Tonight, I felt the need to share a discovery with you—this fascinating documentary on Arte. Worth watching if you haven’t already!
https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/070787-000-A/sapiens-et-la-musique-fut/
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Very interesting report @Chris, especially about the Lithophones and the artistic practices of prehistoric people who combined cave wall paintings with music, singing and dancing.
A dreamlike and artistic world much more complete than we imagined.
They must have had some beautiful evenings together, with the paintings coming alive through the movements of firelight, their music, singing, vocalises and dancing.
This multidirectional conception of Art still attracts us today. 
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You did well to share it, I talked about it with a friend at lunch.
That report is incredible !!
Thanks to you !!!
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Yes karl, « incredible » that documentary going back to the Middle Paleolithic!
Elisabeth, you write « This multidirectional conception of Art still attracts us today »
Yes, this conception is so surprising, for us « modern men ». Direct ancestors of Homo Sapiens, we long considered Neanderthal man as an inferior and bestial race compared to Homo Sapiens who, we’re told, discovers art, magic and invisible worlds.
Today, Neanderthal is considered the representative of an entire humanity, so much more evolved than what we read in school textbooks—
Maybe we can better understand why « this multidirectional conception of art still attracts us »—It seems rooted in us since time immemorial. If we’re still here on this earth, it must have taken Dame Nature quite a dose of multidirectional conception to answer the law of chaos, to make man what he became… « a psychopath » but let’s stay optimistic… The subject is open…
Can we even define ART? … Ouch I think I’m overdoing it! While we theorize, we’re not playing our didge…
Just two more little minutes…! In answer to this question, I’ll base myself on my humble experience. What would I have become without « art » or rather without the capacity to reinvent myself, to create to free my body from the pressure of locked-up emotions, emotions not finding the right combination of words, the « sesame » to escape their prison.
I’ve spent my life (long already… yes!) combining my means of expression, « in multidirectional holistic conception. » Painting, body expression, music exploration of breath, voice, harmonic singing Irish flute, listening lots listening to my diverse and varied environments.
To get back to the point, this documentary had the effect of a beam of light coming to illuminate the path of my story, animating BREATH through the ages.
The link with my origins, my relationship to music.
I didn’t imagine encountering such emotion listening to those sounds from such a distant time, from the depths of the earth.
I’d like to find the right words but all this is beyond me… (I’m going to have to create to say it…!)
I understand this « visceral » need to sing, to beat a drum, to pluck a guitar’s strings, to blow into a whistle—(thank you Elisabeth for introducing me to the Xiao flute, the sound is magnificent!)
I understand why I « fell in love » with the didgeridoo, with its vibrations, its resonances nourished by the fusion of the earth’s bowels and the stars. Neanderthal hasn’t left me… time compresses… Ouch! Watch out, I’m raving or almost…!
The pleasure of blowing into a tube seems innate to the human species, since Neanderthal scientists say. A blade of grass, a shell, a piece of wood or string, a few stalactites or « …mites », so many sounds to communicate, to chase away or dance the invisible
« Sapiens, and music was »…
Nature never stops singing inspiring melodies for every sensitive, creative, musical soul.
I blow into my « homemade » didgeridoos—They tell me the story of the forest, the rhythm of the seasons, of days, of nights, the rain the sun, the song of the wind in the leaves, of the song thrush, of the black woodpecker drumming against a trunk, the crack of the mushroom picker’s footsteps.
I cry, I laugh with them.
One day, I promise you, I’ll tell you, in the manner of Gauthier (or almost…)
My little raving remains very naive and I measure the abyss of my ignorance listening to an interview with a scientist from the Max Planck Institute https://www.inrap.fr/magazine/neandertal/Qui-es-tu-Neandertal-/Neandertal-et-nous?&s=article138 …now that’s serious business!
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What you’re saying @Chris is spot on and really rich.
Our understanding of human evolution has been revolutionised over the last 20-30 years. The certainty that multiple human species coexisted across different periods and territories. The wealth and culture of our Neanderthal cousin, just as intelligent as us Sapiens.
This documentary fascinated me, I was particularly struck by the purity of the sound of lithophones and their magical double notes. Also amazed by the resonance points discovered in caves, where the place itself becomes the musical instrument.
We forget far too easily that behind the very rudimentary means of the Neolithic, there were people with exactly the same capacities for imagination, abstraction and creation as us.
The purity of cave paintings is irrefutable proof of this, and we can unfortunately only imagine the musical creations, the songs and dances that must have accompanied them in this total art experience that was unfolding deep in the caves.
