Michael Levy: Blogs

THE ANCIENT LYRE-PLAYING TECHNIQUES USED IN MY ALBUMS 

The diverse range of lyre-playing techniques I have used in the creation of my albums, are all authentically based upon ancient lyre playing techniques which have amazingly survived to the present day, and which can still be heard in parts Egypt and East Africa. These techniques includes alternating between guitar-like, plectrum-plucked tones in the right hand and harp-like, finger-plucked tones in the left hand; which also sometimes includes providing basic harmony below the melodic line.

 I have also experimented with the ancient lyre-playing technique of “finger blocking” in “Odessa Bulgar” and also in the final section of “The Music of Moses”; this is where rhythm can be strummed on the lyre with a plectrum in the right hand, just as on a guitar - notes not required in the chords are blocked by fingers of the left hand.

This particular ancient lyre-playing technique can actually still be heard today, in the traditional "Krar" lyre players of Eritrea, in East Africa:

I also ornament the melodic lines with plentiful tremolo accompaniments; a style which has also survived to the present day, as can be heard in the lyre-playing techniques of the traditional "simsimyya" lyre players of Port Said, in Egypt.

The Egyptian simsimiyya (Arabic: سمسمية‎) is an amazing wire-strung lyre, still played in Egypt today..which may have had its origins, 4000 years ago, in the Middle Kingdom of ancient Egypt...

Here is a video featuring one of these amazing traditional Egyptian folk songs from Port Said, as arranged on my replica 3000 year old Lyre of the Ancient Hebrews:

Below are my new series of videos on Youtube, dedicated to expaining more of how I derived the ancient lyre playing techniques heard in my 10 albums of ancient lyre music:

I am increasingly fascinated in continuing to discover, just how many types of lyres are still played in the world today! The lyre is such an amazingly and magnificantly versatile instrument, and it is such a tragic loss in the Western world, that it can now only be heard in just a few countries dotted around East Africa - it truly was, the "guitar" of the ancient world...

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