Orpheus as Neil Young

[Joseph Tracy]

ORPHEUS: WAS HE AN EARLY INCARNATION OF NEIL YOUNG?
Below are some meanderings and interests of an amateur researcher in religious and philosophical history:
I am reading Thomas McEvilly's 700+ page comparative study in Greek and Indian Philosophies called 'The Shape of Ancient Thought'. Hint- the shape is circular. Turns out many Greek philosophers and schools of thought believed in reincarnation among other ideas that, often in great detail, have direct parallels to ideas from India. ( he also traces influence and trade interactions from Persia, Mesopotamia and Egypt)
One of the themes of particular interest to me are movements that included vegetarianism or nonviolence like the Pythagoreans, the Jains of India and the Orphics who trace their inspiration to a probably historically real human musician/poet/mystic named Orpheus. Tracking down the development and influence of the Orphics is a major scholastic challenge and McEvilly is impressive in research and clear writing on this and many other topics. 
But my root attraction to the myth/story of Orpheus is more personal and cultural. To find that he was universally considered to be a real historic person by Greeks close to that period really got me thinking about the role of musicians in recent history. Several of the most powerful musician poets of our time have also opposed war and been inspired by a vision of transcendent love- John Lennon and the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Joan Baez, Patti Smith, Pete Seeger, Allen Ginsberg, among many others... There is only the slightest mystical coherence among these voices but the influence on culture is powerful. They made a generation think and they challenged prevailing cultural norms. A great deal of the power seems to come from the unity of musical beauty and internal truth.  The mythic stories of Orpheus seem to show up in the work of my favorite novelists also, Thomas Pynchon or 'Orfeo' by Richard Powers. Stories and songs are part of how we internalize our abiding ideals and values.
But would this kind of inspiration be possible with an actual Lyre as the musical instrument? And if one can use a lyre to make animals "strike curious poses", why are there no electric lyres or famous lyrists? I decided to find any lyre recordings I could and the answer is pretty self evident. Even a good musician can't do shit with a lyre. 7 short strings with no capacity to change notes by pressing the string against a board is too small a range for fully developed musical expression. The lyre won't be making a comeback. So I asked myself what did the word Lyre mean to the ancient Greeks, because I know there were many more advanced sting instruments around in the ancient world and I also know that once you have a mythic story the key elements tend not to change. 
Could the word Lyre actually be ancient greek for stringed instrument and include everything from a Korah to a viol or lute or multi stringed harp? Actually according to wikipedia that turned out to be a good question and not a bad guess. 
"the earliest reference to the word is the Mycenaean Greek ru-ra-ta-e, meaning "lyrists" and written in the Linear B script.[3] In classical Greek, the word "lyre" could either refer specifically to an amateur instrument, which is a smaller version of the professional cithara and eastern-Aegean barbiton, or "lyre" can refer generally to all three instruments as a family.[4]" The English word comes via Latin from the Greek.[5]"
A barbiton is an early lute. 
another quote from the wikipedia article: "Later instruments, also called "lyres", were played with a bow in Europe and parts of the Middle East, namely the Byzantine lyra and its descendants."   I like the idea of a korah-like instrument that can be plucked, strummed or bowed. A master of such an instrument can mesmerize a crowd.
So anyway, rock on, all you aspiring Orpheus types. play for the planet, for peace on earth, for the great healing, to bring true love back from the grave " I swear it's not too late".