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This is my accompaniment on my replica of the ancient Jewish Kinnor lyre, to one of the ORIGINAL melodies, once sang by the Levitical Choir in the Temple of Jerusalem!!

Following the tragic destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in 70AD, the entire musical legacy of the Temple, both vocal and instrumental, seemed to be forever lost. However, the Masoretic scribes preserved (along with the biblical consonantal text itself) an ancient "reading tradition" dating back (according to themselves) to the Second Temple Era; and beginning about 1200 years ago, they painstakingly copied that tradition out in exacting detail. The Masoretic Text is still the oldest complete copy of the Hebrew Bible that we have.

Part of the "reading tradition" the Masoretes preserved was a series of "accents" (te`amim), which occur throughout the entire Tanakh (Torah, Nevi'im and Ketuvim) in two systems. The Masoretes did not understand the meaning or the monumental significance of these accents, and for centuries, there have been countless theories as to what their original meaning was. Most theories have started from the assumption that they were to emphasize precise points of grammar in the text. Leaving aside all these debates, Suzanne Haïk-Vantoura concentrated solely on finding a MUSICAL meaning of these "accents". Through countless experiments and a laborious process of irrefutable verification (using the Hebrew verbal phrase structure itself as her "Rosetta Stone"), she finally realized that all these symbols represent musical tones: the degrees of a scale, or else ornaments of one to three notes...thus, she had discovered 3000 YEAR OLD, BIBLICAL MUSICAL NOTATION!!!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dKjForhzzpU

The "accents" were, in fact, representations of hand gestures, which were known to be used in antiquity (also clearly found in ancient Egyptian music) to denote both the pitch and the ornamentation of a melody. Such a system of hand gestures is known as "chironomy":

http://www.rakkav.com/biblemusic/pages/chironomy.htm

The wonderful ancient melody I am attempting to accompany on the Kinnor, is the original 3000 year old music attached to the Hebrew text of the book of Esther 5:1-3, as recorded by Suzanne Haïk-Vantoura, "LA MUSIQUE DE LA BIBLE RÉVÉLÉE" (Harmonia Mundi France), Track 13.

The Hebrew, transliteration and translation of this beautiful, ancient song of the Hebrew Bible can also be seen & heard on the amazing Youtube Channel "teamim" - which is dedicated to broadcasting this incredible music, (dating back to the actual time of King David himself!), to the rest of the world:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wHDvDfy6Fw8

All of my 9 albums of mystical, ancient lyre music are now available from iTunes...

1)"An Ancient Lyre": http://bit.ly/dhCozi

2)"King David's Lyre; Echoes of Ancient Israel":
http://bit.ly/9PCIua

3)"The Ancient Biblical Lyre": http://bit.ly/9hTDje

4)"Lyre of the Levites": http://bit.ly/9baWuM

5)"Apollo's Lyre": http://bit.ly/dhCozi

6)"Ancient Times -- Music of The Ancient World":
http://bit.ly/aRF5PD

7)"The Ancient Greek Modes": http://bit.ly/cZks0o

8)"The Ancient Greek Lyre": http://bit.ly/bxO7Ra

9)"Ancient Visions -- New Compositions for an Ancient Lyre": http://bit.ly/dCPmRN

Physical CDs are also available anywhere in the world from CD Baby, for 3 of my best selling albums:

"An Ancient Lyre": http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/mlevy4

"King David's Lyre; Echoes of Ancient Israel":
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/mlevy

"Lyre of the Levites": http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/mlevy2

For full details about my albums of lyre music, and the fascinating ancient historical background, please visit my official website:

http://www.ancientlyre.com

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