Blog
The Daf's current appeal to international musicians is attributed to its deep historical and cultural roots. The Daf is a frame drum with a long history going back as far as the early dynastic period. It is one of the few instruments in the Middle East that is also played by women. Who is playing Daf today? What is the difference between the Daf and other frame drums? Is the Daf a women´s instrument? We take a closer look at this versatile drum.
One week at the Marranzano World Fest in Catania/Sicily This year, the team around the musician and ethnomusicologist Luca Recupero managed to organise another edition, the 12th. This year's festival motto: Exploring the boundaries between language and music. Impressions from one week in Catania ;)
Jaw harpist Kian Wind from Leipzig remains musically alive and active despite limited opportunities in pandemic times. You can meet him busking in the streets of Leipzig, he works on new songs, released the album Kid Covid 2020 and he streamed a live concert worth listening to on April 24, 2021. We publish here the recording of the concert and an interview with him by Andi Rietschel.
Steev Kindwald is playing the Indian double flute Alghoza for 20 years now. Only after 20 years “one is able to make the instrument sound well”, said his master in Rajasthan once. Steev plays the double flute several hours per day. He says, it is so much more than merely playing and practicing the instrument. Playing the Alghoza is a state of being, a way of life. Helen Hahmann interviewed Steev Kindwald (who also is a recognised expert for asian mouth harps) in the summer of 2019 at DAN MOI in Taucha, Germany.
Steev Kindwald unites diverse cultural influences as a musician and instrument maker like no one else. He absorbed a huge part of his playing technique on the double flute Alghoza and different mouth harps in Asia, mainly in India and Southeast Asia. He also takes his inspiration from old instruments from museum collections or even archaeological excavations. Steev had a chat with Helen from Dan Moi about his encounters with instrument makers in Asia and furthermore about his approach to making bamboo mouth harps.
Joachim Hellmann is well-known for his jaw harp passion in his home region, the Uckermark. For a living, he teaches qi gong and taijiquan and works as an educational staff member at a primary school. He is also present with his jaw harp in camps and on festivals. On such occasion he uses his pseudonym Yoeman. He says, the jaw harp is great fun and with it it's easy to get in touch. It connects people. The jaw harp is also perfectly suited for spending moments on one's own, special moments such as in the summer of 2019 at the Ancient Trance Festival.