Uploaded October 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
A 'live' performance of "Lament of the Captives of Sennacherib" - track 2 from my 2020 album, "Echoes of Ancient Mesopotamia & Canaan":
open.spotify.com/album/183Znh8Rb2AFtyfwAlxA6a?si=BvURAKNDQlCIIkeaygd_NQ
The Assyrians ruled much of the Middle East from their capital, Nineveh, located on the east bank of the Tigris River near Mosul in northern Iraq. In approximately 701 BCE, Sennacherib, King of Assyria, attacked the fortified cities of the Kingdom of Judah in a campaign of subjugation. Sennacherib besieged Jerusalem but failed to capture it — it is the only city mentioned as being besieged on Sennacherib's Stele, of which the capture is not mentioned.
However, clearly depicted in a surviving bas relief from the ruins of Sennacherib's southwest palace, is a fascinating illustration of three (possibly Jewish or maybe Phoenician?) captives, being marched by an Assyrian solider, who is forcing them to sing a song, accompanied by their lyres.
This piece is my own imaginative evocation of the sort of melody the lamenting captives of Sennacherib depicted in this illustration might have played...
This album is my mostly historically inspired evocation, of the lost music of ancient Mesopotamia & Canaan; but as the final track, this release also features my most recent arrangement of the reconstructed melody of an actual bronze age hymn to Nikkal; the oldest notated fragment of music which can still be interpreted and performed today; performed this time, on a replica of an actual surviving bronze age lyre.
For most of the tracks, I play this fascinating replica of an actual, typical bronze age Canaanite form of asymmetric lyre; custom-made for me by Luthieros. The design of this lyre was based on the same proportions of a Canaanite form of lyre found in Egypt, dating to circa 1,500 BCE and which is preserved in Leiden.
These types of lyres were almost certainly introduced into Egypt during the reign of the Canaanite Hyksos kings, that ruled northern Egypt as the 15th dynasty, c.1630–1523 BCE.
The exotic, sitar-like tone of the bass strings of this lyre, are due to the flat-topped, groove-less bridge. As almost all the lyres still played throughout the African continent today still retain this distinctive buzzing timbre (particularly the Ethiopian begena), since the lyre originally probably came to Africa via ancient trade routes between the ancient Near East and Egypt, it is indeed far more likely, that this buzzing timbre of the lyre was much closer to the original ancient near eastern/middle eastern lyres of antiquity.
For some of the tracks, I also use the more sinister, darker timbre of my tenor register 10-string lyre - ideal for evoking the mystery of the long-forgotten pantheon of ancient Mesopotamian & Canaanite gods!
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youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=Klezfiddle1
Official Artist Links:
Official Website:
ancientlyre.com
Digital Music Artist Profiles:
Spotify: open.spotify.com/artist/7Dx2vFEg8DmOJ5YCRm4A5v
iTunes & Apple Music:
itunes.apple.com/us/artist/michael-levy/id4324920
Amazon:
amzn.to/2zmJph3
Bandcamp:
michaellevy.bandcamp.com
Facebook Page:
facebook.com/beautifullyre
Twitter:
twitter.com/AncientLyre
Instagram:
instagram.com/mlevy1400bce
Patreon:
patreon.com/Michael_Levy_Ancient_Lyre_Music
A 'live' performance of "Lament of the Captives of Sennacherib" - track 2 from my 2020 album, "Echoes of Ancient Mesopotamia & Canaan":
open.spotify.com/album/183Znh8Rb2AFtyfwAlxA6a?si=BvURAKNDQlCIIkeaygd_NQ
The Assyrians ruled much of the Middle East from their capital, Nineveh, located on the east bank of the Tigris River near Mosul in northern Iraq. In approximately 701 BCE, Sennacherib, King of Assyria, attacked the fortified cities of the Kingdom of Judah in a campaign of subjugation. Sennacherib besieged Jerusalem but failed to capture it — it is the only city mentioned as being besieged on Sennacherib's Stele, of which the capture is not mentioned.
However, clearly depicted in a surviving bas relief from the ruins of Sennacherib's southwest palace, is a fascinating illustration of three (possibly Jewish or maybe Phoenician?) captives, being marched by an Assyrian solider, who is forcing them to sing a song, accompanied by their lyres.
This piece is my own imaginative evocation of the sort of melody the lamenting captives of Sennacherib depicted in this illustration might have played...
This album is my mostly historically inspired evocation, of the lost music of ancient Mesopotamia & Canaan; but as the final track, this release also features my most recent arrangement of the reconstructed melody of an actual bronze age hymn to Nikkal; the oldest notated fragment of music which can still be interpreted and performed today; performed this time, on a replica of an actual surviving bronze age lyre.
For most of the tracks, I play this fascinating replica of an actual, typical bronze age Canaanite form of asymmetric lyre; custom-made for me by Luthieros. The design of this lyre was based on the same proportions of a Canaanite form of lyre found in Egypt, dating to circa 1,500 BCE and which is preserved in Leiden.
These types of lyres were almost certainly introduced into Egypt during the reign of the Canaanite Hyksos kings, that ruled northern Egypt as the 15th dynasty, c.1630–1523 BCE.
The exotic, sitar-like tone of the bass strings of this lyre, are due to the flat-topped, groove-less bridge. As almost all the lyres still played throughout the African continent today still retain this distinctive buzzing timbre (particularly the Ethiopian begena), since the lyre originally probably came to Africa via ancient trade routes between the ancient Near East and Egypt, it is indeed far more likely, that this buzzing timbre of the lyre was much closer to the original ancient near eastern/middle eastern lyres of antiquity.
For some of the tracks, I also use the more sinister, darker timbre of my tenor register 10-string lyre - ideal for evoking the mystery of the long-forgotten pantheon of ancient Mesopotamian & Canaanite gods!
Subscribe:
youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=Klezfiddle1
Official Artist Links:
Official Website:
ancientlyre.com
Digital Music Artist Profiles:
Spotify: open.spotify.com/artist/7Dx2vFEg8DmOJ5YCRm4A5v
iTunes & Apple Music:
itunes.apple.com/us/artist/michael-levy/id4324920
Amazon:
amzn.to/2zmJph3
Bandcamp:
michaellevy.bandcamp.com
Facebook Page:
facebook.com/beautifullyre
Twitter:
twitter.com/AncientLyre
Instagram:
instagram.com/mlevy1400bce
Patreon:
patreon.com/Michael_Levy_Ancient_Lyre_Music
