Sounds from the past

Recreating the sound of Tutankhamun's trumpets

Tutankhamun's trumpet was one of the rare artefacts stolen from the Cairo Museum during the recent uprising. The 3,000-year-old instrument is rarely played, but a 1939 BBC radio recording captured its haunting sound.

Among the "wonderful things" Howard Carter described as he peered by candlelight into the newly discovered tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922 were two trumpets, one silver and one bronze.

For more than 3,000 years they had lain, muted, in the Valley of the Kings, close to the mummy of the boy king. Found in different parts of Tutankhamun's tomb, both were decorated with depictions of Egyptian gods identified with military campaigns.

Both became exhibits at the Cairo museum, but when it was broken into during the recent uprising, the bronze instrument vanished. Luckily, the silver one was away on exhibition tour.

Egyptologists were already reeling from the loss of many of the country's antiquities, and many found the theft of one of the oldest surviving musical instruments in the world particularly poignant.

Fortunately the missing trumpet as well as other missing antiquities were found in a bag recently. If you want to hear the trumpets, played on BBC Radio in 1939, you can hear it by clicking on a player in the article. It's quite beautiful. I think the bronze one has a richer tone to it.

Very peaceful and brooding, fitting my mood

I was looking up classical guitar and lute videos (I love that sort of music) and found this:

'Lachrimae Pavan', written by John Dowland (circa 1604)


Good night.

Cute cat playing a theremin

YKWIA found this; it's a featured video for YouTube.

For people playing the actual instrument (the cat pretty much makes noise rather than music), see:

'Song of India' on the Theremin (Glenn Sparks) (YKWIA found this one, too)

and

a cover of Gnarls Barkley's 'Crazy':


(That one I found) :)

According to Wikipedia: 'The theremin is one of the earliest electronic musical instruments, and the first musical instrument played without being touched.'

Cool, hmmm?

Okay, one quiz and it's off to bed

My score on The "What's your Soul Instrument?" Test:

Baritone Saxophone

(10 individuality, 15 complexity)

Congratulations! Your soul instrument is a baritone saxophone. So cool, the name even rhymes. The lowest-pitched of the saxophones in regular use, the bari sax - like you - often finds itself holding everyone else together. It's dependable, hard-working and frequently admired... And a solo from this beast of a horn will have audiences shouting for more!

Like your soul instrument you manage to find the balance between flashy individualism and solid hard work and companionship. Yeah, you can take the lead, but you're equally happy supporting others. You're not deep and complex to the extreme, but you're not an open book either. You are classy without pretention or fussiness. Overall it seems you've turned out to be a nice, balanced individual. Nice one!

Link: The "What's your Soul Instrument?" Test
(OkCupid Free Online Dating)