Harpblog

Nice

Thank you to Miriam Overlach for this atmospheric photo of her Elysée harp !

Special exhibition and Feldenkrais Workshop at the Harfengalerie Camac Berlin, November 3rd - 5th, 2011

Photo: Jens Schumann

 

Between November 3rd and 5th, 2011, the Harfengalerie Camac Berlin will be holding a special harp exhibition. This is your chance to try out a particularly fine selection of Camac's top-end concert harps: the Trianon, Elysée and Oriane, and the exhibition will be open from 11AM to 7PM on Thursday 3rd and Saturday 5th, and 12 noon to 6PM on the Friday.

 

An Elysée in the Harfengalerie Camac Berlin. Photo: Jens Schumann

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A close-up detail of a recent white gold Oriane - this one was sold at the last World Harp Congress

Friday November 4th also offers a special workshop for professional harpists and advanced students. Claudia Eichstädter, herself a harpist and also a teacher of the Feldenkrais Method, will give a two-hour introduction to this technique, proven to be of such benefit to musicians. The workshop will examine the movements harpists typically make when they play, and show you how to avoid injury by performing these movements in the most physically optimal manner. 

Frau Eichstädter's course is free, but because of the limited number of places available please sign up in advance by contacting David Rescher or Mike Dobek at the Harfengalerie:

Gardes-du-Corps-Straße 3
14059 Berlin - Charlottenburg
Telefon +49 (0) 30 - 21 97 11 76
Mobil +49 (0) 163 - 717 30 17
E-Mail: info@harfengalerie.de 

Herzliche Einladung

 

 

Sehr geehrte Harfenistinnen und Harfenisten, geschätzte Studentinnen und Studenten im Fach Harfe!

Hiermit möchten wir Sie sehr herzlich zu einer Sonderausstellung einladen, welche wir gemeinsam mit unserem Partner Les Harpes Camac France für Sie organisiert haben.

Edmar Castaneda plays the EC Llanera at the Bolzano Jazz Festival

 

Speaking of Edmar Castaneda - here is a video of Edmar performing in duo with Hamilton de Holanda at the South Tyrol Jazz Festival this year. Edmar is playing the new harp Camac have built especially for him: the EC Llanera.

The EC Llanera is a Latin American llanera harp, built to the highest contemporary technological standards. Its traditional string tension is combined with wrapped bass wires for better intonation and resonance, concert harp spacing for greater ease of playing, an improved soundbox and a rich, balanced acoustic sound. It is also the first lever llanera, unlocking still more musical potential for everyone interested in Latin American harp-playing.

The EC llanera has now been released into mainstream production. Contact us for more details, harpblog@camac-harps.com!

Carbon fibre electroharp prototype in the National Museum of Scotland

At the end of last year, we donated Camac's first carbon fibre electroharp prototype (pictured above) to the National Museum of Scotland. The museum is now set to reopen on July 29th, after a 46-million-pound refurbishment. The electroharp is ready for the grand opening, set as part of what senior curator of modern science Tacye Phillipson aptly describes as a "ghostly chamber ensemble" of electric instruments. Find out more in this article in the Scotsman newspaper!

The "DHC Blue Light" Story

Here's an article - crossposted on Deborah Henson-Conant's own blog, Deblog - about the story of our DHC Blue Light harp.

The “DHC Blue Light” is Camac Harp’s  latest collaboration with strap-on-harp-legend Deborah Henson-Conant. Made of super-light, mega-strong carbon fibre, it weighs just 11lbs, boasts a new lever design, and comes in 34- or 36-string models. Even Deborah herself can’t get a back-up model right now because of the length of the waiting list.

 

Ingeniously, Camac collaborated with bicycle manufacturers to make it happen. Deborah began working with Joël Garnier in the early 1990s, while she was on the hunt for a lever harp she could harness to her body and move about on stage with.

 

“I had wanted a harness harp for years. Some harp makers built quick prototypes (such as John Hoare of Pilgrim), but finally I got a small Rubarth lap harp, covered it with red-and-silver contact paper, put a pickup in it, made a rudimentary harness for it, took it on tour and played it for Joël.  He said, “Ah, Deborah, now I see what you mean,” and the next time I saw him (it seemed like 4-6 months later, but was maybe more), he handed me the prototype of the Baby Blue. I still have that very first prototype!

 

I built a new harness (the prototype for what we’re all using now), a friend modified the harp (which was wood, so fairly easy to modify) so it could attach to a bogen camera-tripod as a stand, and I started touring with it, wrote orchestral pieces for it, and learned about amplification.   For a while I always shipped the harp in a bicycle box, as it fit perfectly and I could often get it on a plane free that way.

 

The culmination of the Baby Blue was “Invention & Alchemy,” when I got to really show what the instrument could do both as a solo instrument and as a feature with orchestra.  The end of the era came soon after at the Arles harp festival about 3-4 years ago, when I came without my Baby Blue and played a modern model.

Camac Columbian harp going into production

After reading my post about our new Columbian-style lever harp specially developed for Edmar Castaneda, I have received some enquiries about its availability for sale. And the answer is: YES! The harp is going into production and currently costs €2500 including French VAT, or €2090 for export.
 
We already have 2 harps in dark blue for sale, with other standard finishes available in black, mahogany, cherry, and natural. As ever, you can also inquire about whatever special custom finish you like.
 
 

Harpe en Avenois 2011

Harpe en Avenois, Meubeuge's annual harp festival, is currently in full swing. The line-up is impressive, as we have come to expect from this festival, from top young players like Emilie Gastaud, to famous names like Myrdhin and Xavier de Maistre, not to mention the fabulous Milevska Jazz Trio.

On February 1st, Edmar Castaneda will be performing in duo with clarinettist Gabrièle Mirabassi - and we are proud to announce that this is the first concert where Edmar will play on the Columbian harp Camac have developed especially for him!

Magma red!

More news from America - many thanks to Shirley Dominguez for this wonderful picture of herself with her magma red* Camac electric harp!

*convertible not included

Second-hand harps

Don't forget that Camac has a regularly-updated online list of the second-hand harps we have for sale. Many of these harps come to us in part-exchange for new Camacs, and we regulate and overhaul them thoroughly before reselling.

You can also access our second-hand harp list via the link in Harpblog's sidebar!

Electro prototype

This is the initial protoype of a carbon fibre electric harp, Jakez's first attempt to make a light, portable electric harp, which has now developed into the DHC Blue Light. The prototype is a twenty-five-string harp with a pickup on each string.

You'll be able to read more about the story of Deborah Henson-Conant and her development of a wearable "harness harp" later. Meanwhile, we are donating this prototype to the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh. There is also a strong personal connection between Scotland and Camac's electric harps. The first harpists to play the Camac electroharp, more than twenty years ago, were Patsy Seddon and Mary Macmaster. Also, Joël Garnier had the idea of an electroharp while he was at the Edinburgh Harp Festival, and he first displayed his finished instrument there too.

The harp is on its way to Scotland now and should be on view by February 2011, when the museum's Art and Industry/Design gallery re-opens.