Here's an overview of what's happening in our boinging world.
I want to bring to your attention a group from Norway called Trio Mediæval. Working in a similar vein of early music as Anonymous 4, here's a trio of female vocalists plus a male drummer/j-harper. Watch and listen to a clip here. They're on tour right now so buy a ticket, put on your warm coats, bring your j-harps to play along (discreetly!) and enjoy.
Photo: Asa M. Mikkelsen
Speaking of traditional music, although more contemporary to us, Dust-to-Digital has released a neat new compilation of field recordings by Art Rosebaum, an amateur of Old Time music. Some tracks feature our beloved instrument. The label also offers among other CDs a collection of Tuva throat recordings. Audio samples and more info at their website.
Some lucky j-harpers got to recently attend the first International Jew's Harp Festival in Leipzig, Germany. There's a nice slide show here and a few video clips featuring Nadishana.
There was another J-harp festival in Kecskemét, Hungary in September of 2007. Here's a clip of Aron Szilagyi playing an electrifying piece at the Third Hungarian Jew's Harp Festival. Filmed by Luca Recupero of iPERCUSSONICI fame.
More video clips of the festival here.
The North American Jew's Harp festival was held in Bay City, Oregon on Aug. 2-5, 2007. Here are several clips of the event.
Be sure to let me know about future events so I can post them here and at the Jaw Harp Group on yahoo.
As gift-giving season is arriving, you may want to consider an unusual J-harp from Wang Li. It is the smallest jew's harp in the world, produced by an ethnic group in northern China. You can play either by plucking or blowing. Here's a demonstration:
Peruse his website, he has other unique J-harps, some made by Chinese Masters.
You may also want to consider other sources for your purchases such as Jonny Cope, based in the UK. Jonny's passionate about jaw harps, a nice man and a proud dad. He sells other instruments such as Tibetan singing bowls, flutes, didgeridoos and more.
Another nice person to deal with is Mark at Mouth Music in the U.S. He has full chromatic sets that I've been eyeing for a while.
I leave you with this very cute animation of Mr. Jew's Harp's adventures. It's very much in the spirit of the season.
Take care of yourselves and others, and keep a-boingoing!
