The Ancient Greek Kithara of Classical Antiquity

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• published: 10 Mar 2016
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This video presentation features clips from all of the tracks of my album "The Ancient Greek Kithara of Classical Antiquity", performed on the wonderfully recreated Kithara of the Golden Age of Classical Greece - hand-made in modern Greece by Luthieros: http://en.luthieros.com/ The kithara was the highly advanced, large wooden lyre favoured by only the true professional musicians of ancient Greece, which reached its pinnacle of perfection during the “Golden Age” of Classical Antiquity, circa 5th century BCE. Since late 2014, I have been collaborating with Luthieros in their inspirational "Lyre 2.0 Project" - dedicated to reintroducing the wonderful lyres of antiquity back into the modern world, to make these beautiful instruments accessible to each and every modern musician. This album hopefully demonstrates why the kithara was so venerated in antiquity, as the instrument of the professional musician - perfect for both accompanying the human voice and for as an incredibly versatile solo instrument. The main musical concept of the album is to imagine the sort of melodies which once may have accompanied recitations of some of the classic legends and epic poems of ancient Greece, which would have almost certainly have been accompanied by the kithara; the lyre of the true professional musicians of Classical antiquity. Indeed, almost all the great works of literature from ancient times were originally meant to be sang; the music giving weight and emotional emphasis to the text and in doing so, helping to convey its true meaning... All the tracks in this album are original compositions, in a selection of some of the original ancient Greek musical modes, in the wonderfully pure just intonation of antiquity. Also, to subtly add to the exotic timbre of the replica Luthieros kithara, I have tuned the kithara with A at the slightly lower reference pitch of 432 Hertz – although I certainly do not adhere to all the ‘New Age’ nonsense currently clogging the Internet about this particular reference pitch, the subtly lower pitch certainly does enhance the richness of the lower register of this wonderful instrument, with its authentic gut strings. For more details on my philosophical investigation into the multiple claims made about 432 Hertz, please see my blog: http://ancientlyre.com/blogs/is_432_hz_new_age_schmertz/ The ancient Greek kithara was quite literally, the ‘guitar’ of Classical antiquity – indeed, it is actually from the word “kithara” which we derive our modern word ‘guitar’. Therefore, in this release, for the first time, I decided to include some simple vocal lines, as just like the modern guitar, the kithara almost begs to accompany the human voice. However, as I am certainly no professional singer, my intention to include these basic vocal lines was to accompany the sound of the kithara, rather than vice versa. For full details, purchase links, plus a free PDF booklet of the fully illustrated, detailed album notes, please see my website blog: http://ancientlyre.com/ancient_greek_themed_albums/the_ancient_greek_kithara_of_classical_antiquity/ Many thanks for watching! Subscribe Here: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=Klezfiddle1 http://www.ancientlyre.com/ https://www.facebook.com/beautifullyre https://twitter.com/AncientLyre http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/MichaelLevy https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/michael-levy/id4324920