Musicology Annotation << Back Professional Singing Traditions of Ancient Egypt on Archeological Data. The Singing Tradition &#7717;&#347; from the End of the Period of the Ancient Empire (2686–2181) Vlada Melyushchuk In this article for the first time in musicology the author defines the problem of existence of professional singing traditions in Ancient Egypt. The basic singing traditions are briefly characterized. The oldest tradition ḥś, especially actively developing from the end of the period of the Ancient Empire (2686–2181), is researched. Stability of basic principles of the singing tradition ḥś which has existed during multithousand-year history of Ancient Egypt is shown. The revealed authentic vocal terminology is given in a foreshortening of its evolution. The circle of executors of the tradition is showed. The structure of communities of professional musicians of Ancient Egypt are considered. On the basis of the kept data about musical pieces, texts of vocal compositions the sphere of musical genres of singing tradition ḥś is outlined. For the first time the question on existence of some hymn genres, for example such as hymn-panegyric and hymn-pray is mentioned. Keywords: Ancient Egypt, singing tradition ḥś, musical terminology, musical genres, communities of professional musicians, a vocal art in an aristocratic society. Contacts: E-mail: uasi.vv@gmail.com Pp. 26-36.