Uploaded November 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
A presentation of track 8, "The Scented Flowers of Persephone" from my forthcoming new album for recreated ancient Greek lyres, "The Cave of Hermes" - out on all the usual major digital music platforms on 1st January 2022, the album can be pre-ordered now, from Bandcamp:
michaellevy.bandcamp.com/album/the-cave-of-hermes
The album is also available to pre-order on Amazon & iTunes from 1st December, 2021.
This album, like so many other recent of my recent releases, uses snapshots from the vast palette of ancient Greek mythology to inspire the ancient-themed compositions, which once again, feature a range of recreated ancient Greek lyres, tuned in a selection of some of the original ancient Greek modes, whose distinctive qualities are further enhanced using just intonation.
The lyres in this album were all lovingly recreated in modern Greece, by Luthieros:
luthieros.com
The lyres include two custom made tortoise shell lyres, featuring naturally occurring tortoise shells from long deceased modern Greek land tortoises; foraged from the forests near Thessaloniki (no live animals were harmed!) & a selection of 'chelys' form (tortoise shell form) lyres, which although fashioned in the form of a tortoise shell, feature resonators made from wood over which the skin soundboard is stretched - these lyres possess a richer, deeper timbre, more suitable to accompany some of the simple vocal lines which feature in some of the tracks.
My Luthieros kithara (the large wooden concert lyre favoured by only the professional musicians of ancient Greece) also features on track 5, "The Healing of Asclepius".
In my continuing efforts to create the evolution of a truly distinctive 'New Ancestral' music genre, throughout this project, I also attempt to further enhance the dreamy quality of the timbre of the recreated ancient lyre, with a subtle palette of contemporary studio effects, ranging from reverbs sampled from actual cathedrals & caves, to specific melodic phrasesenhanced with dream-like echoes & delays.
To evoke the dreamy scene of scented flowers, I use the distinctively dreamy, sensual ancient Greek Hypolydian mode - the equivalent intervals as F-F on the white notes of the piano, but heard here in the focussed purity of just intonation.
Whenever I play anything in this gorgeously sensual mode, it conjures up imagery in my mind, of sweetly scented flowers - amazingly, I recently discovered that exactly the same mode was also used in ancient Persia where it was known as "Golestan" - which amazingly, translates as "Flower Garden"!
The lyre featured in this piece, is the Luthieros "Lyre of Apollo III" - its rich, subtle buzzy timbre to me goes further & evokes the sound of summer bees, buzzing around the scented flowers which Persephone was busy picking.
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Official Website:
ancientlyre.com
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itunes.apple.com/us/artist/michael-levy/id4324920
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twitter.com/AncientLyre
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Patreon:
patreon.com/Michael_Levy_Ancient_Lyre_Music
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
A presentation of track 8, "The Scented Flowers of Persephone" from my forthcoming new album for recreated ancient Greek lyres, "The Cave of Hermes" - out on all the usual major digital music platforms on 1st January 2022, the album can be pre-ordered now, from Bandcamp:
michaellevy.bandcamp.com/album/the-cave-of-hermes
The album is also available to pre-order on Amazon & iTunes from 1st December, 2021.
This album, like so many other recent of my recent releases, uses snapshots from the vast palette of ancient Greek mythology to inspire the ancient-themed compositions, which once again, feature a range of recreated ancient Greek lyres, tuned in a selection of some of the original ancient Greek modes, whose distinctive qualities are further enhanced using just intonation.
The lyres in this album were all lovingly recreated in modern Greece, by Luthieros:
luthieros.com
The lyres include two custom made tortoise shell lyres, featuring naturally occurring tortoise shells from long deceased modern Greek land tortoises; foraged from the forests near Thessaloniki (no live animals were harmed!) & a selection of 'chelys' form (tortoise shell form) lyres, which although fashioned in the form of a tortoise shell, feature resonators made from wood over which the skin soundboard is stretched - these lyres possess a richer, deeper timbre, more suitable to accompany some of the simple vocal lines which feature in some of the tracks.
My Luthieros kithara (the large wooden concert lyre favoured by only the professional musicians of ancient Greece) also features on track 5, "The Healing of Asclepius".
In my continuing efforts to create the evolution of a truly distinctive 'New Ancestral' music genre, throughout this project, I also attempt to further enhance the dreamy quality of the timbre of the recreated ancient lyre, with a subtle palette of contemporary studio effects, ranging from reverbs sampled from actual cathedrals & caves, to specific melodic phrasesenhanced with dream-like echoes & delays.
