Harpers for Housing: Sunday, December 4th

You’re invited to the third annual

Harpers for Housing

Harpers for Housing: a holiday tradition!

Sunday, December 4th at 2pm
at the Lincoln Street United Methodist Church,
5145 SE Lincoln St., Portland
Suggested donation: $10
(please click here to see a map)

Come enjoy a festive holiday concert featuring harpers, singers, and a wonderful mandolin player!  This is a benefit for a wonderful local nonprofit, the Northwest Pilot Project, which “provides housing services for seniors ages 55 and older who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.”  NWPP assists elders in living their lives in safety and dignity, which is more important than ever in difficult economic times.  Kathleen Staub, a friend of mine and a well-known, beloved local lever harp teacher, is the organizing force behind this event.

Samhain in Portland

The new Trinity on the porch, Samhain 2011.

Samhain is, for me, the most significant season of the year. It is a time when I build an ancestor altar with photographs of my beloved dead, from a well-loved grandfather who died before I was born, to a dear old cat whose long life came to a close this past winter. The faces are all there, familiar and honored.

Tonight Amy and I are attending the Dark Harvest Ballads, an event sponsored by a local group of musicians, Mistral, who specialize in Breton music. Tonight’s performance will be, according to the organizers, “an evening of spooky, cathartic songs drawn from the English tradition, exploring themes of death, struggle, and untimely departures…” We attended a previous incarnation of the event, and had a dark, splendid time. I enjoy John Fleagle and Robin Williamson’s old ballads laced with foreboding, so this is my cup of tea. It is also, to Mistral’s credit, a benefit concert for the Oregon Food Bank. Samhain blessings to Mistral for their generosity.

The elegant new Trinity (shown above my my porch) is nearly complete, lacking only a string for the loop (the bottom drone string), and an end cap. A wonderful master metalsmith is making a custom cap for it, and I’ll be sure to show photos when it arrives.

With Samhain good wishes,

-Sue

The sound of gold strings

Brendan Ring has just posted his first video clip playing the new Trinity College Harp by William MacDonald of Skye. This one is strung all in gold, and as you will hear, has found its voice early. Enjoy the lush sound of Brendan’s playing. The tune is a piobaireachd entitled Clan Ranald’s March to Edinburgh.

See and hear for yourself what you may think of the sound of gold throughout the instrument. Some commentators on the WireHarp list think gold isn’t worth the investment, but I heartily disagree. If you’d like a closer look at the instrument, William MacDonald has posted a video clip:

–Sue