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LYRE OF UR NEWS Issue 4 April 2007 www.lyre-of-ur.com Contact us Tel +44 (0)1733 253068

NEWS OF THE GOLD LYRE PROJECT

The Finished Gold Lyre of Ur

Over 5,000 pieces of real cutstone, mother of pearl and lapis lazuliare used on the new Gold Lyre of Ur.Each copies the exact shape and sizeof the original.

Each piece is firmly-based on awarm bed of bitumen-mixture, givento us by Baghdad museum, broughtfrom HIT and sent to us by Mr AyadAbbas via Abu Dhabi.

It is a perfect bed for such irregulardepth stone-inlay. Similar originalworks using stone set in bitumen canbe seen, today, in the British MuseumDepartment of the Ancient Near East.

One of the 105 sections of decorationaround the soundboard (63 mm. wide)

The LYRE IN BERLIN !We gave our second paper about theLyre and its music, to the 5th Ethno-Archaeological Congress there inSeptember.We gave a lecture to the assembledarchaeologists about how manypeople had contributed towardsmaking the lyre. Next evening weplayed at Berlin Ethnological Museumalongside some amazing other ethno-music projects: Irish war horns,sounding stones, Japanese andVietnamese harps and more lyres.Mr Bill Taylor and Jennifer Sturdyperformed with the Lyre for half anhour and it was a great moment to

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watch the audience hear stories thatthey knew of being brought to life withthe Lyre.

Jennifer Sturdy and Bill Taylor

An invitation to takethe Lyre to JORDAN

In December 2006 we took part in aUNESCO sponsored Lyre event in Aqaba.Andy Lowings gave a paper and presentedsome Arabic poetry to the assembly basedon the ideas of the last lyre talking.Shakkar Hatter the most famous Oud playerof Jordan had organised the event whichfeatured the local players of the lyre, calledthere “Al Simsimiya.”The Secretary General of the Ministry ofCulture attended, alongside the EuropeanCommission and UNESCO representatives.They listened enthusiastically to words sentto us from Ms Leila Gorgius of Canada. Thelocal lyre-playing fishermen also attendedand were amazed to see what had beenmade! We intend to try to arrange aninvitation for their group to come toEngland.The high spot was to listen to them play infront of the town of Aqaba at the full localamphitheatre.Thanks go to UNESCO and the JordanianMinistry of Culture for arranging both theevent and for transporting the Lyre to

Amman and 500 miles across the Jordaniandesert.

The Simsimiya group of Aqaba Jordan

KENYA Earth FestivalFebruary this year saw the third Laikipia “GreatRift Valley Festival” in Kenya.We were invited alongside Ayub Ogada andlocal players who play lyres.

ANGLO GOLD ASHANTIsupported all our transport and so we went toKenya with the Gold Lyre of Ur in a packingcase!

Lyre of Ur and Zebras!The road to the Game reserve was 7 hours ofruts and trenches, the last 20 miles on dirt roadswashed out by local floods. Despite having nosuspension or shock absorbers the Lyre arrivedundamaged… to be unveiled, to amazed localtribesmen covered in goat-grease makeup. Wewould not have made it without KLM cargo alsobeing enthusiastically behind the trip for theLyre of Ur Project in Africa

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Ayub Ogada played the Gold Lyre of Ur atthe recent Rift Valley Earth Festival inLaikipia Kenya.Part of an African project to raiseawareness of global warming the lyre waspresented by Ayub and his band in front ofan audience, many of whom had flown into the site. The conservation area there isaround 100,000 acres and overlooks theGreat African rift valley.

Sound and stage rehearsalsat the Laikipia reserve

Ballet dancers were invited from New York.Siberian throat singers, cellists, sax playersand Masai warriors all joined in the concert.It was a privilege to sit under the stars andwitness such talent assembled in suchstunning surroundings.Luo group “Kenge Kenge” were also thereand have been invited to the UK to appearat WOMAD in July 2007.

The Lyre and Kenyan flame tree.

