The world's oldest song, composed 3,400 years ago, was played VIDEO

Just as the first people created art through cave paintings and pottery, music has also served as a universal form of expression since ancient times, writes Frognews. We will probably never be able to hear the many songs that have been lost to history, but fortunately there is one remarkable piece of music from around 1400 BC that has been preserved on clay tablets from more than 3,400 years ago.

Known as the oldest playable song in the world, “The Hurrian Hymn No. 6“ was discovered by archaeologists in the 1950s in the ruins of the ancient city of Ugarit, in what is now Syria.

The tablets are written in the Hurrian language using Sumerian cuneiform and include both the text and the notes of the Hurrian hymn. However, no one knows for sure how the song should sound, as the instructions do not detail the exact length and pitch of the notes, as is the case with modern sheet music.

The tablets have been studied extensively by scholars, leading to several theories about how the music should be interpreted. However, there is one version that seems most convincing.

Canadian musician Peter Pringle recreated “Hurrian Hymn No. 6“ based on the interpretation of archaeomusicologist Dr. Richard D. Dumbrill. He plays the song on a long-necked lute, which is a cross between the Turkish baglama and the Persian setar.

“I made this instrument myself as an experiment,” Pringle reveals. “It has four strings, but the bass notes are in pairs. It’s tuned to F-C-F. Lutes of this type have been played since ancient times in Mesopotamia and Anatolia.”

Pringle has also recorded sounds from ancient wind instruments and incorporated them into the musical accompaniment. “What you hear are replicas of 5,000-year-old silver trumpets that were discovered in the 1920s in the Sumerian city of Ur,” he explains. “They are wind instruments with reed mouthpieces, but since I can't play wind instruments and sing at the same time, I recorded the sounds and play them using a pedal keyboard similar to the one used by organists.“

Scholars believe that “Hurricane Hymn No. 6“ is dedicated to Ningal, also called Nikal in Syria. She is the goddess of orchards and fertility in the ancient Near East. Pringle's captivating rendition of the world's oldest known song offers a powerful glimpse into a forgotten world thousands of years ago.

Listen to Pringle's version of the world's oldest recorded song…