Africa: More Specifically, Egypt and the Music!
What do think of when you think
of Egyptian music? If you are anything like me you probably thought about
camels, gold, and slow chimes with a calming melody in the background. I only
think this way because I haven't learned about the actual culture and the significant
of the music, until now.
First, I had to consider the
origin of Egyptian music. sadly, after a bit of research, it turns out that no
one really knows what ancient Egyptian music sounded like. there was no sign of
written music or scales, so scientist got their information from cave carving,
and painting. They also found some instruments. some instruments that were
discovered were harps, Mashrôkêtã (double oboe) and the double flute.
Many of
today's instruments come from or are inspired by Egyptian instruments. One of
the oldest flutes was found in ancient Egypt. The Harp and the flute are both
instruments we have discussed with other cultures in class.
The Egyptian flute has a
low windy sound, that is easy to recognize. It is played by blowing into the
mouthpiece and moving your fingers over the holes to create variations of
sound. in the above video, the man is playing the flute and you only hear the
flute in the beginning. He then begins to play a string instrument. They are
not played harmoniously but create a polyphone sound.
Music in Egypt was used similarly to how it was used in other cultures we studied. music is used to signify religious ceremonies, marriages, and deaths. The religious ceremonies were very extravagant. They are to last for weeks maybe a month. During this time there was celebrating, music, and dancing. There were also offerings to the gods. of course, I couldn't find a recorded example of ancient religious Egyptian music but did find a song that is really cool and more modern.
A random thing that I think cool about ancient Egyptian culture is the fashion. Most of their clothing was made from linen which is a thin fabric that helped to keep cool in the blistering heat of Africa. Linen was made from a plant (it is already cool as hell that they made fabric from a plant). The plant is called flax. The seeds of the plant were soaked in water and separated, then spun into thread. of course, hierarchy played a big role in the appearance of the Egyptians. Poor people wore rough linen while the rich wore, soft, fine linen. The biggest difference in appearance between the rich and poor was the jewelry and accessories they wore. Some were gold, others were beads. The Egyptian people truly got creative in order to meet outstanding fashion standards.
Thanks for reading!
My mom is a social studies teacher that mainly focuses on Egypt and as someone who has to listen to her rant and talk about things on a daily basis, I never really realized that she never talked about music as a whole much. So part of it makes sense that there is no real knowledge on what original ancient Egyptian music sounds like, and the other part to me finds it insane that we do not know. Also, clothing made from plants? That is so cool.
ReplyDeleteWow! This fascinating to read about. I really liked learning about the different Egyptian instruments and the video showing the flute was nice. The fashion of ancient Egypt was also really interesting, I had no idea that linen was made from flax. I am now inspired to learn more about modern Egyptian music from this blog.
ReplyDeleteI don't really know if this is a good or a bad thing but the Egyptian flute sounds exactly like an Egyptian flute did in my mind. The low, calming tone of the flute directly matches the Hollywood definition of Egypt that I have been taught to know. I would love to learn about the ceremonies that apply to each type of music.
ReplyDeleteI loved listening to the European flute I felt like that was quit different and unique and also cool to compare that to our regular flute. I liked learning about this and was really interesting to learn about those instruments.
ReplyDeleteAny time I think of music from Egypt I imagine a flute like the one you talked about. And then a snake slithering up out of a clay pot haha. I also liked that you talked about ancient Egyptian fashion and how their clothes were made.
ReplyDelete