Malek Jandali - Echoes from Ugarit مـالـك جـنـدلـي - أصـداء مـن أوغـاريـت

Echoes from Ugarit by composer & pianist Malek Jandali (http://MalekJandali.com) founder of Pianos for Peace (http://PianosForPeace.org) live in concert with the LSO. This original composition is based on the oldest music notation in the world, found on clay tablets in the ancient city of Ugarit, Syria recorded with The Russian Philharmonic Orchestra in Moscow.

Ugarit, Syria is the birthplace of alphabet and music notation. The interpretation of the music notation of Ugarit is a challenge and several "reconstructions" have been published. The evidence that both the 7-note diatonic scale as well as harmony existed 3400 years ago flies in the face of most musicologists' views that ancient harmony was virtually non-existent or even impossible. This has revolutionized the whole concept of the origin of Western music.

This work is founded on the oldest music notation in the world discovered in the ancient Syrian city of Ugarit. The clay tablets contain a hymn to the moon god's wife, Nikkal. Although hundreds of such tablets were discovered over the years, these very tablets contain words and notation of a song all composed in the same "maqam" or mode (called nîd qabli). Further, they contained instructions for a singer accompanied by musicians, as well as instructions on tuning the strings of the instrument.

This Ugaritic hymns was arranged into a melancholic piano work preserving its rhythmic structure and building a musical bridge to the past. The song of this woman's marriage was filled with pain at not having children for her husband and her family. Apparently, the song is a lament, "the plaintive cry of an infertile woman" seeking the answer to her barrenness from the moon goddess.

The scholarly contributions of Dr. Richard Dumbrill to the translation and interpretation of the Hurrian song H6 are acknowledged with appreciation.The main goal of "Echoes from Ugarit" is to shed the light on this very important historical fact to tell the world that Ugarit, Syria has the oldest music notation in the world.

الموسيقار مالك جندلي - أصداء من أوغاريت: أقدم تدوين موسيقي في العالم اكتشف في
أوغاريت - سوريا على لوحات مسمارية تعود إلى الألف الثاني قبل الميلاد