The Sound of King Tut's Burial Trumpets

[willpower]

Silent for over 3000 years, click streaming playback in the middle of the page. Pretty cool. Reminds me a bit of Aaron Copeland. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13092827

 

[emptym]

Neat. Thanks. The tune was like a Copeland riff. But I'm guessing the player chose it. I wonder what the ancient Egyptians might have played.

 

[Joe Cool]

What a great clip, thanks for sharing!

 

[tagutcow]

Originally Posted by emptym

Neat. Thanks. The tune was like a Copeland riff. But I'm guessing the player chose it. I wonder what the ancient Egyptians might have played.
From what he played, the silver trumpet sounds like it's only capable of producing three notes-- a base tone, a fifth and an octave (although the intonation on the octave can be hit-or-miss.) That's basically what trumpet fanfares consist of to this day. So by the time of the radio broadcast 17 years later, only a few of the archaeologists who first discovered King Tut's tomb had survived?

 

[csoukoulis]

amazing!

 

[CouttsClient]

Wow. Thank you for posting

 

[imageWIS]

Awesome! Thanks for posting!

 

[cimabue]

Enough to give history lovers a stiffy.

 

[Tangfastic]

Originally Posted by tagutcow

So by the time of the radio broadcast 17 years later, only a few of the archaeologists who first discovered King Tut's tomb had survived?

It's as if there was some kind of curse... I'm ambivalent as to the actual sounding of the trumpets - a tube of silver 3000 years old isn't going to make a different sound from an exact copy of the same material made today. Also, one of the originals was damaged in the handling during the preparation for the blowing. There is of course something very emotionally appealing about hearing a sound from the actual instrument that may have been heard by the pharoh himself (though I suspect everything would have been made new especially for the burial).

 

[Navi]

Fuckin cool. Thanks for the post! It just blows my mind just how ******* ancient the relics we have found over time are. The very same trumpet has been played by someone who died 3 thousand years ago. Also, anyone else getting a sort of old Bond movies-soundtrack vibe out of this? I'm not sure why, that or Indiana jones.

 

[pgd3]

Originally Posted by Tangfastic

I'm ambivalent as to the actual sounding of the trumpets - a tube of silver 3000 years old isn't going to make a different sound from an exact copy of the same material made today. Also, one of the originals was damaged in the handling during the preparation for the blowing..


I would argue that today, making a reproduction "exact copy" including materials might not really be possible.

I would imagine the exact alloying, and working of the ancient instruments would not be able to be exactly replicated.

Sort of a Roman concrete type scenario.

 

[CunningSmeagol]

Intonation is a bit

Expecially the silver one. Not saying it's bad, just exotic.

 

[austerlitz]

maybe there is written Egyptian music we are yet to discover.

 

[tagutcow]

Originally Posted by CunningSmeagol

Intonation is a bit

Expecially the silver one. Not saying it's bad, just exotic.

The instrument's intonation or the trumpeter's? For some reason, the octave note sometimes sounds like a weird detuned leading tone, but I'm assuming they're fingered as the same note.

Originally Posted by austerlitz

maybe there is written Egyptian music we are yet to discover.

Doubtful. We haven't even found any written Ancient Greek music. Guido Monaco (ca. 1000 AD) made the best kind of discovery-- the kind that seems completely obvious in retrospect.

 

[CunningSmeagol]

Originally Posted by tagutcow

The instrument's intonation or the trumpeter's? For some reason, the octave note sometimes sounds like a weird detuned leading tone, but I'm assuming they're fingered as the same note.

I guess I was assuming that there were no valves, so it would be the trumpeter's intonation inasmuch as the instrument must have been difficult to control. It does sound like "Ti."