The Gallmann Foundation promoted theevent. The remaining time was spentrecording a CD in Nairobi at the famoushome of Alan Donovan (below).

Surrounded by the art and crafts ofgenerations of Africans was the bestpossible venue to create music with othermusicians.Stand by for the finished CD in due course.

We managed to pull in research into modernplayers of the Lyre in Kenya and discoveredthe master Nyatiti player at the NairobiConservatoire of Music (pictured above). AJapanese lady (his pupil) had recently beenon TV playing the Nyatiti lyre to hugenational acclaim.

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JEWELLERYThe Lyre of Ur Project was lucky enoughto have gold donated to us and there wasa little left over as off-cuts. Silversmithshave contacted us and are now workingon jewellery to accompany thepresentation of the Lyre

Lapis and gold choker(British Museum) 22mm x 180mm

We are making this lovely piece of neck-ware again from these same originalmaterials. Each lady in the death pitgraves in Ur was wearing similaradornments.In the British Museum there are some 46similar pieces and we were lucky to begiven access, to touch and to examinethem all.What a strange experience it is to feelsomething that was last worn as theperson went to her ceremonial death.This choker is created from Lapis lazulidrilled three times through each toreceive thread. Alternating with the lapissections are pure gold triangles withidentical ridges for the thread to passthough. We have formed these goldsections over papyrus stems ofincreasing diameter and they will lookamazing. Drilling lapis is presently theproblem as it takes much time even witha diamond drill.Once again how they did this 5,000 yearas ago is only to be guessed at.

Each of the pieces of this necklace hassome seven ridges. Most of thenecklaces have eleven sections of puregold, but some had thirteen. Is thissignificant at all?The Queen’s wig also had a Solid Silvercrown-like arrangement topped withthree gold daisy leaves. We have alsorecreated this to fit into the wig createdfor us.

Head-dress of one of the ladies fromUr, who went to their deathswearing their royal regalia.

Many thanks to the British Museum fortheir help in allowing us access to viewthe gold treasures from Ur and tomeasure and record it in detail.

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Cindy Pezzi, goldsmith from MetropolitanUniversity London has already finishedone recreation of one part of the jewellery,identical, ‘official‘ Royal regalia. Amongstwhich is a stunning hair decoration.

Gold Olive leaves are set amongst stripsof lapis and carnelian beads and set offby a silver hair comb topped with luckysymbols.a necklace of gold leaves shownon the next page.

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Thanks to the Metropolitan Universityof London for extending access forCindy to the workshops there. Cindyis now involved in much larger metalconservation. She is in Francerestoring the bronze bells of a churchin Normandy!

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Original ‘Leaves of Pure Gold at BritishMuseum‘ [Pic Abigail Percy]

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Musician and lyre player Ayub Ogada tellsthat his people say that they came from LowerEgypt many, many, generations ago. Some saythey lived even in the Middle East for a time.It is an intriguing idea and perhaps true.The Luo community still play LYRES today.Their neighbours, the Kisii, also by the Nile inLake Victoria, play a larger sort of Lyre called“Obokano”. It has the same bassy sound andhas cords of leather and thick string to createwhat is a real `growling noise of a musicalinstrument`!

The necklace of one Ayubs backing singer-ladies is shown above “This necklace isLuo…” Grace told us. Yet, it is the same style,with the same leaves, as that on Queen PuAbi`s head (shown here below) worn 4,550years ago!The Luo are fishermen of the river Nile andsay they come from Sudan and “the north”.“We have been here in Kenya for only 2,000years” they say. “Our language is the same inmany ways to that spoken in Sudan, but wealso have Luo groups in Tanzania, Uganda andeven across in central Africa.”

Luo musicians looking at the Lyre of UrIn Kenya

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Lady Pu-Abi‘s Gold jewellery(British Museum)

The LUCKY DAISY.

The Royal game of Ur [Pic J Sturdy]

In many of the excavations ofSumeria there were found theseeight-pointed daisy-like features.They appear everywhere and weremeant to be lucky symbols. Oneis used on the head dress of theattendants found in the graves atUr and shown above.

