Myths and legends about music

Since ancient times, with the help of music, people were put into a trance, messages were conveyed to deities, hearts were ignited for battle with music and, thanks to the harmony of notes, peace was established between warring parties, and love was declared with melody. Tales and legends about music have brought to us from time immemorial many interesting things.

Myths about music were quite widespread among the ancient Greeks, but we will tell you only one story from their mythology, the story of the appearance of the flute on Earth.

The Myth of Pan and His Flute

One day, the goat-footed god of forests and fields, Pan, met the beautiful naiad Syringa and fell in love with her. But the maiden was not delighted with the advances of the cheerful-tempered but terrible-looking forest god and ran away from him. Pan ran after her, and he almost managed to overtake her, but Syringa prayed to the river to hide her. So the beautiful maiden turned into a reed, and the saddened Pan cut off the stem of this plant and made from it a multi-stemmed flute, which in Greece is called by the name of the naiad – Syringa, and in our country this musical instrument is known as Pan’s flute or pipe. And now in the forests of Greece you can hear the sad sound of a reed flute, which sometimes sounds like the wind, sometimes like the cry of a child, sometimes like the melody of a woman’s voice.

There is another legend about the flute and love, this story was part of the tradition of the Indian people of the Lakota tribe, and now has become the property of all Indian folklore.

Indian legend about the flute and love

Indian guys, even if they were fearless warriors, could be embarrassed to approach a girl to confess their feelings to her, and on top of that, there was no time or place for courtship: in the type, the whole family lived with the girl, and outside the settlement, the lovers could be eaten animals or kill white people. Therefore, the young man had only the hour of dawn at his disposal, when the girl walked on the water. At this time, the young man could go out and play the pimak flute, and his chosen one could only cast an embarrassed glance and nod as a sign of agreement. Then in the village the girl had the opportunity to identify the young man by his playing technique and choose her as her husband, which is why this instrument is also called the flute of love.

There is a legend that says that one day a woodpecker taught a hunter how to make a pimak flute, and the wind showed what wonderful melodies can be extracted from it. There are other legends about music that tell us about the transmission of feelings without words, for example, the Kazakh legend about dombra.

Kazakh legend about music

There lived an evil and cruel khan, whom everyone feared. This tyrant loved only his son and protected him in every possible way. And the young man loved to hunt, despite all his father’s admonitions that this was a very dangerous activity. And one day, having gone hunting without servants, the guy did not return. The saddened and upset ruler sent his servants to search for his son with the words that he would pour molten lead down the throat of anyone who brought the sad news. And the servants left in horror to look for their son, and found him torn to pieces by a wild boar under a tree. But thanks to the advice of the groom, the servants took with them a wise shepherd, who made a musical instrument and played a sad melody on it for the khan, in which it was clear without words about the death of his son. And the ruler had no choice but to pour molten lead into the hole in the soundboard of this instrument.

Who knows, maybe some myths about music are based on real events? After all, it is worth remembering the legends about harpists who healed terminally ill rulers with their music and the present time, when such a branch of alternative medicine as harp therapy appeared, the beneficial effects of which have been confirmed by science. In any case, music is one of the wonders of human existence, which is worthy of legends.