nos encontramos en una planicie en oriente medio, aproximádamente cincuenta mil años antes de nuestra era. estamos en el paleolítico medio. somos un grupo de homínidos sentados en torno a una fogata, frente a nosotros, los restos óseos, aun con algo de grasa y sangre del animal que hace unas horas matamos y que nuestros compañeros siguen comiendo. de pronto se escucha un golpe. sorprendidos, giramos la cabeza en dirección a la fuente del ruido. quizás se trate de algún grupo de homínidos quienes, atraídos por el aroma que desprenden los restos del animal quieren quitárnoslo. no. fue uno de los nuestros. golpeó, con lo que parece parte del hueso de uno de los cuartos traseros, el costillar de nuestro banquete. sus ojos están abiertos, casi se escapan de sus órbitas. está sorprendido. repite el golpe, una, dos... tres veces. excitados, comenzamos a saltar en nuestros lugares, emitimos chillidos mientras él sigue golpeando: ha nacido la música.
no sabemos con exactitud cuándo fue que surge la música. lo que es un hecho es que el primer instrumento musical fue percusivo: restos de huesos, quizás piedras o conchas, grandes semillas... lo cierto es que el golpear alguno de estos elementos de manera rítmica pudo ser el inicio de la música. en la cueva divje babe, en slovenia se encontró el instrumento musical más antiguo: una flauta hecha de hueso con cuatro orificios puestos equidistantes el uno del otro en una escala diatónica - el instrumento está datado en unos cuarenta y tres mil años.*
los pitagóricos construyeron un aparato llamado monocordio que se componía de una tabla, una cuerda tensa y una tabla más pequeña que se iba moviendo por la grande. conforme movían la cuerda, se dieron cuenta que esta sonaba de diferente manera. se dieron cuenta que cuando la cuerda estaba a la mitad, el tono era el mismo que el original, sólo que más agudo. a esto se le llama "octava". la "quinta" corresponde a dos tercios del largo original de la cuerda y la "cuarta", tres cuartos de la inicial. qué vemos aquí? matemáticas. la música es matemática.
mucho han evolucionado los instrumentos y la manera de hacer música desde entonces. vano sería hablar de algún estilo o de algún creador, pues resultaría muy injusto dejar a alguno afuera. lo cierto es que la música, el ritmo es algo que nos ha acompañado desde siempre. no podemos imaginar la historia de la humanidad sin música. la música suele acompañarnos cuando estamos felices, tristes... nos ayuda a expresar nuestras emociones, nuestros sentimientos. la música es ese espacio virtual que nos envuelve, que nos atrapa através de los oídos y nos conduce hacia lugares y situaciones únicas.
podemos agradecer a ra, dios solar egipcio por haber tenido por hija a hathor, diosa del cielo, el amor, la alegría, la música y la danza; a zeus, dios de la inspiración relampagueante y a mnemosine, diosa de la memoria por haber tenido entre sus nueve hijas a euterpe, musa de la música. agradecer quizás a macuilxochiquetzal, dios de la juventud, la vida, los juegos, las danzas la música y la poesía; o que brahma se hubiese casado con saravasti quien no sólo era la diosa de la música, sino también de la ciencia y la sabiduría. quizás debamos agradecer a valeriano no haber tocado a santa cecilia como a una esposa y que se convirtiera en la patrona de todos los músicos...
en fin... al parecer el estar sentados al rededor de la fogata escuchando las rítmicos golpes de nuestro colega homínido nos ha hecho soñar un poco... habrá que agradecerle que, gracias a su atinado sentido tengamos este momento de magia, de sueño... de música.
* http://www.becominghuman.org/
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here we are, at a plain in the middle east, fifty thousand years ago. we are in the middle paleolithic. we are a group of hominids sitting around the fire. in front of us, the skeletal remains, still with a bit of grease and blood from the animal that a few hours ago we hunted and that some of our companions still are eating. suddenly, we hear a stomp. we turn around, surprised, towards the source of that sound. maybe its another group of hominids who felt attracted by the smell that floats from the remains of the animal and want to take it from us. no. is one of us. he hitted the animal's ribs with what it seems the bone of a leg of our meal. his eyes are wide open, almost escaping from their orbit. he is surprised. he repeats the hit, one, two... three times. we start to jump, excited, from our places. we howl while he keeps stomping: music has borned.
