Jaw Harp project

Tonight I go out on a limb with a brand new project. I'll be performing some music/sound pieces on the jaw harp at The Circus of Objects. A production of an experimental theatre and performance art group Adhere and Deny.

I've been working on this for about three years. I was introduced to the idea of exploring this ancient musical instrument while working on some music and sound for a short film by Danishka Esterhazy. The Red Hood had a Ukrainian theme weaved into the story line. We shot some scenes at Lower Fort Garry which has a cabin much like many Ukrainian immigrants lived in back in the early 20th Century. One of the artifacts on display was an old jaw harp, a drymba in the Ukrainan language. They wouldn't let me touch it but I jumped into research and found some workable instruments from Austria at the local music stores. A year later I started purchasing instruments over the webbernet and started to look for them where ever I go. I have a doromb from Hungary, several vargan from Krygzstan, several morchanga's from Nepal, and a dan moi from Vietnam.

You can find an example of my playing here------> Birthday Song for Art .