The oldest song in the world… sung!

Referring to this 2006 post (The Oldest Song in the World), a reader pointed out to me that there was also a performed version on YouTube. Obviously, it was a modern one made by someone who, based on the transcription on that page, performed it.

This gives us a more precise idea of how someone in our century might sing it with our performance practice and our tempered system. Of course, this tells us very little about how it sounded in Mesopotamia in 1400 BC. because their performance practice and their relationship with notation are completely unknown to us.

To clarify, many scores dating back even to the Baroque period (1600 AD, i.e., 400 years ago) appear to consist of a simple sequence of notes, which, when performed, becomes almost unrecognizable because it is stuffed with embellishments and passing notes that were not noted because they were part of the performance practice of the time.

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