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Theo Krispijn
"Hymn Of Ugarit"

The world's oldest music notation, complete with both words and music, discovered in the mid-1990s.

The world's oldest music notation, complete with both words and music, was discovered in the mid-1990s by a French archaeologist. Found in the ruins of the lost city of Ugarit (now Ras Shamra, on the Mediterranean coast of northern Syria), the clay tablet is marked with cuneiform, meaning "wedge-shaped", signs in the ancient Hurrian language. The artefact is 3200 years old, yet experts including Professor Krispijn have brought sound to the long-lost hymn through modern musical notation and recordings.
The song is a hymn to the moon god's wife, Nikkal, and Dr Krispijn's haunting and sad interpretation is entitled The
Hymn of Ugarit (Prayer of an Infertile Woman).
The tablet, broken into two pieces found at different times, has a horizontal line dividing the top half "the song words" from the bottom half "the instructions" for the music. Professor Krispijn brings to life the long lost Hymn of Ugarit, ancestral memories now brought alive and ancient melodies rekindled through modern knowledge and technology.
The recording features commentary and an interpretation on the Lyre played by Professor Krispijn.

Traditional Arranged by Theo J.H. Krispijn.
Narrated and Played by Theo J.H. Krispijn.
(C) 2008 Tigershade Recordings
(P) 2008 Tigershade Recordings

1. Hymn Of Ugarit