talharpa
Sign in to saveAlso known as hiiu kannel
thumb|Talharpa, by Charlie Bynum, Silver Spoon Music, Alkmaar NL, 2014 The talharpa, also known as a tagelharpa (tail-hair harp), hiiu kannel (originally hiiurootsi (which meant Vormsi island located on the halfway to Hiiumaa) kannel) or stråkharpa (bowed harp), is a two to four stringed bowed lyre from northern Europe. It is questionable whether it was formerly common and widespread in Scandinavia. Historically, it has been played in the Estonian-Swedish areas and in Western Estonia, particularly among Estonian Swedes who came to Estonia around the 10th century from the Swedish part of Finlan
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
6 sectionsContents
- Background
- Construction techniques
- Modern use
- See also
- References
- External links
thumb|Talharpa, by Charlie Bynum, Silver Spoon Music, Alkmaar NL, 2014 The talharpa, also known as a tagelharpa (tail-hair harp), hiiu kannel (originally hiiurootsi (which meant Vormsi island located on the halfway to Hiiumaa) kannel) or stråkharpa (bowed harp), is a two to four stringed bowed lyre from northern Europe. It is questionable whether it was formerly common and widespread in Scandinavia. Historically, it has been played in the Estonian-Swedish areas and in Western Estonia, particularly among Estonian Swedes who came to Estonia around the 10th century from the Swedish part of Finland; they likely brought the instrument with them (later Swedish settlers in Estonia did not know nor use the talharpa.) It is similar to the Finnish jouhikko and the Welsh crwth. Jouhikko, a close relative of talharpa, is still known in Finland.
The name talharpa probably comes from a dialectical form of the word "tagel" – horsehair – from which the strings were made.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “talharpa” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.