In many ways, millennial Aboriginal culture is the reflection or echo of this period. With its richness and complexity, it is living proof that the true specificity of being human is not in our technological mastery but rather in our imagination, our sensitivity and in our capacity to share them.
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Thanks Christophe for your feedback.
Clear, your words brighten the water of my mill, the depths of my thoughts. My confusion comes from the complexity of subjects I don’t master and the multiple questions where I find no answers. Subjects like « what is art, imagination, mastery, etc, etc, etc… » would require years of « philosophical » studies… I chose music.
Someone could throw back at me « if you don’t master it, abstain! » —
I love reading your last sentence: In many ways, Aboriginal culture spanning millennia is the reflection or echo of that period. With its richness and complexity, it is living proof that the true specificity of being human is not in technological mastery but rather in imagination, sensitivity and in the capacity to share them
It rings « true ». I can hear the echo of those periods, without being able to put words to it because for me they don’t exist. I don’t want to invent them for fear they become « walls »…
In this present moment, my « animality » expresses itself. Like with the didgeridoo, a foundation « a drone », my Earth. From breath, subject to the laws of physics, emerges a palette of sounds. From there burst growls, scrapings, with or without rhythmic organization following my emotional landscape. In that space, I let myself be carried along and there the magic of harmonics takes over. Music is born, stripped of academic concepts, beliefs, judgments, technological mastery.
Music is. Simply.
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Thanks @Chris for sharing your thoughts with us.
I rewatched the documentary last night when it was on TV. Settled on my couch in the quiet of the evening, I appreciated it even more.
Neanderthal and Sapiens were true artists whose imagination and creativity are all the more admirable because they were the « discoverers » of Art and Music. Their cave paintings are magnificent and have nothing to envy from what modern man does. The anatomy and style are perfectly mastered and especially their animal representations are not static, they are alive and vibrant.
I agree with you, the Didgeridoo and the Drum in particular are instruments that bring us back to our deep nature, the emotions we can feel playing them echo with what Neanderthal and Sapiens must have felt. A telephone booth to our past as a Species. Playing these 2 instruments for me is in a way picking up the magic phone of time and finding myself among them and the spirits of nature. That’s why I particularly love the tribal, shamanic and meditative playing style.
You say: "One could object to me ‹ if you don’t master it, abstain! › - ABSOLUTELY NOT, don’t abstain! 
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The magic telephone
Thanks Elisabeth!
First of all, for a long time now, I’ve wanted to tell you that I really love your musical creations. You’re a source of inspiration – I’m really keen to get into it « for real »
I think it’s going to help me progress. Up until now, I’m still struggling or more precisely, I don’t really believe in it. I start and it’s never the way I’d like it to be. Nothing like that to stay stuck in one place!
I’m sending you a link related to your « magic telephone of time » image… maybe you know it?
Me too, I’m very into « tribal singing » – « meditative » – shamanic? I’ll think about it – anyway, I reject all forms of standardization, of codification in artistic expression –
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Yeah I know that documentary @Chris, I’d seen it and it was that which gave me the idea for the magic telephone. That disconnected phone booth in Japan is simply fascinating, well, it’s the idea of how it’s used that’s fascinating—allowing people who want to to connect our world to another through an old booth and a broken telephone is a grandiose idea that must be helping so many people lost in the absurdity of our times.
Gauthier’s workshops should help you build solid foundations that will then help you express yourself more freely. Those workshops bring me a lot—I’ve made noticeable progress, not as much as I’d like but that’s because I’m not working enough. You still have to master the technique to be able to then « let loose ».
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Great documentary!
Funny thing, last week I went to a talk/performance by Guy Thévenon about the creation of the first instruments.
By the way, I found one of his videos at GUY THÉVENON – Spoke
Less scientific than the documentary but really interesting.
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Thanks @Manu, that’s a really interesting video with a whole bunch of « primitive » instruments to discover and listen to!!! 
Thanks for this link that brings some significant richness to the first documentary… « less scientific » as you put it, but just as fascinating in my opinion. I find myself laughing like a child discovering things, the pleasure is so great. Surprised by some of the instruments.
The one that touches me most is the water drum…the 5-hole flute…
The hollow stone with its « funny » sound. Could it be useful for working on lip buzz? 
I also loved the bluesy tone played on the pluriarc (gouni)
All these instruments are a real treat for making our soul sing.
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Hey Chris
When I say « less scientific », it’s not meant negatively. I think he did a lot of research and his approach is serious. I’m not one of those people who think science explains everything. It provides some keys.
I agree with you, his blues is stunning.
After his show, he told us about his difficulties performing. There’s a very long prep time. And he only travels with some of his instruments. A while back, before culture was underfunded, he was accompanied by 2 other musicians.
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