Even today one can see thisdesign frequently appearing.Why is this?Here above the symbol alsoappears in the Game of Ur. Thisgame is on show at the BritishMuseum and it is still played to dayin Western India in the port city ofCochin. It is without any doubt theoldest still used game in the worldand has been played for perhaps5,000 years.Could Cochin be where the gameoriginated from or where it wastransferred to during the time ofSumeria? It is firm evidence ofcontact between cultures andshows that common conceptionsof travel are misplaced.

Here is the Daisy (top left)used once again,

at “LIVE 8 Africa Calling”.

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Gabriel plays the Lyre on the bus inKenya (pic A.L.)

Although some tunings are similar thereare huge variations, and Everett Igobwalists over 26 to his knowledge. AyubOgada from Kenya stresses that melodyisn’t just the basis for the lyre so tuningsaren’t the only important aspect ofplaying.

Ayub Ogada‘s CDs are available fromWOMAD Real World Records.

Picture of Lyre players in SaudiArabia in the 19th century.

Francis Falceto, French supporter ofEthiopian lyre playing sent us hisextract on playing, written with thehelp of Alemu Aga player from AddisAbaba.Amazingly Alemu‘s instrument has 8strings but he only uses 5 of them.Others are used to rest the handupon.

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Click on and experience the unusualsound of this ancient lyre!

www.youtube.com(Enter “Ur” and “Lyre”)

Ayub Ogada at Live 8 Africa Calling July 2005

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Gold Bull’s Head Work at WestDean College Sussex completed

Goldsmith Daniel Huff, part Of WestDean College spent months creatingthe Bull’s Head shown here

Melody Zamolio, Student Goldsmithat West Dean College with part of

our gold donation.[Pic J Sturdy]

SILVER LYRERECONSTRUCTION!Some time ago we were donatedenough dry, hard-grained cedar-woodneeded to recreate the Silver Lyre, shownhere

Silver Lyre at British Museum.

Covered in pure silver sheet thiswill be an amazing sight, playedalongside the Gold lyre. These two lyreswere certainly heard together and so it isimportant that they be recreated together.We are asking for a donor for the modestamount of silver needed to cover thiswork, about £1,000 worth.

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MEDIA COVERAGEBBCYou may well have seen ourprogramme on “Harps throughTime” by “Sky TV” which wasbroadcast recently on S4C.Introduced by Royal HarpistCatrin Finch, it covered in 90minutes, the harp in its many formsdeveloping to present times.

The National GeographicMagazine featured the Lyre of UrProject in its French edition in November2005. One whole page was devoted toour Project.Editors of the US Edition declared it“a cool idea”.

“Song Lines” The most prestigiousfolk music journal in UK covered theProject last year.You can hear the sound of the Lyre beingplayed on our website

www.lyre-of-ur.com

THE BBC WORLD SERVICE covered usat great length in Kenya recently.Their newsreader Anjalya took particularinterest in the ideas and interviewed usall for radio and for the national TVnetwork

“The Nation”, Kenya`s newspaperpublished two articles on

Ayub Ogada.

DUBAIPlans are now in hand to go to Dubaifor a fund raising venture for anorphanage supported there.We are pleased to be donating membersto this trip which we are certain willrelease money for this fine cause.

Edinburgh Harp Festivalharp students….. who were inspired withthe Lyre of Ur story…… themselves gavea lecture in Ontario in 2006.They made a small donation of which weare very appreciative. It would befantastic to be able to travel over toCanada to show the Lyre there.

DECORATION OFTHE LYRE OF UR

Decoration of the Lyrehas now been completed

One of the longest and hardest jobs torecreate this instrument was to replicatethe vast amount of cut stone and shellwork on it.

To do this work, we set out to firstly lookvery very carefully at the photographabove and used it as a guide! Day afterday!

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It was a simple yet protractedbusiness and went on over sevenmonths last year. Using lapis lazuli, shelland pink limestone on a bed of bitumenthe results are beautiful.

