]

Trying to find plans for Ancient Egyptian Lyre, would you have any leads?

[@almishti]

You could get in touch with Michael Levy who designs and builds a variety of harps, lyres and other instruments all based on ancient models, or else Peter Pringle who's done a lot of interesting experiments with ancient lyre design. They both have yt channels and are both easily accessible on fb, or if you're on fb you could join The Lyre, an active group with many instrument makers and players, someone there will definitely be able to help you. :)

[@Theshamanomar]

Hi Sir, where can we find these instruments for same that you have made?

[@almishti]

Hi Omar, do you mean to buy one? I'm really not sure, at this time I don't have a workshop or tools to do any large-scale projects like this. There are a few other instrument makers who might be able to, though their work is usually rather expensive (but very good quality).

[@CheckingYourRealityForYou]

how do u know they played in the dorian mode?

[@charleschannel5181]

Hi,it the guitar use 2 string?

[@almishti]

Hi, this one has three strings. I tune it as G-c-g or A-d-a .

[@anitabonghit2758]

Are those strings steel? Sounds like steel. Should be intestines

[@almishti]

oh gods no, not steel! They're gut strings, like you said. But they do sound nice and bright don't they? :)

[@sauliheikkila2938]

I think metal was not used as frets but gut. Nice replica anyway.

[@almishti]

I'm sure that is true. In retrospect I would have used gut. I used copper here for symbolic reasons. Next time will be different. Thanks!

[@quickquid6870]

😍

[@joyb5525]

Is it based on the key of G. Key of earth rotation. Tune sounds Greek. Well done. Thank you. From Ireland.

[@paulbombardier8722]

Nice sound and good playing,of course. Are there sources for the type of music that was played on the instrument?

[@Learnmever]

you must play Kurdish Tanbour "Kurdish" one

[@alexanderweikle]

Incredible work! Reminds me a lot of certain African lutes like the Akonting and the Xalam. Also, have you thought about crafting a replica of an ancient Egyptian harp? The Adungu harp of modern Uganda is virtually identical to the Egyptian original.

[@almishti]

Thank you so much. I suspect there's a connection between the 2 kinds of Egyptian lutes and the xalam/ngoni family of West African lutes, and perhaps the loutar types of lutes in Morocco. There's no archaeological evidence to really support a direct historical link but I believe it's a plausible but unproveable theory. I'm currently working on a kind of hybrid of the Scythian steppe harp and the late Assyrian horizontal angle harp, unfortunately at the moment i don't really have the resources to attempt an Egyptian harp. :P

[@ToddAndrewCole]

Hi Kat! Thanks for the wonderful song. I enjoyed all the information in the description; very interesting! Your "New Kingdom" lute looks amazing! Keep up the good work! I hope you and yours are safe and well. Take care.

[@almishti]

Thank you Todd, I appreciate that. I'll be posting more videos with this lute as I can. Stay tuned and be well!

[@ToddAndrewCole]

@@almishti Thanks for sharing your wonderful music!

[@AngryBrother360]

👏👍💯!.

[@OmarSlloum]

Can I ask what your tuning here was? I made a similar lute myself but tuned it to GDC to keep close to the oud

[@almishti]

Hi Omar. My tuning was either A-E-A or G-D-G, I forget which. But basically a 5th from bass to middle strings, and a 4th on top of that. If you make any videos with your lute, let me know, always interested to see/hear what other folks are doing. :)

[@OmarSlloum]

@@almishti thank you for the reply, I'll try your tuning as it sounds great in the video. I might start making videos of mine at some point but I've only recently picked up playing instruments. 😅

[@hurdygurdyguy1]

Nicely done!! Your description was great! I'm guessing the frets would probably have been tied strands of gut rather than metal (which allows the frets to be moved as needed)... Something's missing though... 🤔 Oh yeah, naked female court musicians as shown on some of the tomb walls! 😉

[@arbanu.comics]

There's an Albanian eagle behind the guy. This is the obvious proof that ancient Egyptians were Albanians.

[@almishti]

Hahaha, nice one! *I see what you did there* ;)

[@amosmurangiri8182]

3:40 to 4 minutes in that tone with some need 20 minutes straight. Miracle's would happen. Some play is music to my hears

[@almishti]

thanks a lot, that is a nice moment, you're right i should develop that bit into something. :)

[@santoshgujar5237]

🌺🙏😇, nice Sir

[@almishti]

Thank you!

[@onelife-celebrateit]

😍🙏

[@RawPower867]

Sounds so much like an oud.

