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This album, like so many other recent of my recent releases, uses snapshots from the vast palette of ancient Greek mythology to inspire the ancient-themed compositions, which once again, feature a range of recreated ancient Greek lyres, tuned in a selection of some of the original ancient Greek modes, whose distinctive qualities are further enhanced using just intonation.

The lyres in this album were all lovingly recreated in modern Greece, by Luthieros:

https://www.luthieros.com

The lyres include two custom made tortoise shell lyres, featuring naturally occurring tortoise shells from long deceased modern Greek land tortoises; foraged from the forests near Thessaloniki (no live animals were harmed!) & a selection of 'chelys' form (tortoise shell form) lyres, which although fashioned in the form of a tortoise shell, feature resonators made from wood over which the skin soundboard is stretched - these lyres possess a richer, deeper timbre, more suitable to accompany some of the simple vocal lines which feature in some of the tracks.

My Luthieros kithara (the large wooden concert lyre favoured by only the professional musicians of ancient Greece) also features on track 5, "The Healing of Asclepius".

In my continuing efforts to create the evolution of a truly distinctive 'New Ancestral' music genre, throughout this project, I also attempt to further enhance the dreamy quality of the timbre of the recreated ancient lyre, with a subtle palette of contemporary studio effects, ranging from reverbs sampled from actual cathedrals & caves, to specific melodic phrases enhanced with dream-like echoes & delays.

Michael Levy is a composer for the recreated lyres of antiquity.

One of his lyre themes was incorporated into Rufus Wainwright's opera "Hadrian" & taking ancient lyre music mainstream, in 2024, collaborated with Amen Dunes.

Michael has collaborated with the iconic American artist, Jeff Koons – his music for ancient Greek kithara was the soundscape of Koon’s sculpture, “Apollo Kithara”.

1. ancientlyre.com
2. Facebook