Kubaba
Kubaba holding a pomegranate in her right hand and a mirror in her left Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Ankara, Turkey
Title	Queen of Sumer
Children	Puzur-Suen
Relatives	Ur-Zababa (grandson)

Kubaba (in the Weidner or Esagila Chronicle;^[1] Sumerian: Kug-Bau) is the only queen on the Sumerian King List, which states she reigned for 100 years – roughly in the Early Dynastic III period (ca. 2500-2330 BC) of Sumerian history. Most versions of the king list place her alone in her own dynasty, the 3rd Dynasty of Kish, following the defeat of Sharrumiter of Mari, but other versions combine her with the 4th dynasty, that followed the primacy of the king of Akshak. Before becoming monarch, the king list says she was a tavern-keeper.

The Weidner Chronicle is a propagandistic letter, attempting to predate the shrine of Marduk there to an early period, and purporting to show that each of the kings who had neglected its proper rites had lost the primacy of Sumer. It contains a brief account of rise of "the house of Kubaba" occurring in the reign of Puzur-Nirah of Akshak:

"In the reign of Puzur-Nirah, king of Akšak, the freshwater fishermen of Esagila were catching fish for the meal of the great lord Marduk; the officers of the king took away the fish. The fisherman was fishing when 7 (or 8) days had passed [...] in the house of Kubaba, the tavern-keeper [...] they brought to Esagila. At that time BROKEN[4] anew for Esagila [...] Kubaba gave bread to the fisherman and gave water, she made him offer the fish to Esagila. Marduk, the king, the prince of the Apsû, favored her and said: "Let it be so!" He entrusted to Kubaba, the tavern-keeper, sovereignty over the whole world." (lines 38-45)

Her son, Puzur-Suen, and grandson, Ur-Zababa followed her on the throne in Sumer as the fourth Kish dynasty on the king list, in some copies as her direct successors, in others with the Akshak dynasty intervening. Ur-Zababa of Kish is also known as the king said to be reigning in Sumer during the youth of Sargon the Great of Akkad, who militarily brought much of the near east under his regime shortly afterward.

Goddess[link]

Shrines in her honour spread throughout Mesopotamia.^[2][3] In the Hurrian area she may be identified with Kebat, or Hepat, one title of the Hurrian Mother Goddess Hannahannah (from Hurrian hannah, "mother"). Abdi-Kheba (= the servant of Kheba), was the palace mayor, ruling Jerusalem at the time of the Amarna letters (1350 BC).

Kubaba became the tutelary goddess who protected the ancient Syrian city of Carchemish on the upper Euphrates, in the late Hurrian – Early Hittite period.^[4] Relief carvings, now at the Museum of Anatolian Antiquities, Ankara, show her seated, wearing a cylindrical headdress like the polos and holding a circular mirror in one hand and the poppy capsule or pomegranate in the other. She plays a role in Luwian texts, and a minor role in Hittite texts, mainly in Hurrian religious rituals.

According to Mark Munn (Munn 2004), her cult later spread and her name was adapted for the main goddess of the Hittite successor-kingdoms in Anatolia, which later developed into the Phrygian matar (mother) or matar kubileya^[5] whose image with inscriptions appear in rock-cut sculptures.^[6]

Her Lydian name was Kuvav or Kufav which Ionian Greeks transcribed Kybêbê, not Kybele; Jan Bremmer notes in this context the seventh-century Semonides, who calls one of her Hellene followers a kybêbos,^[7] and he observes that in the following century she has been further Hellenized by Hipponax as "Kybêbê, daughter of Zeus".^[8] The Phrygian goddess otherwise bears little resemblance to Kubaba, who was a sovereign deity at Sardis, known to Greeks as Kybebe.^[9]

Ancient Near East portal

Notes[link]

References[link]

• "The Weidner 'Chronicle' mentioning Kubaba". From Grayson, A. K. (1975). Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles.
• Munn, Mark (2004). "Kybele as Kubaba in a Lydo-Phrygian Context": Emory University cross-cultural conference "Hittites, Greeks and Their Neighbors in Central Anatolia" (Abstracts)
• Laroche Emmanuel, "Kubaba déesse anatolienne, et le problème des origines de Cybèle", Eléments orientaux dans la religion grecque ancienne, Paris 1960, p. 113-128.

Ralph Towner
Background information
Birth name	Ralph Towner
Born	(1940-03-01) 1 March 1940 (age 72)
Origin	Chehalis, Washington
Genres	Jazz, classical, folk, world
Occupations	Guitarist
Instruments	12-string guitar, classical guitar, piano
Labels	ECM Records
Associated acts	Oregon, Weather Report Gary Burton, Gary Peacock Jan Garbarek
Website	http://www.ralphtowner.com/

Ralph Towner (b. Chehalis, Washington, March 1, 1940) is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger and bandleader. He plays the twelve-string guitar, classical guitar, piano, synthesizer, percussion and trumpet.^[1]

Biography[link]

Born in 1940 in Chehalis, Washington, Towner has made notable recordings of jazz, classical music, folk music, and world music. He began his career as a conservatory-trained classical pianist, who picked up guitar in his senior year in college, then joined world music pioneer Paul Winter's "Consort" ensemble in the late 1960s. Along with bandmates Paul McCandless, Glen Moore, and Collin Walcott, Towner left the Winter Consort in 1970 to form the group Oregon, which over the course of the 1970s issued a number of highly influential records mixing folk music, Indian classical forms, and avant-garde jazz-influenced free improvisation. At the same time, Towner began a longstanding relationship with the influential ECM record label, which has released virtually all of his non-Oregon recordings since his 1972 debut as a leader Trios / Solos. Towner has also made numerous appearances as a sideman, perhaps most famously on jazz fusion heavyweights Weather Report's 1972 album I Sing the Body Electric.