Rear arm

Looking carefully at the original onthe Baghdad museum picture, one cansee exactly how the person 5,000 yearsago approached the task.Originally starting off making a list ofpieces and then cutting them, one soonrealises that this was rather done by eyeback then.The difficult end piece seemed to be onthe left hand side...did the maker alwayswork from right to left perhaps?There are 40 panels which have some3,000 pieces, on the arms alone (thesoundboard required another 2,000pieces!). This huge number soon makesone proficient in cutting and applying thestone and shell. The finish, we think, hasthe same ‘imperfect‘ look as the original.From time to time one has to choose if apiece fails the quality test. It may perhapsbe just a little too small or too angular.Do you let it go and pass on or reject itand re-cut another piece?

And now and then you say “it will do” andthen you see that the maker 5,000 yearsago has taken the same decision toaccept a slightly wrong piece!

Using only copper discs andlathes feeding silica sand onto the discwould be a laborious process back thento cut the 35,000 cuts needed for just oneinstrument.Even today, 5 diamond discs were wornout in the process.……And one discovers such things indoing this again, by hand.

WEBSITEwww.lyre-of-ur.com

EVERYONE who e-mails us says howwell made the site is!Thanks to Mr Keith Jobling for hisfantastic support. Keith is part ofMUSIC LINK in Lincolnshire and hehas an amazing database ofeverything that is happening in ‘Lincs‘in the music and arts worlds.Latest news!Hear the LYRE OF UR being playedon the BBC live on the Internet onour website

Where the player’s armused to rub against the arm of theLyre (set on the corner of the backarm) there is a “rubbing strip”.Perhaps the small pieces used to falloff there…. and had to be repaired?She probably had to give it back tothe maker to have it repaired.

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We use the safe custody ofLloyds TSB Bank

Thank you to all the Lloyds TSB Bankemployees who follow our story eachtime we appear there, with interestand patience.—————————————————

It is our aim that anyone withconnection to these ancientinstruments, from any communityor race or religion be invited to beinvolved in promoting the Project.

Eritrean lyre player(picture J Sturdy)

Would you like to hear what we haveproduced?Would you like to hear it played nearyou?Contact us

Tel +44 (0) 1733 253068E-mail: info@lyre-of-ur.com

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FUND RAISINGIt may seem that all this response means thatwe are also inundated with offers of money!Nothing could be further from the truth and wehave actually modest amounts.We need finance for every aspect of theproject; from making promotional letters. toassist visits to generate support; to help to paythe telephone bills; the postage bills; the vanhire; for the instrument boxes, flights and othertravel costs.If you would like to sponsor a particular aspectof this project, we would be delighted to hearfrom you!This is here a real, international team makinga well-loved and famous instrument that pre-dates our world divisions.It can have a huge impact for good in everycommunity.

ACS Photography Market Deeping

Gold arms by Simon Benney the famousFine Metal Workers of KnightsbridgeLondon.

Gold Bulls Head by Daniel Huff and TonnyBeentjes. West Dean Sussex andAlbuquerque New Mexico.

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The Bands of Gold decoration onthe arms of the Lyre were laid on by RoyalGoldsmith, Alun Evans who works forSimon Benney the famous Fine MetalWorkers of London.This took almost three weeks of work, fulltime, and required careful cutting-out ofthe templates, firstly on paper and thenin GOLD. It was done using gold sheetand nailed in place using hand-madenails. Nailed!There are 34 references in our researchthat show both silver and copper tacksbeing used to attach metal sheathing towood. Back then laser and weldingtechniques were absent so we had to usethe methods of the time.We have used hardened silver tacks,dome headed and hand-made.Absolutely authentic, as was done 4,550years ago.

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MUSIC with the Gold LyreWe are getting more confident about howto play the Lyre now. Everyone wants tohear it, of course but modern ears areattuned to a different type of music. Thewhole ideas of what constitutes music isa new field and a new journey for theproject team.

