Creative genius and science.

[mckitterick]

Fascinating. This is the oldest piece of music known to humankind, originally engraved in cuneiform on a tablet from 1400 BCE, excavated in the early 1950s in the ancient Syrian city of Ugarit. It is a hymn to the moon god's wife, Nikal. The tablets also contain detailed performance instructions for a singer accompanied by a harpist (this recording

Comments

[jaylake]

Do you have a backlink on this?

[mckitterick]

I found it via Tumblr, where most things are unattributed (the original source didn't source it). However, the link to that other page has a video with music, and a search will turn up a huge amount more info.

[jaylake]

Thanks!

[mckitterick]

Tumblr! Place of wonders and silliness, depending how you filter it.

I know what you mean!

[miischelle]

Something about this post bothers me a lot, and once I figure out what it is, I'll be back for conversation.

[clevermanka]

Maybe it's the same thing that made me side-eye it:

mastery of anything was a form of magic

IT STILL IS.

[mckitterick]

Well, sure; I wasn't trying to say it's not! My point is that, now that we understand the scientific method and can consciously analyze things for how they work, anyone with sufficient motivation and passion to learn something can learn what appears to be magic to those who don't take the time.

We can still call it "magic," of course - that's what magic is, right? Something sufficiently outside our POV and understanding of how the universe works that we cannot explain it. But to the practitioner, it's a discipline.

[miischelle]

I'm really not sure how much the scientific method applies to the creation of master works of art...

[piezocuttlefish]

It sounds as like a direct ancestor of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.

Proust & The Squid tossed about the idea that, the text of the Sumerian lullaby Ua-aua is likely the remnants/descendent of the oldest music known to man.

[mckitterick]

That's charming!