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In 2000, Jakez reworked our lever harp catalogue to make it clearer, particularly with regard to the names of the harps. Models before this time can still be a source of confusion. The harps were worked on a lot, which resulted better harps, but also in a rather complicated list of models often with the same strings and ranges, yet different.
To help with any confusion particularly regarding second-hand models from our earlier ranges, David Rescher of the Harfengalerie Camac Berlin has written a German-language explanation of the background to the present-day Mélusine and Korrigan, plus a summary of our current range, in response to questions on the German harp site harfenforum.de. I've made an English version for Harpblog. Never do any work someone else has already done, better than you would.
The Morgane, with its thirty-four strings, was the first larger lever harp made by Camac, in the 1970s (prior to this, we manufactured a leverless Bardic harp with a four-cornered soundboard and in quasi-Guinness style. It was also available in kit form, and very popular throughout the 1970s). The Morgane was built to be strung in nylon (A01 – D26), with bass wires (C27 – C34), offered with a choice of flat feet or taller legs, and a four-cornered soundbox. The Morgane remained in production until 2001.
At the end of the 1970s, Camac added their Mélusine model to their range. This harp had 36 strings, 2 more than the Morgane, in the bass (H35 and A36). It was also strung with nylon and wires and had a similar four-cornered soundbox. The Mélusine came into being following requests from Breton harpers, who wanted a greater bass range.
The Mélusine de Concert, developed in the 1980s, had a round and bigger soundbox, and a correspondingly bigger sound. The first Concert Mélusines still had a carbon fibre soundboard, with which Camac’s founder, Joël Garnier, had been experimenting in this decade.
Continue reading "Some background to our lever harp range" »
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Jakez just sent me these photos from the Shanghai Music Fair, where Camac are currently exhibiting. It is great to be among the French instrument makers at the biggest exhibition held by the country who, in themselves, make more instruments than anywhere else in the world!
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We're all heading to Geneva at the end of this week for our annual Camac Festival!
The advance information about the festival has not changed so, rather than repeat myself, you can read it here. In a nutshell, this annual event aims to present some of the brightest stars of the harp's different styles and genres (a range so diverse that it never fails to amaze and delight us), highlight the work of local harp scenes (which is why we choose a different venue every year), and offer the best commercial opportunity possible (the largest exhibition of Camac instruments you will ever find in one place). It is also an ideal opportunity to have your harp regulated (please reserve an appointment in advance for this).
The wonderful artists performing for us this year deserve a paragraph of thanks containing no parentheses at all. There will be four fabulous duos: Isabelle Moretti and Magali Mosnier, Ghislaine Petit-Volta and Jean-Marc Volta, Sophie and Marie Hallynck, and Sileas - Mary Macmaster and Patsy Seddon. We're also delighted to welcome Petra van der Heide, Tara Minton and her trio, Bernard Andrès, and the harp professors and students in and around Geneva. A huge thank you to them all!
If you haven't yet reserved your tickets - which are free - call +33 (0) 2 40 97 24 97, or email festival@camac-harps.com!
Harpblog is also looking forward to the chocolate
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A trio of our high-end concert models – our Oriane, Elysée and Trianon – has left Mouzeil in the manner of a European Grand Tour. First up is the new Oriane for Anneleen Lenaerts, now of course at the Vienna Philharmonic. We’re loving this video of her playing Granados on her new harp.
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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.
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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!
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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!
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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.
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