A spontaneous improvisation on a replica ancient Greek Barbitos (βάρβιτος) - the music from this instrument was said to be the lyre for drinking parties and is considered an invention of Terpander. The Barbitos, an ancient Greek bass register lyre, was also often associated with the poet Sappho...

The beautiful replica Barbitos I am playing in this improvisation was hand-made in modern Greece by Luthieros Ancient & Modern Music Instruments, and all their wonderful instruments are available to order from anywhere in the world:

http://en.luthieros.com/product-category/ancient_greek_lyre

The Luthieros Barbitos I am playing in this video presentation features an actual tortoise shell resonator and 7 long gut strings, creating a haunting and unique ancient timbre...

http://www.ancientlyre.com/
https://www.facebook.com/beautifullyre
https://twitter.com/AncientLyre
http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/MichaelLevy
https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/michael-levy/id4324920

The Ancient Greek Barbitos

Michael Levy is a UK-based composer for the recreated lyres of antiquity, whose musical mission is to create an entirely new musical genre, which could best be described as a 'New Ancestral Music' - dedicated to creating new music for the recreated ancient lyre, featuring an exotic palette of ancient musical modes and intonations not heard for almost 2000 years.

Michael has collaborated with the Grammy award winning Canadian composer, Rufus Wainwright - Rufus musically incorporated one of Michael's "Hymn to Zeus"  in two scenes of his second opera, "Hadrian" - which premiered in Toronto on 13th October 2018.

In 2022, Michael collaborated with the iconic American artist, Jeff Koons – his music for recreated ancient Greek kithara is currently the main soundscape of Koon’s animatronic sculpture, “Apollo Kithara” (2020-2022) on view at DESTE’s Project Space on the Greek island of Hydra.

The Ancient Greek Barbitos

Michael Levy Lyre Music