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In real life, Marco Trochelmann is a high school teacher for music and German. He discovered the Slovakian bass flute Fujara during his university studies. The instrument put a spell on him, he could not take it out of his hands. Until today, he has been producing several Fujara CDs and compositions for the instrument. In an interview with Helen from DAN MOI he talks about his experiences as a cross-boarder musician in Slovakia and describes the sound parameters of the Fujara.

Helen from DAN MOI was talking to the German Mouth Harper Kian Wind from Leipzig. Kian got deeply involved with the instrument. Today he is performing his own music on jaw harp and loop machine. We were talking about his newly released album "Miluju Tě" and about his participation at the Marranzano World Festival in Catania. The interview was recorded in German language.

In 1995 during the opening celebrations of the cultural centre of the Slovakian town of Detva, the president of the parliament of Slovakia and the later president Ivan Gašparovič, gave a memorable present at the reception. Gašparovič played on the bass flute Fujara that has the height of a man. What more is the Fujara than a symbol of national sovereignty of Slovakia?

There are only a few studies about acoustic parameters of the jaw harp. Robert Vandré is publishing a website that is one of the few sources that comprehensively analyse the sound properties of the jaw harp based on substantiated figures. That is why it is a treasure for instrument researchers and acousticians, but at the same time for all that are seeking a better understanding about the functionality of the instrument. Helen Hahmann from DAN MOI met Robert Vandré in 2017 at the Ancient Trance Festival in Taucha.

Is the jaw harp an instrument for dreamers? Is it an instrument for good-humoured people? Is it an instrument for curious sound hunters, experimental music lovers and noise enthusiasts? We were digging in the archives and want to share with you music of Meredith Monk, Sainko Namtchylak, Leonard Cohen, Daniel Higgs, Stiller Has, Dizzy Gillespie and other notable harper.

Finally, a new flick about the mouth harp! Sicilian movie maker Diego Pascal Panarello was working more than 7 years on “The Strange Sound of Happiness”. The fantasy documentary celebrated its world premiere at the DOK Festival 2017 in Leipzig, Germany. For DAN MOI Diego is revealing some exciting legends such as the connection of the jaw harp to the mafia, and he talks about his first personal encounter with those items that take away all sorrows.