In these early periods, musical instruments were not only restricted to funerary contexts, but appear in religious settings. Which function they had in the tomb or temple rituals, or how the ceremonies were practiced, is not known. No depiction, even from later periods, shows the use of clappers at a burial. These only appear occasionally in depictions of religious feasts.
In the early periods music is not attested for private entertainment, such as within domestic or family group. But this absence does not imply that music was not practiced in the private context and during everyday events, only that it was not reflected in two- and three-dimensional art. Moreover, at present there is no still evidence for music used entertainment at the royal court.
But there is evidence for music in the religious context. The practice of religion is an important means for individual participants, since it strengthens the emergence and development of a common identity. In early Egyptian history, music as part of religious rituals might have supported the emergence of the Egyptian state as a unit.
Where Egyptian music does comes from?
Music is universal across all human cultures. Hand clapping and singing especially are musical expressions attested in every culture since earliest times. Several instruments like drums, flutes and string instruments are also common in nearly every society.
It is impossible to prove where musical instruments were invented the first. The lute, the harp, as well as the lyre, appear much earlier in the Near East than in Egypt. Therefore, despite the lack of explicit evidence, it is often assumed that the instruments were imported into Egypt. Even the sistrum is not unique to Egypt, since it appears at the same time in Mesopotamia.
How might this be explained? Like today, some ancient musicians were highly mobile, traveling several hundred kilometers. They might have brought the hardware as real instruments back to Egypt, or at least the idea of it, developing it to a special Egyptian version. Moreover, in later periods foreign musicians are attested in Egypt and surely brought their own instruments along, influencing Egyptian musical technologies and styles in the process.
How does understanding music change our larger appreciation of Early Egypt?
Our image of ancient Egypt is shaped in large part by architectural objects like Obelisks, Sphinxes, houses, pyramids and temples, as well as archaeological artifacts as furniture and pottery. But among non-scholars much less is known about the non-material culture of Ancient Egypt, for example literature. The textual evidence shows us more of the inner life of the ancient Egyptians than all the items known archaeologically. Music allows an even deeper insight into the daily life of ancient Egypt. The so-called ‘love songs’ in particular show that sentimentality and emotional expression in music were not inventions of modern times, but are universal since earliest times. The words of a New Kingdom love song resonates even today:
the man sings of her beauty, and his wish to approach her
the woman, separated, in the house of her mother, sings of her longing for his arrival
the man abandons hope of reaching her
the woman struggles with her desires
after seeing her, the man rejoices but is still separated
after seeing him, the woman sings of her hope that her mother might share her sentiment
seven days of separation have left the man sick: only she can cure him
Imagining such works sung makes the impact even greater.
Pingback: Explorator 20.39 ~ January 21 - Explorator
Pingback: This Week’s ANE News! - Ancient Near East Nerd