Blog

In this calendar you find an overview of central mouth harp festivals and events all over the world. We point out events like the Marranzano World Fest in Italy, futhermore festivals in Norway, Russia, USA, Austria and Hungary. A fixed get-together of the world´s harp scene is the Parmupillifestival in Estland and the Ancient Trance Festival in Germany.

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.

One wonders whether Taucha is the source of a secret magnetism that attracts jaw harps. Since 2014 there has been a trophy in Taucha, which symbolically awards the town near Leipzig the title “World Centre of the Jaw Harp”. There are good reasons for that recognition, that we will be highlighted in this article: a mouth harp festival, the world market leader for jaw harps and various mouth harp masters – after almost 20 years the city of Taucha became an important interface for the world´s mouth harp community.