Barnaby Brown, musician ofGlasgow recently contacted us to saythat he had created the famous “twinpipes” from the Royal Graves of Ur.Barnaby is a music teacher in Scotlandand is an expert in Sardinian music wherehe lived for many years before returningto the UK.The twin thin-bore silver pipes were alsofound in the graves and have beenrecreated by him.The main problem is which way up theyare played, which results in totallydifferent tones!

Barnaby and Andydiscuss ideas

January 2006[pic I Urch]

As a pipe player himself he felt that itwould be good to play alongside the GoldLyre we have made.We played together on January 7th 2006and this moment is on the web in a two-minute clip in youtube.

Barnaby Brown has a wealth ofexperience regarding pipe-playing andancient music, and explains theimportance of understanding the natureof music in the context of how it mighthave been played…...and indeed, how itis often played today.

“The concert environment with itsformal set-pieces, lengths and seatedaudiences is not the only way” heexplained. “Time is needed.”This is reflected in the old style ofPebroch pipe playing with its slowdevelopment. This can take manyminutes and creates the mood whichoften then explodes into a climacticfinish. Strangely enough this is the styleof much African music that takes a longtime to develop.

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“Music,” says Barnaby “can be repetitiveand hypnotic, affecting its listeners in adifferent way than we might wish, todayin our modern world.Rhythm and beat can be pleasing justas much as melody which today can bethe most important aspect”.

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Dr Anne Kilmer USAWe were recently given a big boost byDr Anne Kilmer who spent her life withcuneiform texts from Sumeria. She wasthe first person to translate the ancientHymn of Hummria and who decoded thetexts referring to music and ancientscales.There is a vigorous and vociferous groupof musicologists who are fascinated bythis field of interpreting such clues inorder to ascertain implied tunings. It isat the extreme end of advanced theorywe feel but is testimony to humancuriosity and intellectual rigour.Anne, though now retired, has given hersupport to the project and we will meether one day soon.Dr Kilmer’s CD of 7 modes for an ancientLyre is available from J Smith BellaRoam Music in California.This hugely complex field of musicologyis concerned with how strings might betuned and how the music might havesounded.The conclusions that Dr Kilmer hasarrived at are that Greek modes, (sevento be exact) were highly likely to havebeen used even in 2,550 BC. Her paperis available on this subject.Canadian musicologist Everett Igobwefrom York University Ontario has allowedus to take an extract from his PhD thesison tunings of modern African Lyres whichcover the area from Egypt to Tanzania

yet which most likely derive from theearliest lyres of Mesopotamia.It would appear that African tunings arenot in any way an exact science. To somepeoples “exact” is an unknown word, like“perfect”.

Greek lyre player experimentingwith the Lyre of Ur

Playing the Lyre of Ur in Kenya

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El Mastaba Centrefor Egyptian Folk Music

support the LYRE!

In Port Said, Egypt, a folklore troupeplays LYRES in the old way still today,under leader Mr Zakaria Ibrahim

We were invited to attend the NILEFESTIVAL recently in London by MrFrancis Falcetto where groups whoplayed the Lyre were performing.

Francis promotes the Ethiopian Lyretradition of East Africa and was there withthe group called El Tambura an eclecticmix of lyre, ouds, drums song andEgyptian dance.

The Sufi tradition is surely still strongtoday and in no time, backstage, animpromptu concert was taking place withall kinds of instruments and dancersjoining in!

Whirling dervishes insisted on taking ourproject administrator Jennifer Sturdy intothe dance and, once again, the commonlanguage of music and fun was spokenacross a huge cultural divide. It was sometime later that the manager insisted thatthe waiting audience outside be at lastattended to!

Leader Mr Zakeria Ibrahim is a fount ofenthusiasm and promotes El Tanburaand the Zar and many other exoticinstruments of the region across theworld. He has set up a Folkloreassociation in Cairo devoted to theseinstruments.

El Tambura recently toured the UK andare not to be missed the next time. Theywill appear next at WOMAD in July 2007

THE MYSTERIOUS ‘ZAR‘Ceremony!

