According to OpenCulture,There is no older music than “Hurrian Hymn No.6,” which was discovered in the 1950s on a clay tablet in the ancient Syrian port city of Ugarit and is over 3,400 years old.
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In fact, a similar stele mentions Lipit-Ishtar, a hymn to the fifth king of the first dynasty of Isin, located in what is now Iraq, about 600 years earlier, but as CMUSE reports, It “contains only tuning instructions for the piano”.
“Hurrian Hymn No. 6” offers much more, and unlike the other five tablets found at the same site, it is well preserved, allowing archaeologists and others to try to reconstruct its song, although this is by no means easy thing.
Anne Kilmer, professor emeritus of Assyria at the University of California, spent 15 years studying the stele before transcribing it into modern musical notation in 1972.
Her explanation is one of several from YouTuber hochelaga in the video above.
While the original inscription gives specific details on how musicians should place their fingers on the violin, other elements such as tuning or how long the notes should be held are absent, giving modern arrangers some leeway to be creative.
Here’s a 1998 interpretation by archaeological musicologist Richard Dumbrill, in which singer Lara Jokhder plays a young woman.
Here’s a particularly lovely version for classical guitar, courtesy of Syrian musicologist Raoul Vitale and composer Feras Rada.
There is also a piano version by Syrian-American composer Malek Jandali (founder of Pianos for Peace).
Who could resist the chance to hear “Hurrian Hymn No. 6” played on a replica of the ancient lyre by “New Ancestors” composer Michael Levy, who sees his musical mission as “opening a gateway to an era that was almost forgotten. Portal”:
I dream of rekindling the spirit of our ancient ancestors. It only takes a moment to capture a time when people imagined that the fabric of the universe was woven of harmony and musical notes. In a more modest age, people truly appreciated the fragility of life and performed every movement with a sense of reverence for the ancient gods.
Guitarist Steve Onotera, who also channeled the ancient mystery, combined Dr. Dumbrill’s melody with Dr. Kilmer’s, tried and ditched many approaches — synthwave, hip-hop, reggae dubbing — before deciding it was best for it as Presented as a solo on his Fender electric guitar.
Amaranth Publishing has several MIDI files for Hurrian Hymn No 6, including Dr. Kilmer’s, which you can download for free here.