we do not know when exactly music began. what is a fact is that the first instrument was percusive: bone remains, perhaps rocks or shells, big seeds... the fact is that stomping some of this elements in a rythmical way could be the begining of music.
at divje babe cave, in slovenia, the oldest musical instrument was found: a bone flute with four equidistant orifices on a diatonic scale. the instrument was dated around forty three thousand years.*
pithagorics constructed a machine called monochord. it was a board, a tense chord, and a smaller board which slided by the big board. while the chord was moved they realized it sounded in a different way: when it was at half its size the tone was exactly the same as the original, but more accute. this was called "octave". the "fifth" is two third parts of the chord, and the "fourth", is the fourth part of it. the pattern here is mathematics. and that's music: mathematics.
instruments and music have evolved a lot since then.it would be vain to write about a genere or a creator cause it would be pretty unfair leaving one aside. the fact is music, rythm, have been with us ever. we can't imagine human history without music. music is with us when we feel happy, sad... it helps us expressing our emotions, our feelings, music is that virtual space that wraps us, that traps us from our hearing and takes us to unique situations or places.
we could thank ra, egyptian solar god, far having a daughter as hathor, heaven, love, happiness, music and dancing goddess; zeus, god of the thundering inspiration and mnemosine, memory goddes for having, in between her nine daughters eutherpe, muse of the music. perhaps we could thank macuilxochiquetzal, god youth, life, games, dance, music and poetry; or brahama to marry saravasti who wasn't not only music goddess, but of science and wisdom. we could also thank valerian for not touching saint cecile as a wife, becaming the protector of muscicians...
it seems being sitting around the fire, hearing the rythmic stomps of our hominid coleague made us dream a bit... we have to thank him for having this accurate sense we could have this momento of magic, of drems... of music.
do you have the minimum idea, the very minimum, of who is diego armando maradona? you don't need to know how to read, mr president. let me say that "diego" doesn't " searches for screen" or " be on tv". he is immensely more famous than you are! (although your stupid comments can take you far, mr president). your children, mr president, your grandsons, your greats-grandchild and surelly more generations will know diego arming maradona! surely, some will see him as an idol, thing that you and your soul "amigo", bush, will never be. i can't imagine my children looking you or the assassin bush as idols...
so, let me tell you, mr president, that mr diego armando maradona, your humble servant, and any human being we have the right, yes, you read it well (although i am doubting that you know how to read), we have the right to make an opinion about any governor. i believe, in addition, that the moral quality of the person to whom mr maradona rejects to be on his country is a shame. mr bush is an assassin. a thirsty man of power, ambition. he is a religious fanatic who wants to exterminate islam, as well as in the past, its predecessors, tried to eliminate comunism (that by the way, nor existed; a sample of the level of imbecility from north american presidents). but, as you made us the habit to allow people of that moral and human quality are step, and doing this, stain our territory, what can anyone do but criticize... if you not only don't accused salinas, as promised in your presidential campaign, but very calmly you leave him step, dwelt, and make political proselytism in a country that he helped to plunder. the difference is that people as the argentineans understand the concept of policy and national unit by a common wealth. here, you and all your predecessors made us the habit not to interest us in our neighbor, nor even though is our own people, our own blood that murders our own brothers. we are satisfied watching soccer in the television with a cold coca-cola (and you worked for that company); we are satisfied with our "changarro" and our "vocho" (although the vochos exist no more). we, mr president, do not have memory, we arepeople to which you and your predecessors have snatched our dignity. mr vicente fox, you, what you would have to do is to quit to your position, to offer an excuse and to auto exiliate in a country (could be the united states, seems you have good relations over there) to return never more. it's a pity that only you have a year of government left, because you are not going to quit, is more, you will "retire" from presidency of this country and you will acquire a pension that comes from the pockets of all the mexicans, including which the ones that practice sports or we that make "street ideologies". in order to finish, mr president, only two things. first i feel bad that it has been you and not something like art, philosophy or some "street ideology" who has removed me from this lethargy. and in second place that not only "sports man" with "street ideologies" are against that an assassin as bush is in argentina. the peace nobel prize winner of adolfo perez esquivel is also against and participates in the manifestation against your "boots friend". it will be that a nobel prize winner does not have to receive so "strong critics" from you?
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