This is the tenth issue of Forest of Distraction! There is a poll at the bottom of this post — I hope you will take the time to complete it so that I can continue to improve content.
For the last year, I’ve been learning to play the lyre. Not the classic Greek lyre, but a modern version often referred to as a “lyre harp,” which is the perfect instrument for someone like me who has minimal knowledge and experience with music but a keen desire to pick out the tune to “Scarborough Fair” or Taylor Swift’s “Antihero.” It’s easy to learn and the small but supportive community that makes the learning more fun. Of course, I’m always searching YouTube for helpful videos, which is how I came across the video below, “The Lament for Gilgamesh.”
It’s hard to believe that the instrument in the video below is technically the same thing as the twangy little lyre I’ve been plucking for the past year. The sound of the Gold Lyre of Ur, combined with the Sumerian lament and the accompanying enormous drum, is transportive. It rips you out of time and deposits you in the heart of ancient Mesopotamia. Close your eyes, and you can all but feel the hot sun on your head, the walls of ancient stone temples rising up around you.
It’s remarkable to think that we are hearing the same sounds that people thousands of years ago used to hear regularly, a piece of the oldest story we have on record. And yet, it’s just a small piece of the sounds and stories that surrounded those people in their own time. Their lives must have been as rich as our own, but we only know the tiniest sliver of what they experienced.
It makes me wonder what people four thousand years from now will remember about our civilization, what fragments of art and culture they will use to transport themselves back to the 21st century. Maybe some future academic will spend years researching and reconstructing looped drums and retro synthesizers, to be able to thrill his 6th millenium audience with the otherworldly lyrics, “It's me, hi, I'm the problem, it's me.”
The Gold Lyre of Ur
“The Gold Lyre of Ur was unearthed by archaeologist, Sir Leonard Woolley, in the 1920s during his excavations in the Sumerian city of Ur, in modern day Iraq. Unfortunately, as you can see from the photo at the top of the video, there was little left of the lyre because the Sumerians simply put it into the ground 5000 years ago and covered it over with tons of earth. In the intervening millennia, everything that was degradable turned to dust, and only the imprint of the instrument was left, along with the stone mosaic decorations, the four vignettes made of shell, and the gold. Thanks to very careful measurements and photos taken by Woolley, museum curators have been able to reconstruct the fragile bits and pieces, and the instrument is now on display in Baghdad. What you see in this video is my own replica, made from cedar like the original. Needless to say, I used brass sheeting instead of gold, but it is unlikely that the ornamentation would change the basic sound of the instrument.”
Read more: The Lament for Gilgamesh
Lagoons Among the Dunes
“When you first see it, Lençóis Maranhenses in northeastern Brazil appears much like a typical desert: sand – and lots of it. Yet closer inspection quickly reveals pools of water among the ridged hills of sand, lining the landscape with their rich hues of green and blue. One of the most visually contradictory sights on our planet, there are lagoons among the dunes.
“In fact, strictly speaking, Lençóis Maranhenses is not even a desert. It is situated just outside of the Amazon Basin and it has a rainy season which helps to cause this strange phenomenon. The long, small valleys (more properly described as depressions perhaps) between the dunes fill with fresh water each year and, particularly between July and September, form their own out of the ordinary ecosystem.
“The area, consisting of approximately six hundred square miles, is virtually free of plant life. Perhaps the best way to take this amazing landscape in is from the sky. From a distance it looks as if giant worms have been worrying the land.
“Then, as you near the area, the lagoons in the dunes become clearer. It is an other-worldly sight. The desert-like landscape is all the eye can see with the pools of water providing the only color among the dazzling white of the dunes.
Read more: Lençóis Maranhenses - Brazil's Lagoons Among The Dunes
Roll for Damage
Dice with instructions for a drinking game. Korea, Unified Silla Period, 8th-10th centuries. This 14-sided dice was made for drinking games, and is carved with instructions on each side:
兩盞則放: Drink two cups immediately
三盞一去: Drink three cups at once
衆人打鼻: Let everybody hit you on the nose
飮盡大笑: Drink a big cup and laugh loudly
醜物莫放: Drink from a cup with something gross in it
禁聲作舞: Do a dance without music
曲臂則盡: Drink while linking arms with a buddy
空詠詩過: Recite a verse from a poem
自唱自飮: Drink and sing a song
自唱怪來晩: Sing the song Goeraeman
月鏡一曲: Sing the song Weolgyeong
任意請歌: Ask a buddy to sing a song
有犯空過: Hold still and don't flinch while someone pretends to hit you
弄面孔過: Hold still and don't flinch while someone tickles your face
Read more: Juryeonggu – 14-sided dice