Ancient Egyptian Music

.	Ancient Egyptian Music	Traditional Spanish Flamenco
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Early development	The music and singing in the life of ancient Egyptian had considerable attention since the 1st Dynasty, c. 3000 BC.	Music in the North of the Iberian Peninsula has a clear Celtic influence which dates to pre-Roman times, Southern flamenco music is certainly reminiscent of Eastern influences, Moors and Jews starting form 711 A.D.
State Sponsorship	priests and senior clergy and the state, headed by the Pharaoh all gave music special attention	Flamenco sprang from the lower levels of Andalusia society, and thus lacked the prestige of art forms among the middle and higher classes
Religious Role	Highly developed Music was an integral part of religious worship in ancient Egypt, and had a central role in the religious rituals, hymns and prayers. Hathor was the patron of music.	Folk music - no religious role
Musical instruments	Large variety All the major categories of musical instruments percussion, wind and stringed were represented in pharaonic Egypt. Percussion instruments: 1) Hand-held drums 2) castanets 3) Bells - first used during the Late Kingdom 4) The sistrum - important rattle used in religious worship 5) cymbals - used in temples in the Ptolemaic Period Wind instruments: 1) Ugab - a vertical flute among first musical instruments used 2) Hasosra - a trumpet 3) Shofar - a ram's or goat's horn Stringed instruments: 1) Kinnor a lyre similar to the kithara 2) Harps - developed from hunting bows in the Old Kingdom 3) Lutes - plucked rather than bowed Instruments were frequently inscribed with the name of the owner and decorated with representations of the goddess Hathor of music.	Few instruments There is disagreement as to whether primitive flamenco was accompanied by any instrument or not Classical flamenco used only guitar and hand clapping as a rhythmic accompaniment
Musicians	Professional musicians occupied a variety of positions and social levels in ancient Egypt: The highest status belonged to temple musicians a position frequently held by women. Musicians connected with the royal household were held in high esteem, as were certain gifted singers and harp players. Somewhat lower on the social scale were musicians who acted as entertainers for parties and festivals, frequently accompanied by dancers There is little evidence for the amateur musicians in pharaonic Egypt.	Amateur Gypsies and dancers
Musical characteristics	Rhythmic music? - most musical scenes show dancers accompanied by musicians playing instruments Ancient Egyptians did not notate their music, so attempts to reconstruct pharaonic music remain speculative. Representational evidence can give a general idea of the sound of Egyptian music: 1) Music was based on a scale of 5 tones without halftones. This fact can be concluded from the position of holes on flutes 2) Ritual temple music was largely a matter of the rattling of the sistrum, accompanied by voice, sometimes with harp or percussion. 3) Party scenes show naked female acrobatic dancers performing the same movement in unison. 4) Both male and female voices were used in Egyptian music.	Originally Vocal music - primitive flamenco consisted of unaccompanied singing (cante) Later, the songs were accompanied by flamenco guitar (toque), rhythmic hand clapping (palmas), rhythmic feet stomping (zapateado) and dance (baile)