How Gilgamesh Met Enkidu

What you hear me singing in this video, are lines 135 through 229 from THE BABYLONIAN GILGAMESH EPIC (Pennsylvania cuneiform Tablet OB II) which tell the story of the first meeting between Gilgamesh, King of Uruk, and the wild man called Enkidu. Although the Babylonians wrote this down nearly 4000 years ago, the tale was taken from Sumer, a much older culture that preceded the Babylonians in southern Mesopotamia. It is possible that Gilgamesh was a real, historical Sumerian king who ruled in Uruk some 5000 years ago. For those who are interested, a pdf of THE BABYLONIAN GILGAMESH EPIC as translated and transliterated by Andrew R. George, can be downloaded from the following URL. Babylonian Gilgamesh ? While we do know what sort of musical instruments were used in ancient Mesopotamia, neither the Sumerians nor the Babylonians had a system of notation, so we do not know what their music sounded like. These cultures were brilliantly clever and could unquestionably have invented a way to write down music if they had wanted. It is my belief that they did not do it because their music was largely improvisational and created by musicians themselves, in performance, much like certain types of jazz and the classical music of India are today. In this video, I have done what I believe the ancient musicians would have done. I have improvised the music on the spot using a “saz”, a modern variety of three course lute, which we know existed in Mesopotamia, and double reed wind instruments whose sound would likely have been similar to the folk oboe known today as the “duduk”. The story I am singing tells of the first meeting between king Gilgamesh and the hero Enkidu, in which a man who is planning a wedding feast explains to Enkidu and his consort Shamkat, that Gilgamesh has the right to have intercourse with any young bride, on her wedding night, before her husband has the right to touch her. This is a tradition known in French as “le droit de cuissage” that existed in Europe up into medieval times. Enkidu is horrified, and decides he’s going to throw Gilgamesh (whom he has never met and does not know) through the wall of the wedding chamber before he gets a chance to violate the poor girl! Enkidu confronts Gilgamesh in the street of Uruk, and a fight ensues which goes on for quite some time, until Gilgamesh (who had never been beaten) realizes he has finally met his match and neither man can win. At this point, he breaks off the fight, and ultimately the two men become lifelong friends.