Vocals & arrangement by Farya Faraji, music and lyrics by Seikilos. The video was filmed mostly during my October 2021 trip across Greece and Turkey's Aegean coasts. I later added myself in the images in post-production. Some of the shots were filmed at Ephesus, near the place where this song was first found.
This is the oldest, complete preserved musical composition in history, dated to either the 1st or 2nd centuries A.D. The composition and the lyrics were found on a tombstone in Asia Minor, near modern day Ephesus, and the generally accepted consensus is that its contents are dedicated to Seikilos' wife, although differing interpretations exist, claiming the text could be interpreted as Euterpe being Seikilos's mother, the Muse music, or that the composition isn't even addressed to anyone in particular. The tombstone is inscribed with this message: "I am a tombstone, an image. Seikilos placed me here as a long-lasting sign of deathless remembrance."
My arrangement is meant to highlight the known features of Greek music, and is generally historically accurate except for two unattested and conjectural features: a simple "riff" consisting of the alternation of the tonic and the perfect fifth, as well as the repeated strumming of a lyre that creates a supporting drone consisting of the tonic and the lower perfect fourth. Whilst highly conjectural, these are simply my attempt to show possible alternative methods of embellishing melodies beyond the pure monophony that Ancient Greek music is often touted as having had--instead, it was a heterophonic tradition, and much like the current Greek or Middle-Eastern practices, the heterophony was often highly florid, with textual descriptions of embroided heterophonic accompaniments for the simpler vocals. If there were to be heterophonic accoutrements to melodies beyond pure monophony, I believe these two tactics to be some of the most likely. The instruments used are ancient lyres, aulos, as well as simple percussions.
The pronunciation I used is based on ScorpioMartianus's excellent showcasing of Ancient Greek's evolving pronunciation using this text; • Seikilos Epitaph, in 4 Greek pronunci... I opted to choose the learned Koine pronunciation of the 2nd century A.D as it is the closest to the time of this composition, and would have been the most familiar to Seikilos himself. Keep in mind that my pronunciation may not be perfect, so due use the linked video if you want an actual resource in terms of phonetics rather than this one. Here are a few points that will come in handy for those put off by the pronunciation:
• "You have a very thick foreign accent that does not sound Greek, work on your Greek pronunciation." Whilst my Greek-speaking skills are nonexistent outside of buying KTEL tickets, I can handle the pronunciation of Modern Greek fine enough; check my Modern Greek songs for that. The pronunciation here sounds the way it does because I'm using reconstructed Ancient Greek phonology of circa the 2nd century A.D.
• "You are using Erasmian pronunciation. Erasmian pronunciation has been proven to be wrong." Yes, but this is not Erasmian. Many people call "Erasmian" any pronunciation of Ancient Greek that is not the same as Modern Greek. Erasmian was an early attempt in the Renaissance at reconstructing Ancient Greek phonology. The accent used here isn't Erasmian, it's the currently accepted historical consensus on Ancient Greek phonology of circa the 2nd century A.D.
• "This is all lies, Ancient Greek pronunciation was the exact same as Modern Greek's." That statement is the "flat earth" of linguistics. All languages change through time. There is not a single language on earth whose pronunciation has not changed over centuries, let alone the 2000 years we're talking about here. It is universally accepted that all languages' pronunciations change over time, and Greek is not the exception. French changed, Latin changed, Tamil changed, Zulu changed. Greek isn't some cosmic miracle that defies human rules, it's a normal language like any other and is subject to the same earthly realities as all others.
• "The only reason people claim Ancient Greek was pronounced differently is because they hate Greeks, and this is an attack on Greeks out of hatred for Greek culture." If you believe I hate Greeks and Greek culture, do take a gander at my channel. I'm a proud French speaker, and I'm the first to claim that French's pronunciation changed over time (I even make a point to stress it every time I sing in older forms of French.) I'm a proud Persian speaker, yet I'm the first to admit that Persian's pronunciation changed over time. Pointing out how Greek clothing, music, architecture, literature, poetry are different today from 2000 years ago isn't an "insult." Neither is the notion that the pronunciation changed, which is a fact that applies to every language ever, without any exception. kk thanks for reading love you bye 😘
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