An ancient Greek song considered by experts to be the oldest complete surviving song in the history of humanity, received an enchanting performance at the ruins of the monumental ancient Greek Temple of Apollon in the ancient Ionian city of Miletus.
Only a handful of cultural events have been permitted at the site on the Turkish coast over recent decades.
Under the moonlight, Greek artist Betty Harlafti, of Asia Minor heritage herself, performed the ancient Greek song Seikilos’ Epitaph to a mesmerized audience on the opening night of the International Mediterranean Literature Festival.
More than a concert, the evening represented a meeting of history, memory and music, the organisers note on YouTube.
World’s oldest song performed in the region it was discovered
The acclaimed Greek vocalist was invited by emblematic Turkish composer, author and intellectual Zülfü Livaneli, who celebrated his 80th birthday on the same day, to perform for the opening ceremony of the International Mediterranean Literature Festival, held on 20 June and organized by the Municipality of Didim in collaboration with the Livaneli Foundation.
This was one of the exceptionally rare events authorized by Turkish authorities to be held at the ancient Greek monument of the Temple of Apollon in Miletus in recent decades.
Betty Harlafti gave voice to the ancient Greek verses of Seikilos’ Epitaph performing the song in the very geographical region where it was discovered in 1883, inscribed on a funerary stele near ancient Tralles, in present-day Aydın, Asia Minor.
“The energy of the Temple, the moon, the music and of course the enthusiastic audience, transported me to another dimension,” the artist wrote on Facebook, as she thanked Livaneli for offering her “the gift to sing on the ancient, sacred marbles of the Temple of Apollo, one of the largest and most important oracles of antiquity.”
2,000-year-old song revived
The song is named after the Seikilos epitaph, an Ancient Greek inscription that preserves the oldest surviving complete musical composition, including musical notation, and is dated between the 1st and 2nd century AD.
The inscription was found engraved on a pillar (stele) from the ancient Greek town of Tralles in 1883. It included two poems; an elegiac distich and a song with vocal notation signs above the words.
As a Hellenistic Ionic song, it is suggested by experts that it is either in the Phrygian octave species or Ionian (Iastian) tonos.
The melody of the song is recorded, alongside its lyrics, in ancient Greek musical notation.
While older music with notation exists, such as the Hurrian songs or the Delphic Hymns, they all are in fragments. On the contrary, the Seikilos epitaph is unique in that it is a complete, though short, composition, which has made it famous all over the world as the oldest surviving song in the history of humanity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdlFLw5Asc8
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