"The Song of Seikilos",unique in musical history, as it is the only piece of music from antiquity that has SO far been found, which has survived in its COMPLETE form, and unlike much earlier surviving fragments of melodies that have been found, this song is written in a totally unambigous notation,which can be played,note for note, as it was written...2000 YEARS AGO! This melody is an amazing musical legacy from ancient Greece; a precious remenant of a long-forgotten musical culture now forever lost in the mists of time... In this arrangement, I have tried to utilize EVERY conceivable lyre-playing technique I could think of, which may have also been used in Antiquity! I have recently learnt that "The Song of Sekilos" is,in fact a DRINKING SONG!(What a GREAT idea of the ancient Greeks to put a drinking song on a TOMBSTONE - I want one to be on MINE!!). Although much older music has been found, all that remains are either just pitiful fragments of the melodies,or the way the melodies have been notated in ancient times have SO many modern interpretations that the actual melody is still mostly academic guess work. About 2000 years after it was written, this melody was rediscovered in 1883, in its complete & original form. It was found inscribed in marble on an ancient Greek burial stele, bearing the following epitaph: "I am a portrait in stone.I was put here by Seikilos, where I remain forever, the symbol of timeless rememberence". The translation of this song is: "As long as you live,shine. Let nothing grieve you beyond measure. For life is short,and time will claim it's tribute" It is played here on an an instrument strikingly similar to the ancient Greek Kithara; the larger,wooden lyre favoured by professional ancient Greek musicians. The instrument I am playing, is,in fact, a copy of an ancient Jewish Temple Lyre,the "Kinnor",as depicted from an illustration on the back of an ancient Jewish coin from the Bar Kochba Revolt against the Romans in 135 C.E. Relax and enjoy some "Time Travel" with me, back to the amazingly distant times of Aristotle, the glory of the Acropolis & the Parthenon... Please also see my detailed article about this somewhat unique musical experiment: http://klezfiddle1.spaces.live.com/blog/