Crossroads of Ancient Music: A Concert & Demonstration (EVT 71)

Are you interested in learning more about the music and instruments from the cradle of civilization?

Join hosts Eliot Bates and Hector Bezanis in a multimedia presentation, performance, and discussion of the history of ancient Sumerian and Babylonian music.

We will look at slides of musical instruments and performances from the archaeological record, as depicted in ancient ceramics, tablets, and sculptures. The lecture will focus on the relationship between the Babylonian pantheon of Gods, mathematical theories, and the tuning of instruments (such as the Uruk and Akkadian lutes). The concert will include a rare performance on folk and classical instruments with Mesopotamian roots—ancient lyres and woodwinds, reconstructed by the hosts based on archaeological evidence.