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A chromatic Gaelic harp in Germany, 1619The Brian Boru HarpIrish harper at the Danish court, 1622The Robert ap Huw msThe Cloyne HarpIndex The Revivalby Sara Lanier - 19:30 on 04 August 2006
We close with regret Mr Bunting’s volume because we believe that with it we take leave of the genuine Music of Ireland... Chambers Edinburgh Journal, 1840 The creative work of Irish musician Seán Ó Riada (1931-71)... "administrator, broadcaster, theatre musician, performer, entrepreneur, university lecturer, as well as composer" affected the Irish music scene of the post-war period at every level. Early on he expressed an interest in the wire-strung Irish harp but he was impatient both of being able to master it and of the poor quality of the instruments available.
The World Harp Festival in Belfast, 7-17 May 1992, was one of three harp festivals commemorating the bicentenary of the Harpers’ Assembly of 1792, at which Edward Bunting transcribed the playing of Denis Hempson. The brass-strung instruments of that Assembly, however, were not welcome. Ann Heymann and Alison Kinnaird later related their experience as performers. AH I had a copy of Hempson’s harp. AK She had Hempson’s harp! AH The Ne Cawlee tuning, the falling strings, tead leaguidh. AK All the tunes he played there, she wasn’t being asked to play. AH We had to fight to get in. Alison fought to get me into the final show. I was in Belfast and not reaching the public. The moment that brought it home to me was when we came to this reception at the Belfast Harp Festival and we were told it was a sponsors’ reception. You don’t need to bring your harps, it’s in one of the Banks, just drinks and nibbles and some of the young ones playing harps. And we went along and they suddenly said: "This is where the Belfast Harp Festival took place," in the room, in the building. AK "Don’t bring your harps!" And then the guy got up and he said, the sponsor, who obviously doesn’t know anything about the harp anyway, got up and said, "And it’s so wonderful to hear the harp sounding exactly as it sounded two hundred years ago," and here’s these wee girls playing dance tunes on the gut-strung harp and Ann sitting there with the Hempson harp, the repertoire. AH It’s sort of similar to 1792. AK Putting years and years of research into this and we’re both ready to throw our harps into the fire and ourselves on top. It’s just so depressing. Actually it’s the dishonesty, because what I’ve been trying to do in Scotland as well as in Ireland is to scotch a few myths. Because myths are not creative things, you know, they just keep people in this Celtic twilight. Comment from Kate Dunlay at 03:22 on 29 January 2008. Thank you for putting this excerpt about the harp revival online. I send all my students here when we study Revival in my Irish and Celtic Music courses (at Saint Mary's University and Cape Breton University in Nova Scotia).Comment from Scott Hoye at 01:27 on 26 December 2009. It is sad to hear. I read about this event in the Folk Harp Journal years ago, and never would have guessed at the idiotic politics. I am also surprised at Sean O' Riada's attitude and glad that he switched to the harpsichord, as it kind of does approximate the sound of the wire strung harp. Thanks for sharing. --Scott Add your comment Please note that whenever you submit something which may be publicly shown on a website you should take care not to make any statements which could be considered defamatory to any person or organisation.
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Clarsach Society - Comunn na ClàrsaichTo promote and encourage the playing of the clarsach. Scottish Charity Number SCO11819  |
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The Gaelic harp revival has been gathering momentum since the 1970s. It has not been smooth-going for the pioneers who resurrected this tradition from the grave. The following are extracts from a watershed study by Sara C Lanier, "It is new-strung and shan’t be heard": nationalism and memory in the Irish harp tradition (