To evoke the dreamy scene of scented flowers, I use the distinctively dreamy, sensual ancient Greek Hypolydian mode - the equivalent intervals as F-F on the white notes of the piano, but heard here in the focussed purity of just intonation.
Whenever I play anything in this gorgeously sensual mode, it conjures up imagery in my mind, of sweetly scented flowers - amazingly, I recently discovered that exactly the same mode was also used in ancient Persia where it was known as "Golestan" - which amazingly, translates as "Flower Garden"!
The lyre featured in this piece, is the Luthieros "Lyre of Apollo III" - its rich, subtle buzzy timbre to me goes further & evokes the sound of summer bees, buzzing around the scented flowers which Persephone was busy picking.
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
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








![The Cave of Hermes
A presentation of track 1, The Cave of Hermes from my new album of the same title - out on all major digital music platforms from 1st January 2022, this release is available to pre-order now, from Bandcamp & direct from my website:
https://michaellevy.bandcamp.com/album/the-cave-of-hermes
https://ancientlyre.com/album/2073284/the-cave-of-hermes
The track features an original composition for recreated custom made ancient Greek tortoise shell lyre; featuring an actual tortoise shell, arms of goat horn & authentic gut strings, as featured on the album cover, custom made in modern Greece, by Luthieros. As no two tortoise shells are alike, the timbre of the lyre featured in the second track o the album, Song of the Tortoise Shell Lyre, is completely different!
This piece attempts to capture some of the essense of the story of the birth of Hermes, born in a cave and who was said to have invented the first lyre out of the shell of a tortoise - as described here by Pseudo-Apollodorus, in Bibliotheca 3. 112 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer, circa 2nd A.D.) :
The oldest daughter [of Atlas] Maia, after her intercourse with Zeus, bore Hermes in a cave on Kyllene. Though he was laid out in swaddling-clothes with her winnowing-basket for a cradle, he escaped and made his way to Pieria
To capture an essence of the legend of the birth of Hermes, the haunting reverb added into the mixing & mastering process of this track, was sampled from an actual cave!
The piece is in the intense & mournful ancient Greek Hypodorian Mode - misnamed the Aolian mode in the Middle Ages, this mode, the equivalent intervals as A-A on the white notes of the piano, is the basis of our modern minor scales, but heard here in the focussed purity of just intonation.
Subscribe:
http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=Klezfiddle1
Official Artist Links:
Official Website:
http://www.ancientlyre.com/
Digital Music Artist Profiles:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Dx2vFEg8DmOJ5YCRm4A5v
iTunes & Apple Music:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/michael-levy/id4324920
Amazon:
http://amzn.to/2zmJph3
Bandcamp:
https://michaellevy.bandcamp.com/
Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/beautifullyre
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/AncientLyre
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/mlevy1400bce/
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/Michael_Levy_Ancient_Lyre_Music The Cave of Hermes](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/s31j0RRb8Mg/mqdefault.jpg)
![The Discord of Eris (Microtonal Improvisation for Ancient Greek Tortoise Shell Lyre)
Eris, Roman Discordia, in Greco-Roman mythology, the personification of strife. She was called the daughter of Nyx (Night) by Hesiod, but she was sister and companion of Ares (the Roman Mars) in Homer’s version. Eris is best known for her part in starting the Trojan War
[Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Eris-Greek-and-Roman-mythology]
In this improvisation, I attempt to evoke the feeling of discord, by the use of the dissonant, exotic-sounding ancient Greek Archytas Enharmonic Genus - a microtonal ancient Greek musical mode, which features the use of quartertones:
http://www.ex-tempore.org/ARCHYTAS/ARCHYTAS.html
The lyre featured in this performance, has a resonator fashioned from a foraged Greek land tortoise & a plectrum carved from goats horn - custom made in modern Greece, by Luthieros:
https://www.luthieros.com
For full details of my many musical adventures in time travel, please check out all my official artist links below - many thanks for watching!
Subscribe:
http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=Klezfiddle1
Official Artist Links:
Official Website:
http://www.ancientlyre.com/
Digital Music Artist Profiles:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Dx2vFEg8DmOJ5YCRm4A5v
iTunes & Apple Music:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/michael-levy/id4324920
Amazon:
http://amzn.to/2zmJph3
Bandcamp:
https://michaellevy.bandcamp.com/
Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/beautifullyre
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/AncientLyre
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/mlevy1400bce/
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/Michael_Levy_Ancient_Lyre_Music The Discord of Eris (Microtonal Improvisation for Ancient Greek Tortoise Shell Lyre)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/sFdndehhUgs/mqdefault.jpg)
