Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, Lauren bog Obam here. It's not an
Speaker 1: instrument you're likely to see make an appearance during a
Speaker 1: modern musical performance, but the liar played a major role
Speaker 1: in ancient Greek culture, and even before it began popping
Speaker 1: up at private drinking party performances and religious ceremonies. An
Speaker 1: earlier version of the stringed instrument likely originated in the
Speaker 1: ancient Middle East. For the article this episode is based
Speaker 1: on How Stuff Work. Spoke by email with Richard P. Martin,
Speaker 1: a professor in classics at Stanford University. He said, depending
Speaker 1: on how you define it, the liar or another simple
Speaker 1: handheld stringed instrument like it, seems to be popular from
Speaker 1: the Mediterranean through to India and in many parts of Africa.
Speaker 1: Musicologists debate whether one very ancient prototype spread with different
Speaker 1: cultures borrowing from others, or whether these were independent creations. Traditionally,
Speaker 1: the liar had two fixed upright arms or horns, and
Speaker 1: a crossbar, and its tuning pegs were made of bronze, bone, ivory,
Speaker 1: or wood. The instrument's seven strings measured the same length
Speaker 1: but varied in thickness and were stretched between the crossbar
Speaker 1: and a fixed tail piece. How Stuff Works also spoke
Speaker 1: with professional musician Dave Mostart. He explained that the earliest
Speaker 1: liars were likely made from the forearm bones of sheep, goats,
Speaker 1: or donkeys, and images of the instruments were depicted on
Speaker 1: Sumerian carvings dating from approximately two thousand BC quote. There
Speaker 1: are many representations of liars on classical Greek vase paintings,
Speaker 1: and according to the accounts of various historians, the body
Speaker 1: shape of liar instruments varied greatly over the years. The
Speaker 1: versions of the liar that existed in Mesopotamia and the
Speaker 1: Near East around two thousand BC or earlier included bigger
Speaker 1: box liars. There were some times so large that they
Speaker 1: had to be set on the ground like a modern heart.
Speaker 1: Martin explained that the liar that many of us are
Speaker 1: familiar with today is the bowl liar, typically associated with
Speaker 1: Greek culture, which was invented after a thousand BC quote.
Speaker 1: It was small and light and had from three to
Speaker 1: eleven strings that you would play by plucking. The bowl
Speaker 1: liar was associated with private entertainment at drinking parties. Apparently,
Speaker 1: the sound was not too loud, and you'd hear it
Speaker 1: better in a room. At the same time that the
Speaker 1: liar was becoming a favorite among Greek partiers, another instrument
Speaker 1: was also picking up popularity. Martin said. Ancient Greeks also
Speaker 1: had what they called kithera, a much larger box style
Speaker 1: liar that you played with a pick and which had
Speaker 1: a resonating soundbox. This was used in musical compositions, either
Speaker 1: for instrumental pieces or to accompany singers. It was also
Speaker 1: played during rituals, where it would accompany more formal public
Speaker 1: songs like a hymn of praise and celebration of vic
Speaker 1: Jory houstuf Works also spoke via email with Jed Macosco,
Speaker 1: professor of physics at Wake Forest University and academic director
Speaker 1: of Academic Influence dot com. He said that there's solid
Speaker 1: science to explain the unique sound of the liar quote.
Speaker 1: In the ancient world of liar players, no one had
Speaker 1: an electronic tuner or even a tuning fork, So how
Speaker 1: did they keep their liars sounding good? They had to
Speaker 1: use math. Pythagoreus, the guy with the A squared plus
Speaker 1: B squared equal C squared theorem, and his students were
Speaker 1: among the first to associate the lengths of equally tight,
Speaker 1: equally heavy strings with their tones, and more importantly, recognize
Speaker 1: the ratios of the lengths of those strings was super important.
Speaker 1: In the end, he was able to explain why the
Speaker 1: four strings and the liars that people played in his
Speaker 1: time sounded good together, and he was able to help
Speaker 1: people keep them in tune. But when it comes to
Speaker 1: the actual acoustics of the liar, people have described the
Speaker 1: gentle sound in a variety of ways. Martin said, they
Speaker 1: sound like Hawaiian slack key guitars, only tinier must get
Speaker 1: confirmed the liar's delicate sound, attributing the acoustic effect to
Speaker 1: the instrument's construction. Quote. The strings on a liar are
Speaker 1: generally stretched over a frame because of the force they exert.
Speaker 1: The sound of a liar is light and airy and
Speaker 1: not powerful enough for orchestral performance. Martin, an expert in
Speaker 1: Greek mythology, says the liar played an important role in
Speaker 1: many famous tales of the gods. He said, the most
Speaker 1: famous story is how Hermes, when only a one day
Speaker 1: old baby, enticed a tortoise into his home, killed it,
Speaker 1: gutted it, and made a liar out of it, stretching
Speaker 1: skin on top of the hollow shell and then tightening
Speaker 1: seven sheep gut cords over the skin. Hermes then went
Speaker 1: and secretly stole the cattle of his brother Apollo. When
Speaker 1: the older god tracked him down, the baby god enchanted
Speaker 1: Apollo by playing on his newly invented instrument. Apollo was
Speaker 1: so taken with the music it produced that he made
Speaker 1: a deal with Hermes. He would take the liar and
Speaker 1: give Hermes a golden wand and also power over some
Speaker 1: forms of divination. The instrument also made an appearance in
Speaker 1: another famous myth regarding Hercules, who killed his first music
Speaker 1: teacher in anger using the liar as a bludgeon. A
Speaker 1: constellation is even named after the instrument. Martin said. Orpheus,
Speaker 1: the famous singer who could move rocks and trees and
Speaker 1: animals with his music, played a liar, and when Orpheus
Speaker 1: was killed, the gods placed his liar in the sky.
Speaker 1: It became the constellation Lyra. Another Greek god, also has
Speaker 1: ties to the liar. Martin explained, we get the word
Speaker 1: lyric as in lyric poetry, from the instrument that was
Speaker 1: used to accompany ancient songs and recitations Apollo, who was
Speaker 1: shown playing the big concert style kithera more often does
Speaker 1: play the liar as well, as represented on ancient Greek
Speaker 1: vase paintings. It is interesting that Apollo is also the
Speaker 1: god of archery, famous for his unerring arrows and bows,
Speaker 1: because in some cultures, for example, in parts of South Africa,
Speaker 1: people even today actually convert their hunting bows into musical instruments.
Speaker 1: They're multifunctional. Martin says. The liar is still alive and
Speaker 1: well in some parts of the world. Quote in the
Speaker 1: island of Crete there are famous liar makers and liar players.
Speaker 1: If you go there in the summer especially, you'll see
Speaker 1: big posters every weekend advertising who's playing at what club
Speaker 1: or other venue. Players sing along to it, or there
Speaker 1: can be others in a group who recite short Cretan
Speaker 1: poems while the music plays. The Cretan lyra is played
Speaker 1: with a bow not usually plucked, and seems to be
Speaker 1: the descendant of a medieval Byzantine instrument. There's a fantastic
Speaker 1: Musical Instrument museum in Athens that has on display folk
Speaker 1: instruments like it from other parts of Greece. M Today's
Speaker 1: episode is based on the article A light and airy
Speaker 1: Liar has plucked its way through the ages on how
Speaker 1: stuff works dot Com, written by Michelle Konstantinovski. Brain Stuff
Speaker 1: is production of I Heart Radio in partnership with how
Speaker 1: stuff works dot Com and is produced by Tyler Clang.
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