Music of the Heather Folks

 I'm often asked, 'do you still play the harp?' Ah, yes! Indeed I do! (Link to an interview on my harp and art)

At home, and also 'out:' for weddings, events, home blessings, end of life, schools, the senior center, churchs,.... 

Rowan at Willamette Elementary

I've been enjoying posts of their Scottish trip from my blog-friend Tamara, which has me thinking of harps and Celtic history. 

Harpers, who held the traditional stories & songs in their heads, were often persecuted by those wanting to spread colonial ways and the 'new religion' among people they felt were less 'civilized.' (And -had land and resources they coveted!)

Alison Vardy shared some of this history in her newsletter, "The period starting from the 1600s during English rule in Ireland was difficult for Irish harpers as the harp as a folk and court instrument was suppressed to prevent a resurgence of nationalism. 

"Harps were burnt and harpers executed. The tragic extinction of this harping tradition at the end of the eighteenth century had a number of causes: the Angloization of the Irish (and Scottish) cultures, the increased popularity of step-dancing and the fiddle, and the inability of the harp to play the musical accidentals required for classical music, which started coming in to vogue in Dublin and Edinburgh during the then Baroque era. 

"Only in Wales was the Folk harp tradition unbroken."

'Patrick's Breastplate' comes from an old Gaelic blessing:

I bind to myself today:
The power of Heaven,
The light of the sun,
The brightness of the moon,
The splendor of fire,
The flash of lightening,
The swiftness of wind,
The depth of the sea
The stability of Earth,
& the compactness of Rocks.

Bells with harps

In the mid 1990s, my harp student Lily and I went to Olympia, Washington for the international Folk Harp Festival, and spent several days surrounded by folk harps and harpers - bliss!

One workshop I joined was on Scottish Gaelic harps and music. We learned both a working tune, for keeping rhythm while waulking wool, and this eerie song - longing for the Mist Covered Mountains (of Home). 

Chì mi na Moròheanna

After playing and singing in the Gaelic several times through, most of us were in tears. One asked, 'why?!' I looked around, and said, 'well - most of us have Scottish/ Celtic heritage, don't we! And yet, we've not even heard it before - let alone sung in Gaelic...' 

Similar to Cherokee, the word order is different than the English - and rich in imagery.  

And - don't we all long for seeing without delay/ the place/ in/ was born/ mi - to see /I/ the peaks/ under/ mist - to be surrounded by people/ there/ always/ kindness/ practicing

Along with the songs, we received a wee history lesson. As in Ireland, there was persecution, dispersal, disruption of tradition - the harps were destroyed - and even owning a harp tuning key could get one killed! 

An African harper at the conference - whose harp had a gourd for the sound box, told of being noticed and chosen as a child to learn harp and carry the stories of his people.  All around the world, history, language and music are tied, and vital to culture. 

How does music support you?

Do you feel connected to culture via music?