Lyres are played throughout EastAfrica today. In Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia,Somalia, Kenya, Uganda and in Eritrea.The Horniman Museum has a fineexample of an Eritrean Lyre or RABABAused stil l today in an ancientZAR CEREMONY

Picture thanks to theHorniman Museum archive.

Called a “Healing Ceremony” we have noidea what this might be and arefascinated by the ideas of “healing music”to cure mental problems.The mere mention of this ancient andsuspect tradition brings an immediatereaction from anyone from Egypt toSudanDo you know? We have found that eventoday in the Middle East region playersstill perform this old pre-Islamicceremony in a language that they don’teven speak. What can this be about?

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Latest pictures

On Stage at the Royal Albert HallWith Mr Dergham Owenati

Tara Jaff and Ayub Ogadaplaying for the BBC Radio

KIND THANKS to Mr Keith Joblingwho has spent endless time tocreate our website. Not only thatbut he has helped with all thephotography and donated a PC tothe project.

Kazem Al Saher and the Lyre[Pic Stephen]

Arriving back at London Cargo

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Daisy Cameo from Italy!

Last summer we were lucky enoughto receive another amazing donationof a CAMEO SHELL plaque made byhand in Torre del Greco Italy.Florindo the manager there hasdonated the daisy motif, used on theend of the yoke of the Lyre. Made byMr Paolo aged over seventy) it isexactly the same and is made ofmother of pearl and inset with red andblue coloured sections. Cameos arestill made there Italy to this day andthe skill of olden days still remainsthere.It can be seen on the end of the yokeof the Lyre of Ur picture on page oneof this Newsletter.——————————————

WIGS, HAIRPIECESAND CLOTHES!

We have had a kind gift of a hand-knottedwig, created in Wales, London and Kent.

It uses (what we feel is) the correct hair-piece as was used in Sumeria. It has 50%human hair and authentic stuffing andtook some weeks to create. It is basedupon surviving records of what mighthave been the styles of the time but asusual little is really known.

Thanks are due to wigmaker Mr DavidWilliams and Ms Claudia Stolze who bothdo work for the Royal Opera House,London. The type of human hair is“Asian”. We are told that this is allimportant as there are particular aspectsto all types of hair in wig making!

Special thanks to Ms Amanda Lennox ofBromley Kent who made up thefoundation for the wig.

LYRES STILL PLAYED INAFRICATODAY!

Kenyan Lyre “Nyatiti”(Eight strings, reed bridges)

The BEGUNA LYRE is played in Ethiopiatoday. It is a larger version of the Kenyanlyre and more like the Gold Lyre of Ur.It is strummed gently and accompaniessinging.According to legend it is descended fromthe harp that King David (who defeatedGoliath) played 3,000 years ago to helpSaul sleep.The son of the Queen of Sheba(Menelik 1st) is said to have introduced itto Abyssinia (modern day Ethiopia) at thetime of King Solomon. It is also played inIslamic Eritrea, showing that it crossescultural divides.It was in more modern times, banishedfrom the airwaves and TV for over 20years in Ethiopia, because of thecommunist regime there, but now it ishaving a revival of interest.The Lyre remains an endangeredinstrument but it has many supporters.

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Mr Alemu Aga plays the Ethiopian“Bergana” today in Addis Ababa.Alemu is an ordinary hardwareshopkeeper yet as a passionate musicianand as a Christian he plays music to theglory of God, to tell stories but also to tellthe odd ‘double entendre‘.Like all music, words can be powerfulthings and within the music are hiddencomments that are immediately pickedup by Ethiopians steeped in the traditionof the Bergana style:-

A typical Verse:ìWhat is happening to thismule of mine?It is misbehaving unusuallySeeing what is happening toits neighbourIt started to throw off itsloadî—————————————————

