Open Your Mouth and Sing
  • About us
  • Musical Improv Classes
  • Musical Improv Games
  • Remote Improv
  • Podcasts
  • Blog
  • Backing Tracks
  • Online Workshops

What is the oldest song in EXISTENCE?

15/5/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
We have no idea of course.  There are some documented songs that are very old.  The best documented and often quoted as the 'oldest song in the world' is the Hurrian Hymn which was discovered in Syria inscribed onto a clay tablet and is nearly 3500 years old according to some sources.  You can hear a recreation of it here.  More recently there is the Sumerian 'Hymn to Creation' which goes back to 800 BC and then a wealth of Egyptian, Greek and Judaic tunes from 600 BC onwards.  In terms of an old song that is still being sung today we should probably look to the Hindu orature which was passed down the generations from 1000 BC before being formalised.

As far as the oral tradition goes however, it is impossible to say how far back our folk tunes go, how many variations and misheard recreations have evolved through the centuries and who may have been the originator.  Our species goes back over 30,000 years and our brains have evolved little in that time so any capacity for music we may have now was shared by our ancient ancestors.  





​
Picture
​I spend much of my professional life listening to people improvise tunes and it is fascinating how some melodies seem to persist.  Are these tunes echoes of an ancient, pre-linguistic communication or more simply, fragments of shared melodies from modern day western musical culture?  In one of our more experimental sessions we facilitate a group of people to sing together in the dark with no pre-conceived tune or accompaniment.  In these sessions which can be very tribal in their feel, certain hooks, melodies and rhythms also seem to emerge with unerring regularity.  You can hear the results of some of our experiments on our 'Singong' podcasts here. 

I like to think that if we could listen in to the improvised singing sessions around fires 30,000 years ago that we would recognise fragments or even whole sections and that what sounded pleasing to those humans would still sound pleasing to us now.  So next time you are whistling a random tune, or humming distractedly while washing up - just think - you could be unconsciously recreating a song from the earliest days of homo sapiens.  
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Heather Urquhart and Joe Samuel have over 15 years experience performing, teaching and writing about Musical Improv.  Based in the UK they have facilitated workshops and graced stages around the world.

    Archives

    November 2022
    April 2021
    March 2021
    May 2017
    June 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    August 2013
    July 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    June 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011

    Categories

    All
    Genres
    Heather Urquhart
    Impro
    Improv
    Improv Comedy
    Improvisation
    Joe
    Longform
    Maydays
    Musical Improv
    Musical Improv Comedy
    Musical Theatre Games
    Podcasts
    Singing
    Singing Games
    Song Endings

    RSS Feed

Musical Improv Games Links

Musical Improv Games - Warm ups
Musical Improv Backing Tracks
List of Musical Improv Games
Singing Games

Contact

Submit
Copyright © 2021
  • About us
  • Musical Improv Classes
  • Musical Improv Games
  • Remote Improv
  • Podcasts
  • Blog
  • Backing Tracks
  • Online Workshops