To attend one of Abraham Cupeiro's latest proposals in person is not just going to a concert. It is immersing yourself in the memory and culture of humanity. The performance presented by the musicologist alongside the Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla (ROSS), under the direction of Alejandro Muñoz, created a canvas on which some sounds recovered from oblivion and the past were projected.
Who is Abraham Cupeiro? The central figure in this project is a musician, musicologist, and researcher whose career has been fully significant. He was trained at the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid, specializing in wind-metal instruments, and later delved into the sound of antiquity by pursuing a master's degree in Interpretation of Ancient Music from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Additionally, since childhood, he showed great interest in instruments thanks to his roots and especially his grandfather, as our protagonist has expressed in some interviews.
Dedication, effort, and research have allowed his career to gain international recognition, such as with his orchestral project ‘Pangea’ or ‘The Forgotten Sounds’, where he reconstructs and brings life to millennial instruments of antiquity. Furthermore, he has been part of the sound repertoire for ‘Gladiator 2’, collaborating with Hanz Zimmer's company.
With ‘Mythos’ (2024-2025), Cupeiro, also known as the musical archaeologist, consolidates his international symphonic projection, collaborating with formations of the caliber of the Royal Philharmonic, Oviedo Filarmonía, and, exceptionally in this case, with the Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla (ROSS).
At the beginning, the experience is not limited to an undefined musical plane but before each programmed section, the composer articulates a narrative discourse. Thus, the viewer situates themselves in the historical context of each work, even managing to be transported through the ages when closing their eyes.
Divine punishment and pride leads the first experience with ‘Requiem for Marsyas’, inspired by the confrontation with Apollo. Through music, it symbolizes human fragility via the sound of the aulos, one of the most important instruments in the ancient world. This instrument consists of two separate tubes with independent double reeds and distinct holes, belonging to the same organological family as the clarinet or oboe (Jiménez et al., 2021a, p. 144).
We transcend from purely musical evidence to archaeological evidence, highlighting the fragment documented at the National Archaeological Museum in Jiménez Pasalodos et al's (2021) work. The only documented find of Hellenistic type on the Iberian Peninsula, originating from the site of Cabezo de Alcalá (Teruel). And recalling our composer's staging, we perpetuate the representation of a woman ‘Auletris’ in the Ibérico relief of Osuna (Sevilla), evidencing that it adapted to local cultural practices during antiquity.
Next is ‘Prayers to Minerva,’ where it makes you feel as if in a space of introspective warfare, flooding the room through sound. Through the cornu, an instrument of large dimensions with a G shape used for controlling troops, we are immersed in duty and hope for victory within the Roman context. In this case, the one used was constructed by María Ruíz and Abraham Cupeiro based faithfully on the cornus found in Pompeii during 19th-century excavations (Cupeiro, 2017).
Moving to the East with ‘The Legend of Simurgh,’ it is narrated that despite Zal's rejection, the mythical bird Simurgh, serves as a protective figure through music uniting the mystical and human worlds. For listeners, the ‘Persian Ney’, is the instrument that in this melody spreads its wings to the depths of Persian culture.
As an interesting note, it was one of the instruments used by our composer for the soundtrack recording of Gladiator 2 (El Progreso de Lugo, 2024). Furthermore, this millennial instrument was the subject of photographic and ethnographic study recorded in the ‘Turkestan Album’ during the 1890s. In the ethnographic section (1872, part 2, volume 1), plate 82 (no. 268) titled ‘Pastimes of Central Asians. A Musician Playing a Nai, a flute-like instrument’, offers visual evidence of the instrument's longevity, where despite the passage of time, tradition and music have been part of Eastern continent history. This reference transforms Cupeiro’s interpretation into a bridge of historical justice, giving sound back to an image captured over a century ago.
Towards the final stretch of the experience, the repertoire reaches its fullness by projecting towards the cosmos with ‘The Cosmic Ocean and Lord of Dance,’ which opens the doors to the world of Indian mythology, where Shiva's dance provides creation, preservation, and destruction of the universe. Subsequently, ‘White Deer’ immerses us in a mythological story that has remained in Irish memory thanks to the sweet sound produced by the ‘Irish Flute’ and the type ‘Uilleann bagpipe.
As a conclusion, ‘Atlantis,’ the submerged and unknown city symbolizes an allegory about civilization history. The mythical city serves as a reflection to ponder upon heritage and nature preservation in our days. To invoke the most distant past, Cupeiro uses the shell as the oldest aerophone of civilizations, connecting us with the ocean and the beginning of life. However, the carnyx, characteristic of the Iron Age, acquires an important role as it becomes a living sound in Abraham's hands, vibrant throughout the auditorium, urging us to protect the sonic legacy.
In summary, Mythos is not just another project but the union of previous works where he has integrated all his life efforts. If in his early works he aimed at rescuing the sound of forgotten instruments (The Forgotten Sounds, Warner Classics, 2017), here he achieves integrating civilization history into a universal narrative, music.
His ability to transform silenced instruments (through experimental archaeology) into voices that shout for cultural diversity over time solidifies him as the ‘music archeologist’. Indeed, our multi-instrumentalist creates a significant piece in music archaeology, constructing sounds organologically from material evidence of archaeological contexts. Also in ethnoarchaeology, maintaining interest in musical instruments of living societies preserving primitive customs (Jiménez et al., 2021b, p. 19; Ortiz García-Blanco, 2025).
Undoubtedly, we invite you to explore the projects and discography of Abraham Cupeiro, whose career is a testament to dedication. Supporting his work safeguards decades of effort to give sound back to our silenced history.
Bibliography
Cupeiro, A. (n.d.). AbrahamCupeiro.com. https://abrahamcupeiro.com/
El Progreso de Lugo. (November 8, 2024). How Abraham Cupeiro recorded the soundtrack of “Gladiator 2” in Friol [Video] YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3a7b3inMKc
Jiménez Pasalodos, R., Rodero Riaza, A., De Luis Mariño, S., & Manso Martín, E. (2021a). The aulos fragment identified at the National Archaeological Museum and its Mediterranean context. In T. Tortosa Rocamora (Ed.), Abantos: Homage to Paloma Cabrera Bonet, Ministry of Culture and Sport, 143-154.
Jiménez Pasalodos, R., Alarcón Jiménez, A. M., Santos da Rosa, N., & Díaz-Andreu, M. (2021b). The sounds of the Prehistory: Reflections on musical practices evidence from the Paleolithic and Neolithic in Eurasia. Vinculos de Historia, (10), 17–37. https://doi.org/10.18239/vdh_2021.10.01
Museo Arqueológico Nacional. (2019). Auletris of Osuna. The aulos, a Mediterranean instrument (July 2019). Ministry of Culture and Sport. https://www.man.es/man/dam/jcr:0a4637ea-1028-4eff-8a75-5f49f4055dbe/07-2019-auletrix.pdf
Ortiz García-Blanco, M. (2025). Music in Prehistory. ArqueoTimes, (12), 32–35. https://arqueotimes.es/la-musica-en-la-prehistoria/
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