Harp and dulcimer makerJonathan Letcher, instrument makerto the Golden Lyre project, recentlyrepresented the group at a conferencein Cairo, organised by the project for theRevival of Pharaonic Music, whichwas founded by Professor Dr. Khairy AlMalt of Helwan University.The two projects have many shared aims,and it is possible that future co-operationcould be useful to them both, especiallyas a number of ancient lyres, preservedby the dry climate, have been discoveredin Egyptian tombs, some of whichhave some technical similarities to theGolden Lyre.After the conference, Jon spent a weekhelping Professor Dr. Ricardo Eichmannof Berlin, the archaeologist and leadingauthority on ancient lutes, together with

a group of diploma students from theuniversity, to build reproductions of twoearly lutes - a spike lute with atortoiseshell bowl from the Pharaonicperiod, and a Coptic lute from the thirdcentury AD

Standing in the back row:Prof Eichmann, second from theright, and Dr. Khairy, in the white

jacket, with Jonathan.

The two students sitting in front of them(Abdulbaset Nasser, holding a lyre) and(Mohammed Maged who helpedorganise the conference) were especiallykind and helpful in looking after theforeign guests.

The enthusiasm of all the studentsshowed how enjoyable and worthwhilesuch co-operative projects can be.Supported by the Arts Council of GreatBritain.

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In January 2007 the Lyre of UrProject became officiallyregistered as a Charity in theUnited Kingdom.Donations (from UK taxpayers) canallow us to recoup 25% back fromthe government, as all donationsare allowed to be made from yourpre-tax money.

Please ask for a Gift Aid Form———————————————Winston Churchill Fellowshipin January 2007, Andy Lowings

was awarded a WinstonChurchill Fellowship.

“This is a truly great honour and it will allowme the time to go and to investigate Lyreplaying in the world today, particularly in theMiddle East and North Africa. It would not havecome about without such a supportive andthoughtful project team.”

The title of the award was “The modern legacyof an ancient civilisation”.This allows travel to Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudanand Kenya meeting local players of lyres andrecording and seeing what might be thebackground to this common instrument of thearea that might just have connections back toancient history itself.

Fellowships are open to all and exist in thememory of the Sir Winston Churchill.———————————————Amazing international artisticsupport continues to come into the Gold Lyre of UrProject…Two CD of tracks about the Gold Lyre of Urwere sent to us in UK from the USA recently.The destruction of the original Lyre in Baghdadhas shocked many people and it is testimonyto the power of e mail and the internet thatclose contacts can now be made across thewhole world.

Particular thanks and congratulations to MrChris Green… a construction worker from NorthWest Canada, who was touched by the project,and still as yet unmet in person, sent this poetryover to us by e-mail.…..

COME SIT CLOSERC. Chris Green

Come now, sit closer.My voice is weak, for I haven’tbeen able to speakfor such a long time,and I do have things to say tothose who will hear.

The last time I remember beingable to speak freelywas long ago, in the chamber ofmy Queen in the city of Ur.

Well, perhaps not so freely, for inthat cool and fragrant chamberI could only grieve and sorrow, Icould only cry, I could only givevoice to the sorrows andmiseries of that land,for the Queen, my Queen, ourgreat Queen, had died.

The last time I spoke, it was togive voice to a lament, a greater lament than had beenheard in the land between therivers,

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it was through me that the landgave voice to its pain and grief. It was through me that the land,the peopleyea, it was through me that eventhe gods,gave a final lament for theQueen, my Queen, our Queen,and for her attendants, whowere my attendants.

It was through me that thosetwo mighty rivers,It was through me that themighty land of Sumer,It was through me that the verygods themselvessang their misery.

Such a burden, such a misery,such a great sorrow for a simple instrument to givevoice to,and I have had a great need torest.And so I have been silent for along time.I have rested now, for a longtime,but the time for lamenting hasended.

Come, sit closer. Draw near.My voice is weak, for I haven’tbe able to speak

for such a long time,and I do have things to say tothose who will listenand I do have things to say tothose who will hear.Come, sit closer. Draw near.Listen.Listen, and when you hear themelodies played upon mystrings,you may hear words which areready to be born,and you may hear words whichsay:The time for lamenting hasended,and it is time to sing of joy, it istime to give jubilation.

Come, sit closer. Draw near.My voice is weak, for I haven’tbeen able to speak,for such a long time.

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