It was easy to find, and we arrived in time. The room was small, with around 40 chairs in front of a small stage. There was a couple there, from Viet Nam, and another couple came in later. I think they were perhaps French, but I'm not sure.
On the stage were 5 pretty recognizeable harps (or at least since they had strings we figured that's what they must be), Tibetan singing bowls, a couple of metal pod things, and upright wooden rectangles with lots of strings on them.
The harpist (Luc van Laere, www.lucvanlaere-harp.be) came out, gave a short introduction, and began. Holy cow, what a treat. He started off on the concert harp, moved to the Celtic harp, then started playing the other stringed instruments. For his last piece he played all the instruments on the stage.
Luc didn't start playing harp untl he was 44. Obviously the instrument speaks deeply to him. He made the monoharps in the back right. 30 or so strings on each board, each string on the board tuned to the same note. What wonderful chords they produced, when played together and with the other instruments. Monoharps are used in music therapy, mounted under a bed and strummed. That would be a great way to go to sleep, for sure. Deep, rich resonant tones.
The metal pod things are steel harps, made by a company in Switzerland. Such a sound, that decayed very slowly. Deep, full, perfectly tuned. I'd love to hear more of them. We bought all four of Luc's CDs, and wished there were more.
Here is part of Luc's last piece, where he moved all around the stage playing all the instruments. The decay in the sound was slow enough that he could leave one and start playing another and create a chord. It was like nothing I've ever heard before.
I gave Luc the name of Swallow Hill, and of Kolacny Music in Denver. He'd be perfect for a Swallow Hill concert, or for something that the Kolacnys, with their store being a harp center, could arrange.
.
It was a pretty terrific first day in Bruges.
No comments:
Post a Comment