To most listeners, the harp is an ethereal instrument, plucked by cherubs in paintings or strummed by gowned ladies in concert halls.
But few know the unusual history behind the stringed instrument that evolved from a hunter’s bow in ancient times to an electrified, therapeutic tool today. A new three-part exhibit is shedding some light on the instrument at the Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad.
“The Harp: A Global Story of Man, Music and Medicine” offers a hands-on history of the instrument with 20 examples of real and replica harps, as well as a series of concerts by global harpists and harp lessons for Carlsbad grade-schoolers.
Exhibit curator Carolyn Grant said she was astonished by what she learned when she began researching the harp.
“I was surprised by how one instrument can have such different identities around the world,” said Grant, the museum’s executive director. “There’s the stereotype that in the Western world only women play it. But in other parts of the world, it’s only played by men. And while it’s a concert instrument here, in South America it’s a folk instrument played by cowboys out on the plains. The harp has a lot to teach us.”
Musicologists believe the earliest harps were adapted from hunting bows.
“What if you have a stick with string across it and, when you pluck the string, it makes a sound that’s interesting to you,” Grant said. “What if you make it tighter, longer and add a couple more strings? There’s the human spirit of curiosity that drives us on one end, and the human need to communicate through music on the other.”
Primitive harplike instruments can be seen in 15,000-year-old cave paintings in France and on the walls of 5,000-year-old tombs in Egypt. In Africa, a rich tradition of harp-making took root thousands of years ago, and today there are more than 150 styles of simple hand-carved harps (known as ennanga or kundi) created from wood, animal skin and strings. Grant called these decorative harps — a few of which are included in the exhibit — as a key form of communication between villages in Africa.
“It looks like a simple instrument but it’s a very intricate communication tool,” she said. “The musicians who play them have the ability to combine very intricate rhythms and vocals that create a tapestry of sound that’s very rich.”
While the elements of African harps haven’t changed much over the centuries, in the Western world they have evolved dramatically in response to the needs of the composers and performers as well as the materials available to make them.
“Every population and culture has pushed its instruments forward with the latest technology,” Grant said. “What the instrument is made out of isn’t as important as what the person wants when they’re making the music. We will not stop until we have the tools that we need.”
As part of the exhibit, Grant has programmed a series of harp concerts through the summer featuring leading international musicians. The series began last month with a performance by Yolanda Kondonassis, an American classical pedal harpist. Still to come are concerts by electric, Celtic, Paraguayan and African harpists as well as two local harpists — Elena Mashkovtseva and Kate Loughrey.