Hymn to Ishtar · Modern classical piece to the Akkadian goddess
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This video presents the unofficial audio music track of ”Hymn to Ishtar”, a modern song to the Akkadian goddess Ishtar, performed by The Lyre Ensemble.
In April 2003, Andy Lowings and a small group of dedicated collaborators conceived the Gold Lyre of Ur Project, a charitable organisation dedicated to remaking an authentic, playable version of the famous Gold Lyre of Ur, a beautiful instrument from 2,500 BC discovered by archaeologists in Iraq in 1929. The lyre comes from one of the earliest human civilizations—Sumer in Mesopotamia, where the first writing systems were developed. From its large, golden bull’s head, to its tiny, ornate shell and lapis lazuli panels, the Gold Lyre was recreated as authentically as possible, in all its breathtaking detail, by a dedicated group of skilled artists and craftspeople.
Almost ten years after the project began, in 2012, Stef Conner—a composer and performer with a great passion for ancient languages—was put in touch with the Gold Lyre of Ur project through a mutual collaborator. Along with harpist and producer Mark Harmer, Stef and Andy improvised a musical setting of the flood narrative, from the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh (first millennium BCE). The amazing, unique results of this early experiment took Stef, Andy and Mark, as well as their friends and colleagues by surprise. Excited and inspired by the music these ancient instruments and texts had drawn out of them, they decided to record the first ever full-length album, The Flood, of cutting-edge new music in Sumerian and Babylonian, accompanied by reconstructed ancient lyres. ”Hymn to Ishtar” is one of these songs.
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