Tears of Isis
Musical Visions of Ancient Egypt
The iconic art, pyramids, myths and religion of ancient Egyptian civilization have inspired the music for this CD. To my knowledge, no authentic written texts of their music exist. What I have composed is a set of musical visions that seek to stimulate the listener's imagination about what their music may have sounded like.
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The ancient Egyptian goddess Isis wept for her beloved husband Osiris, who was murdered and betrayed by his own brother. Her tears brought about the annual flood and inundation of the Nile. This music depicts the calling of Isis by the temple priests sounding the primordial conch shell.
Here is the "Ancient Egyptian Anthem to the Moon." As conceived by composer Jeffrey Goodman, this anthem to the moon was played by priests, musicians and guided by highly evolved spiritual masters.
This track and the full CD of 11 tracks (Tears of Isis - Musical Visions of Ancient Egypt) is available for MP3 download from iTunes and Amazon. The audio CD can be purchased from CDBaby.com. Here is an anthem to the Sun associated with the Egyptian god Amun-Ra.
Scientific research has determined that the crust of the earth has a composite resonance equivalent to the music pitch of F#. And some researchers have discovered that the natural resonance of Thoth's Sacred Chamber in the center of the pyramid has a musical pitch of F#.
King Tut's "Spirit Drum Song" is an evocation of ancient Egyptian drumming and percussion music. Most of what is known today about Egyptian music is based on musical instruments recovered by archeologists, and also images within paintings, hieroglyphics, and carved figures.
Horus, son of Isis and Osiris, was known as the god of the king, the sky and the god of war. Horus was often depicted as a falcon, and as a human with the head of a falcon. Sekhmet was a warrior goddess, as a well as a goddess of healing.
Music in ancient Egypt was also often an act of prayer. Here the musicians evoke the Goddess Isis. When Isis appears the choir sings a prayer dedicated to Isis, extolling her beauty, and her bringing of peace to heaven and earth.
Nefertiti, whose name means "the beautiful one has arrived," was the legendary queen of Akhenaten, and they ruled Egypt during the 18th dynasty (1550-1292 BC). In this piece Nefertiti dreams of traveling through the natural, sacred and magical realms to the land where the Benu bird, sometimes kinown as the White Goddess, lives.
Nefertiti, the legendary queen of Akhenaten, ruled Egypt during the 2nd century BC. In this piece it is imagined that Nefertiti dreams of the magical birds of the Tuat, the land which ran parallel to Egypt, surrounded by a vast range of mountains.
The ancient words sung from the Egyptian Book of the Dead celebrate the coming of Ra as he rises in the eastern horizon, and also the coming of Osiris. Nothing survives of the actual music from these times, but the aolian pentatonic scale, which is the melodic basis for the choir setting, has been found on ancient flutes from this period.
This is a musical vision of the journey of the dead, passing beyond each of the gates of the Tuat (the realm of the afterlife and the home of the gods.) They must pass by the guardians of each gate, and if successful, eventually will hear the voice of Isis welcoming them to a heavenly paradise.