[@almishti]

It's a bit twangier b/c of the skin soundboard, but bascially yes there is a resemblance. :)

[@arno-luyendijk4798]

For 4 years now, I have studied much information concerning the hommel/hummel, and my discovery of ancient instruments seems to grow ever more concerning I found this reconstruction. Do you have plans to make a building instruction for this instrument?

[@almishti]

Hiya. Thanks for your comment. The German scholar Eicardo Eichmann has some excellent work on the ancient Egyptian lutes based on the actual instruments found in ancient tombs. He includes detailed diagrams with exact dimensions and lots of information on other details like bridge designs. His articles are in German and English and you can find many of them online, I think some you can download as pdf from academia .com. That would be a great place to start. I've also, since I made this instrument, made an experimental version of the Mesopotamian lute. I have some videos of that up on my channel. I also did a video of a zoom workshop from 2021 where I described my process, that's on my channel too! I would very much like to make a building instruction for these When time permits. :)

[@烏梨師斂]

Amazing

[@almishti]

Thank you, appreciate the compliment!

[@nikkirockznikkirockz4158]

#WoWzerZ

[@cultist7931]

very nice!!!!

[@ahmednader2753]

Beautiful! It's rare to find videos like that one on KZbin

[@almishti]

Thank you, I appreciate that. I plan on putting up some more, and in the near future to work on another version of Egyptian lute.

[@ohmilkysmile]

thats a mighty strange banjo you got there pal

[@Allan-et5ig]

Fabulous. Nicely done.

[@rupertguenther]

thanks, very interesting to hear this...and an interesting looking collection on the wall as well

[@almishti]

Thanks Rupert! The stuff on the wall is tbh only about 1/5 of my total collection, which keeps getting bigger even when I'm not looking...

[@rupertguenther]

@@almishti I totally get it! Hope to meet some day

[@almishti]

@@rupertguenther i currently live in Morocco, i expect to be here for at least the next year, probably longer. If you're in the country look me up! Jeff Charest on fb if you want to find me. :)

[@rupertguenther]

@@almishti very cool, thank you - I'm traveling again with some tours so it may indeed be possible. Thanks for the reach out /\

[@Suki_Damson_123]

Lovely music, very atmospheric and beautiful❤️ What mode /key are you playing in?

[@almishti]

Thank you! Oh gosh, I modulated a lot, trying out different modes. I believe here I tuned it to a-e-a, so the tonic is on a on the first string. I started out in something like a dorian, a-b-c-d but using a g# below a instead of g natural. Then I switched to a lydian mode in the high register, then came back down to idk something vaguely Japanese, from there i'm not sure what i did lol. :)

[@joebonansinga1284]

Sounds great! Block inlays - nice touch.

[@almishti]

Thank you! They come in handy.

[@bearshield7138]

sweet job wonderful sound

[@almishti]

thank you!

[@Wagoo]

Great work mate, that was a joy to hear :)

[@almishti]

Thanks so much! :)

[@ДмитрийШмелёв-ч1ь]

amazing. it is so inspiring! I want to do something like this

[@NerineDorman]

This is an absolute joy to behold.

[@almishti]

Thank you that's a really lovely thing to hear :)

[@gilgonzalez5968]

Alguien que me diga por favor que afinación llevan esas cuerdas

[@almishti]

Hiya, de graves a agudos son, creo, A D A . Sin embargo , Portia ser A E A, no recuerdo cuál usé para esto .

[@gilgonzalez5968]

@@almishti eres increíble

[@almishti]

@@gilgonzalez5968 Muchas Gracias!

[@naonzz5942]

Pharaoh headbanging on the Memphis gigs 2100bc

[@wisono7857]

5:14

[@charleschannel5181]

The ancient original egypt do you have it 2 string..body ,old music playing sound?

[@almishti]

Hiya, the Egyptians had two kinds of lutes, one had 2 strings and the other had 3. I based this on the 3 string type.

[@امحوتب-ش7ز]

Dude well done 👌❤️

[@almishti]

Thank you!

[@Learnmever]

You must play Kurdish Tanbour

[@almishti]

I do play it, a little bit! :)

[@Learnmever]

I hope you make a video about it

[@almishti]

@@Learnmever someday, I'm in Morocco now but most of my instruments are in the UK :P

[@Learnmever]

Wish you the best of all dear pure soul

[@almishti]

@@Learnmever thanks so much!

[@Zeagods-CyberShadow]

Im glad i get to know this instrument

[@wisono7857]

6:11 SUS AMOGUS