Unlike most jazz guitarists, Towner eschews amplification, using only 6-string nylon-string and 12-string steel-string guitars. As a result, he tends to avoid high-volume musical environments, preferring small groups of mostly acoustic instruments that emphasize dynamics and group interplay. Towner also obtains a percussive effect (e.g., "Donkey Jamboree" from Slideshow with Gary Burton) from the guitar by weaving a matchbook among the strings at the neck of the instrument. Both with Oregon and as a solo artist, Towner has made significant use of overdubbing, allowing him to play piano (or synthesizer) and guitar on the same track; his most notable use of the technique came on his 1974 album Diary, in which he plays guitar-piano duets with himself on most of the album's 8 tracks. In the 1980s, Towner began using the Prophet V synthesizer fairly extensively, but has since deemphasized his synthesizer and piano playing in favor of guitar.

Born into a musical family, his mother a piano teacher and his father a trumpet player, Towner learned to improvise on the piano at the age of three. He started trumpet lessons at the age of five, but did not take up guitar until attending the University of Oregon, where he also studied composition with Homer Keller. He first played jazz in New York City in the late 1960s as a pianist and was strongly influenced by the renowned jazz pianist Bill Evans. He began improvising on classical and 12-string guitars in the late 1960s/early 1970s; formed alliances with musicians who had worked with Evans, including flautist Jeremy Steig, bassists Eddie Gomez, Marc Johnson, Gary Peacock, and drummer Jack DeJohnette;

Towner now lives in Rome, Italy.

Discography[link]

• Trios / Solos (ECM, 1972) — with Glen Moore
• Diary (ECM, 1974)
• Matchbook (ECM, 1975) - with Gary Burton
• Solstice (ECM, 1975)
• Sargasso Sea (ECM, 1976) — with John Abercrombie
• Solstice/Sound and Shadows (ECM, 1977)
• Batik (ECM, 1978)
• Old Friends, New Friends (ECM, 1979)
• Solo Concert (ECM, 1979)
• Five Years Later (ECM, 1982) - with John Abercrombie
• Blue Sun (ECM, 1983)
• Slide Show (ECM, 1986) - with Gary Burton
• City of Eyes (ECM, 1989)
• Open Letter (ECM, 1992)
• Oracle (ECM, 1994) - with Gary Peacock
• A Closer View (ECM, 1995 [1998]) - with Gary Peacock
• Lost and Found (ECM, 1996)
• Ana (ECM, 1997)
• If Summer Had Its Ghosts (1997) - with Bill Bruford & Eddie Gomez
• Anthem (ECM, 2001)
• Time Line (ECM, 2006)
• From a Dream (Material, 2008) - with Slava Grigoryan and Wolfgang Muthspiel
• Chiaroscuro (ECM, 2009) - with Paolo Fresu

With Oregon

1- OUR FIRST RECORD (1970 recorded in 1980)

2- MUSIC OF ANOTHER PRESENT ERA (1973)

3- DISTANT HILLS (1973)

4- WINTER LIGHT (1974)

5- IN CONCERT (1975)

6- TOGHETER (with Elvin Jones) (1976)

7- FRIENDS (1977)

8- VIOLIN (with Zbigniew Seifert) (1978)

9- OUT OF THE WOODS (1978)

10- MOON AND MIND (1979)

11- ROOTS IN THE SKY (1979)

12- IN PERFORMANCE (1980)

13- ESSENTIAL (Collectanea) (1981)

14- OREGON (1983)

15- CROSSING (1985)

16- ECOPATIA (1987)

17- 45th PARALLEL (1989)

18- ALWAYS, NEVER AND FOREVER (1992)

19- TROIKA (1993)

20- BEYOND WORDS (Collectanea) (1995)

21- NORTHWEST PASSAGE (1997)

22- A MIDSUMMER NIGHT DREAM (1998)

23- OREGON IN MOSCOW(with orchestra)(2000)

24- LIVE AT YOSHI’S (2002)

25- PRIME (2005)

26- THE GLIDE (2005)

27- VANGURD VISIONARIES(Collectanea)(2007)

28- 1000 KILOMETERS (2007)

29- IN STRIDE (2010)

As sideman[link]

With Egberto Gismonti

• Sol Do Meio Dia (ECM, 1978)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Ralph Towner's Official Website
• Ralph Towner on ECM Records
• Ralph Towner interview by Anil Prasad from Innerviews
• Ralph Towner interview by Anil Prasad from Frets
• Ralph Towner guitar tabs
• Guitar Player magazine interview.
• Ralph Towner on NPR, 2006
• Home Page Bio
• Music Guide Bio