Harp brings a buzz to Ambleside

The bray harp was designed to cut through the hubbub of dances and gatherings in castles during the 15th and 16th century. It’s one of The Three Scottish Harps concert that leading Scottish harp player Karen Marshalsay will be bringing with her to Ambleside. The other harps are the modern lever harp, which will be familiar to folk music followers, and the wire-strung clarsach from Scotland’s Gaelic tradition.

“Harp players were the ceilidh band leaders of the day back in medieval times,” says Karen. “And the bray harp was the instrument they played. Each string has a “bray” – a small piece of wood – that makes a buzzing effect, not unlike the sitar. If you put that together with a crumhorn and a tabor, or hand drum, that would have been the band that people danced to.”

Karen, who has worked with some of the Scottish and Irish tradition’s foremost musicians, recently recorded her second album, Eadarainn a’ Chruit : Between Us the Harp, and invited some genuine legends to the studio.

“Legends is an overused term,” she says. “But it’s an appropriate description for Cathal McConnell, who is one of the great figures in Irish music and a founder member of the world-renowned Boys of the Lough.

"I’ve been fortunate enough to play with Cathal’s trio for some years now and it was great to have the trio, with Cathal singing and playing flute and Kathryn Nicoll playing viola, on the album.”

Also appearing on the album are Alison Kinnaird, who is the doyenne of Scottish traditional harp playing and a mentor and friend of Karen’s, and piper and Gaelic singer Allan MacDonald, who is one of three piping brothers who have made a huge contribution to pipe music.

“I wish I could bring everyone on the album with me to Ambleside but I’ll be able to give a flavour of the music we recorded with the help of the different harps,” says Karen. “I’ll actually have four harps with me as there’s a baby version of the wire-strung harp that I like to include in concerts. It adds an extra sound to the tonal palette.”

As well as Scottish and Irish musicians, Karen’s CV also includes collaborations with Indian, African and Paraguayan players but Eadarainn a’ Chruit : Between Us the Harp, and its predecessor, The Road to Kennacraig focus mostly on the Scottish aspect of her music.

“I’m really looking forward to playing at Zeffirellis because I’ve heard so much about the venue and some of my favourite musicians, including the Norwegian bassist Arild Andersen and saxophonist Tommy Smith, have played there,” says Karen.

She'll be playing music from both of her albums and talking a bit about the tunes and the harps.

"I like to chat about to audiences because people seem to be fascinated by the harp as an instrument. It has associations with angels, of course, although the bray isn’t quite so angelic. It often comes as quite a surprise because it looks as you might expect a harp to look but it sounds quite a bit different from the other harps.”