Keeping the harp in tune with the times

QUESTION still Are harps made here In Ireland? HARP making is one of our oldest crafts, dating back 1,000 years and is still going strong, much revived in recent years.

The oldest harp on display in Ireland is in the Long Room at Trinity College, Dublin, which dates back to the 14th or 15th century. Once, it was thought to have been played by Brian Boru, but that particular theory has long since been discounted. But harps were being made in Ireland long before it was crafted.

The design of the Trinity harp is shown on the obverse side of Irish euro coins, while a rightfacing image of this same harp was used to form the Guinness logo in 1862.

Over the years, many changes were made to the design of the Irish harp. In the early 19th century, as the old Gaelic harp traditions were vanishing, a Dublin-based pedal harp maker, John Egan, made a new harp, with gut strings and semitone mechanisms, like an orchestral pedal harp but much smaller.

During the past two decades, harp making in Ireland has undergone a real revival, so that today, around a dozen craftsmen and women are busy making not only modern harps, but replicas of the ancient harps that once sounded in the halls of kings throughout Ireland.

Most of the present day harp makers are based in the west, but one is based in Co. Down, while another is in Dublin.

One of the best-known harp makers is Brian Callan, who is based at St Cleran’s in Craughwell, Co. Galway. He makes lever harps, including 24 and 36-string versions, using locally-sourced wood. Whatever type of wood is used to make a harp determines the sound the harp produces.

Also in Co. Galway, a female harp maker, Natalie Surina of Ériú Harps, specialises in making modern harps as well as reproductions of early Irish harps.

In Galway city, Pat Doyle has been making harps for more than 30 years. The Doyle family has been making stringed instruments since 1890.

Also in the western part of the country, Davy Patton of Tulsk, Co. Roscommon makes replicas of ancient Gaelic harps once used in Ireland and the Scottish highlands. He has plenty of prototypes to work from as at least 18 of these ancient harps still survive in museums today.

In Co. Clare, Pat Dooley began making harps just over a decade ago and now makes both replicas of ancient harps and custommade modern harps.

Tim O’Connell established Killarney Harps in Co. Kerry in 2011. He makes a variety of harps, including the 36-string Muckross harp.

Harp makers in the Midlands include Jan Muyllaert, based at Ardbraccan, Navan, Co. Meath, who makes professional harps costing over €4,650. He also makes replicas of the Clannad harp, used by Clannad in the 1970s, as well as replicas of the Eagle harp featured on the Brendan Voyage albums.

Pat Cawley and Indra Karklas in Co. Westmeath, make 22, 27, 34 and 36 string harps, using carbon fibre strings, a modern version of the old gut strings.

Dublin has a harp maker called Tomás Mac Uileagóil of Eula Harps. He was trained as a harp maker by one of the pioneers of modern harp making, Colm Ó Meachair.

The renaissance of interest in harps means that there’s often a waiting list for instruments. Pat Cawley and Indra Karklas of Mullingar say that there’s a waiting list of about three to four months for their harps, while Navan-based harp maker Jan Muyllaert says that he is fully booked for 2017.

The revival of interest in harp playing and making has been an encouraging sign to come from the music industry here, and the crafting of musical instruments.

Des Shiels, Drumcondra, Dublin.