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Judaica & Jewellery

Title

King David’s Lyre; Echoes Of Ancient Israel

Artists

Michael Levy

Catalogue Ref

KDLML01

Released

2008

Description

This album is dedicated to restoring again, for the first time in almost 2000 years, the mystical, ancient sounds of the "Kinnor"; the Jewish Temple Lyre. This Biblical lyre was the actual "Harp" of King David, and also of my very own, very ancient Levite ancestors, who once played their Kinnors to accompany the legendary singing of the Levitical Choir, in the Temple of Jerusalem.

Artist Info

The Kinnor on which I am playing, is of the Second Temple Era design; from the actual time of Jesus! The design of my replica instrument is based illustrations of the Kinnor depicted on ancient Jewish coins minted at the time of the Simon Bar Kochba Revolt against the Roman occupation in Israel (a photograph of such a coin can be seen the cover of the album). The design of the Jewish Temple Lyre in the time of Jesus is remarkably similar to the ancient Greek Kithara; the large wooden lyre played by the professional musicians of ancient Greece. This could possibly demonstrate the Hellenistic influence on Jewish culture at this time? Indeed, it is know that Herod often imported Greek musicians for the various festivals in Jerusalem.

Track List

After much experimentation and research, I finally settled on the idea of arranging for solo lyre, a diverse range of traditional Jewish folk songs, mystical Shabbat hymns and music from the traditional Jewish Klezmer repertoire. The concept of the musical performances heard on this album, are meant to be evocations, not reconstructions, of the sounds & playing techniques that were possible on the ten-stringed Kinnor of the Bible, as there are sadly too few unambiguously notated melodies from antiquity to make an album of "note for note" reconstructions of ancient instrumental solo lyre music a feasible reality. However, there is evidence to suggest, that the traditional Jewish scales/modes in which these pieces are written, may well have ancient roots. There are 22 tracks on the album, to correspond to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet...

1) The Music of Moses - a spontaneous improvisation on an ancient Egyptian scale.
2) Kol Nidre - "All Vows" sung at the start of the Yom Kippur Services.
3) Avinu Malcheinu - "Our Father, Our King" traditionally sang at Yom Kippur.
4) Havenu Shalom Aleichem - "Peace unto you" one of the most famous of all Hebrew songs.
5) Zemer Atik - "Ancient Melody" an Israeli folk song.
6) Hatikvah - "The Hope" the Israeli National Anthem.
7) Berdichiever Khosid - an almost mystical-sounding Klezmer melody...
8) Siman Tov - "A Good Sign" a jubilant song of celebration and congratulation.
9) Kandel's Hora - a slow , haunting, Jewish Klezmer melody.
10) Odessa Bulgar - an exhilarating Klezmer classic!
11) Abu's Courtyard - a lively Hasidic melody.
12) Shalom Chavarim - "Peace friends, until we meet again" a traditional Hebrew song.
13) Araber Tantz - "Arabic Dance" an amazingly Middle Eastern-sounding Klezmer melody.
14) Hine Ma Tov - "Behold How Good" an Israeli folk song.
15) Bukovina Freylekhs - a hypnotically beautiful Klezmer tune.
16) Oh Hanukah - a traditional Jewish song.
17) Der Heyser Bulgar - "The Hot Bulgar" a traditional Klezmer favourite.
18) Shabbat Shalom - An improvisation on a meditative Shabbat chant.
19) Shalom Aleichem - "Peace be upon you" a traditional Shabbat melody.
20) Ose Shalom - "The One Who Makes Peace" the final refrain of the Mourner's Kaddish.
21) Hava Nagila - "Let Us Rejoice"
22) Yigdal - "May He be Magnified"

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