Looking for a band with ancient sounds

ProgArg wrote: Hi I'm new here, but I'm not new in prog music. I need help guys, I'm looking for a progressive rock band that has a lot of rythm changes such as symphonic prog and has ancient sounds something like egyptian music or ancient greek music. I don't know if any band like that exists but I'm sure someone here knows something like that. Thank you

You might want to check out a band called Bayon. Their first album came out in 1971 and the membership includes musicians of Eastern European, Cuban and Southeast Asian descent. Hence, they made music that incorporated modern rock instruments as well as facets of the players' respective (musical) cultures. Very progressive for the time, IMO. I only heard the first album years ago.

Peter Gabriel's Last Temptation of Christ certainly uses ancient instruments and melodies...He tends to weave that sort of flavor in with modern elements in his other recordings as well...

BaldFriede wrote: Dick Heath wrote: Philéas wrote: Problem is, there is little if any knowledge of how music sounded in ancient Greece, not to mention ancient Egypt. We know what kind of instruments they used but not what they played with them, so really "ancient" could be any sort of folky acoustic sounds really...   I would support you here - obviously no recordings and nothing written down until the late medieval period, so nobody knows what ancient Egyptian or Greek music sounded like. Instead, we have recordings of what may have been like (or not) music played on instruments (famously somebody played/recorded  a trumpet found in the tomb of Tutankamum in the 30's) or copies of instruments of the period, guessed by historical musicologists. Instead you can have music that is derived from modern Greek, or Egyptian Arabic  forms of music . I remember there was an April Fool's joke in a German archeology mag on TV some 20 years ago, about an ancient Egyptian potter who, while creating a pot of his, had been singing a song, and the sound of it was transmitted via his fingernails to the rills on top of the pot he was forming, so that by running the needle of a record player through these rills the sound of his voice was reproduced . Would have been nice if true, but only a hoax.

Philéas wrote: Problem is, there is little if any knowledge of how music sounded in ancient Greece, not to mention ancient Egypt. We know what kind of instruments they used but not what they played with them, so really "ancient" could be any sort of folky acoustic sounds really...

Edited by Dick Heath - February 26 2008 at 07:07

Gryphon (as has been mentioned) is fairly true to medieval sounds.  (esp. the first two albums.) A good, but more obscure, album with a lot of classical nods is the New Trolls -- Concerto Grosso. Wakeman's early albums are full of classical nods. The point that the was made above that we know little about what ancient Greek music sounded like and next to nothing about ancient Egyptian music has a lot of truth to it.

You need to try out Grails, a criminally ignored band here. Very subtle and very ancient sounding. I'd suggest you try out their latest "Burning off Impurities", but everything I've heard so far is great.

Edit: On second thought they're not always that similar to the symphonic structures you mention, though I still think you should check them out. They're definitely progressive and I think they're just the sound you're looking for.


Edited by Speesh - February 22 2008 at 15:59

Problem is, there is little if any knowledge of how music sounded in ancient Greece, not to mention ancient Egypt. We know what kind of instruments they used but not what they played with them, so really "ancient" could be any sort of folky acoustic sounds really...

My recommendations for NIL - Quarante jours sur le Sinai also. It fits greatly to your specifications: there certainly is a lot of rythm changes and very complex stuff like several overlayed simultaneous themes. It has  ancient egyptian sound as well, or more like ancient atmosphere. This album is easily one of the greatest records ever released IMHO. But beware, it may take time to get into.

As Vangelis is mentioned here, I really don't see much of ancient greece on Heaven & Hell, but do purchase Vangelis & Irene Papas albums Odes & Rapsodies, they are really deeply OLD! They may not be truly progressive, but they're brilliant stuff anyhow.

And then there is Seven Reich! That's made for you! Their albums Strinkadenn' Ys and Samsara are brilliant symphonic stuff in very traditional celtic and arabic influences! Even the arabic language Kabyle is used as well as a huge pile of traditional instruments. You should really check these out!

Also I recommend you the Spanish orchestras Triana and Mezquita and their first albums that I believe you would like.

And then there is of course the Rajaz of Camel. A very arabic symph album, mellow and smooth, an easy piece so there's not much of a complexity, but a very strong egyptian feeling.


Edited by Kobaia - February 22 2008 at 02:51

Yes "Tales from Topographic Oceans", it even has a song called "The Ancient"!

DJPuffyLemon wrote: Therion has some "ancient" sounds...especially on Theli, but they're not really prog.

Good point about Therion, they indeed involve some 'ancient Egyptian and Babylonian' sounds.
Probably not really prog, but some quite good sounds.

Nile, as Dean mentioned, are in the same group of bands, regarding their sound.