The balang was the usual instrument of the gala’s song. But the description of Ušumgal-kalama in the Gudea Cylinders shows that, in the third millennium at least, a balang could also appear in the hands of the nar. [1] The identity of the balang has long been controversial. But it is now quite certain that this word, of perhaps onomatopoeic origin, originally denoted a stringed instrument (before undergoing a notorious semantic shift to ‘drum’ by or in the OB period, perhaps due to changes in performance practice). [2] Crucial is the equation of balaĝ with kinnārum in early lexical texts from Ebla and Mesopotamia (ca. 2400). [3] Gabbay has advanced new arguments for identifying the early balang as a kind of lyre on a triple basis of iconography, the expression GU4.BALAĜ (‘balang-bull’ [4] ), and the shape of the BALAĜ sign itself, which he derives from the bull-lyre prominent in Sumerian art of the third millennium. [5] But debate continues: Heimpel now counters with an attractive defense of the older curved-harp identification, again proceeding from iconography and sign-evolution. [6] Of course we must beware of projecting modern organological distinctions onto ancient perceptions; the morphological difference between ‘lyre’ and ‘harp’, as defined by von Hornbostel and Sachs, may have been less significant than performance functions. [7] Consequently, the analyses of this book do not stand or fall with one identification of balang or another.

Of course, one may still question the meaning of balang in the Gudea Cylinders, which one might suppose are late enough to have used the word in its secondary sense. Thus, some would identify Ušumgal-kalama with the giant drum shown several times in the steles, an apparent prominence that would well fit (the argument goes) the balang-god’s importance implied by his year-name. [8] But S. Mirelman has now shown that the giant drum, both here and in the Ur-Nammu stele, is in fact the á-lá. [9] This instrument, too, is featured in the cylinders, being played for instance in a group that accompanies the making of bricks. [10] The relevant steles may therefore show the instrument as part of the building process, rather than the bestowal of gifts during the temple’s inauguration. [11] Moreover, the giant drum’s visibility is counterbalanced by another stele-fragment from Lagash showing a typical bull-headed lyre (Figure 47). [12] It is surmounted by a smaller bull—a visual echo that seemingly “anime l’objet d’une sorte de vie.” [13] Stylistic considerations indicate that this stele is rather earlier than Gudea’s own building program. [14] Nevertheless, there are significant sympathies with the iconography and poetics of the Gudea steles. An upper register shows a procession of figures carrying building and measuring tools, presumably on their way to a construction site. [15] They are preceded by a ruler, whose role is thus comparable to that of Gudea as royal overseer. So here the bull-lyre has all the associations that have been thought to make the giant drum of the Gudea steles worthy of identification with Ušumgal-kalama. Note too the ‘Hall of the Balang’(part of the temple of Ningirsu), which the Gudea Cylinders liken to the sound of a ‘roaring bull’—an apt description if the balang was in fact the bull-lyre. [16]

All told, therefore, one is well justified in supposing that the balang-gods of Ningirsu were indeed stringed instruments. [17]