With strings attached

A harp being played by an Arabic band is an unusual sight. The Tune of Oman, an Omani band that played
in Dubai recently, brought this aspect of Arabic music to the fore. You may have heard the oud (Arabian lute) and tabla (a percussion instrument) in traditional Arabian music. Apparently, the harp was common too, and is still very popular in Oman, going by the response to the Tune of Oman band. A little research threw up the fact that instruments lyres, harps, flutes, pipes and horns were all an integral part of music in these regions.

The harp is said to be one of the three oldest musical instruments. The other two are the drum and the flute. Thought to have evolved from plucking the hunter's bow, some sort of harp is present in almost every culture on earth. In Europe, the harp evolved into the Double Action Pedal Harp that is now seen in symphony orchestras. The invention of the pedal harp is said to have very nearly eliminated the European folk harp tradition.

In the late 1960s and early '70s a few craftsmen in California, notably Robbie Robinson and Jay Witcher, started building their interpretations of the "Irish" harps. At the same time, a few noted harpists such as Alan Stivell, Sylvia Woods and Derek Bell released some very popular recordings made using the Celtic Harp. This led to a revival of sorts for this long forgotten instrument. Musicians aver that in the past 30 years there has been a tremendous folk harp revival. But if you ask the Omani musicians, they will simply say it has always been a part of their music.

Source:www.thorharp.com
– Shiva Kumar Thekkepat, Feature Writer, Friday