Al-pha-X
"The Hymn Of Ugarit (The Oldest Song In The World)"

Stalwart of the Buddha Bar / ambient scene Declan Flynn takes time off from his usual Al-pha-X daytime job to deliver Tigershade something very different. The Hymn of Ugarit is quite literally the oldest song in the world. The music notation tablet, complete with both words and music, was discovered in the lost city of Ugarit (now Ras Shamra, on the Mediterranean coast of northern Syria) in the mid-1990s by a French archaeologist. The artefact is 3200 years old, yet experts have brought sound to the long-lost hymn through modern musical notation and recordings.
Taking the academic recordings by professors Theo Krispijn and Anne Kilmer as inspiration Al-pha-X has recorded his own modern version. Singer Ali Eve Cudby delivers a vocal performance in the ancient Hurian language. The long-silent vocals and melody lines are augmented with modern ambient and synthesized sounds. A delicate marriage of the ancient world with that of the modern.

Produced by Declann Flynn (Al-pha-X).
Vocals by Ali Eve Cudby.
Arrangement of Traditional Notation by John Bryan and Theo Krispijn.
Published by Dharma Songs.
(P) 2008 Tigershade Recordings
(C) 2008 Tigershade Recordings