Egyptian music

Egyptian music:
Music from Ancient
Egypt
has
been
disappearing with the
pass of the years and we
can only guess that it
sounded like the actual
contemporary Egyptian
folk music. At any rate
there are investigations
to reconstruct this music
and
also
some
instruments because of
the idea of some
Egyptologists
from
Cairo´s University which
are trying to rescue the
songs and dances of
Ancient
Egypt
by
documenting
at
excavations in Saqqara,
Bani Hasan or Luxor.
The Coptic Church has
persevered
Ancient
Egyptian style of music.
Music in temples
People from Ancient Egypt thought that music was
invented by Thoth, the god of the writing and of the
knowledge, and it was used to civilize the world. The god
Bes used music and dancing to keep away snakes and
other evil entities from people such as women and
children. Music was found in all the celebrations or even in
temples. Most of this music was accompanied with dances.
God
The dancers did the rituals bare excepting necklaces, small
Thot
pieces of cloth with belts or perfumes. Due to the fatigue of
workers, this type of enjoyment which were dancing or
listening to music kept them away from stress. By these
reasons music became part of their routine. In the
evenings, when people couldn´t do any work people stayed
together listening to music.
Music was played by professionals as nobles, although
people learnt how to play instruments without classes, only
by the practice that they made at home. The most famous
noble who knew how to play instruments was a priestess
called Asru who played music to worship to the god Amun
in the temple of Karnak.
One of the most famous
instruments in the Ancient
Egypt was the harp which
was invented very small
and it developed until the
big size that had to be
supported by the floor.
This
instrument
was
Women playing the harp and
normally decorated with
the guitar
expensive works of art.
Other instruments also became very famous like the flute,
the clarinet, the cymbals, the trumpets, the percussions or
the lute. They use chants and cymbals in their rituals.
Musical instruments:
Ancient Egyptians invented many types
of instruments: wind instruments (Made
with reeds until bronze became more
common. Ex: mizmars, zummaras,
memets
and
shofars),
percussion
instruments (Produces the sound when
The
they are shaken. Ex: drums, cymbals
sistrum
and sistrums) and string instruments
(They were made with animal gut. Ex:
harps, lutes and lyres).
The different musical instruments were
used in religious ceremonies, at parties
and even there was a type of marching
band which helped troops during a
battle. Some examples of instruments
are:
Membranaphones, were played at social gatherings.
Aerophones, were mostly used in army ceremonies.
Chordophones, were imported from the Asiatic invaders.
The harp
Music in Ancient Egypt was based on a pentatonic scale without half-tones. When people
from foreign conquest Egypt, they brought new instruments and began to use a heptatonic
scale.
Egyptian dance
During the party, the guests clapped and got carried away
by the vibrant orchestras, dancers, made elastic
movements, jumped and bent their bodies in the time
with the music.
People from every social class were involved in music and
dancing. These two activities are inseparables so that both
are in pictorial representations such as in tombs and
temples.
Women dancing
There are different types of
dances: banquet dances, combat
dances, harem dances, street
dances, religious dances and
non-religious dances. However,
noble people didn´t dance in
public.
The dance was considered in Ancient
Egypt more than a hobby, in fact,
since the music and dance started to
get popularity, secular and religious
life developed. At the time of the PreDynastic women both priestesses and
goddesses danced with their arms
above their heads. Dance was
considered one of the most important
rituals during ceremonies. The
Egyptians dance was influenced by
the Hebrew tradition, which was very
popular in Rome during the Empire
and still today in some places of
Sudan. Dances were most of them
done on the enthronement of a new
king and men and women never
danced
together.
Egyptian
choreography seems to be complex.
For banquets, dancers were chosen
with the variety of servants or women
living on the harem. They sometimes
got professional dancers. Energy was
the highpoint to succeed, dances
similar to the ones that were
represented
in
the
tomb
of
Nenkhetifkai at Saqqara.
Dance was considerate part of the Egyptian life, even in funerary ritual dances some
choreographies were fundamental for the success of the ceremony.
Dance was also very important at religious festivals dedicated to Apis.
Bibliography:
http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/timelines/topics/music.htm
http://www.experience-ancient-egypt.com/ancient-egyptian-music.html
http://panhistoria.com/www/AncientEgyptianVirtualTemple/music.html