 |
![[...]](http://www.triskelle.eu/images/ban_common_2.jpg) |
Harp
The cruit, also known as cláirseach or clàrsach, or just Irish harp, was already a national emblem in the tenth century.
As an instrument the harp was a typical upper-class instrument and cruitire, or harpers, functioned not only as a source of entertainment and news, but also as storytellers. They were considered wise men and often served as an advisor of the King. The harpers and their Kings often decorated the instrument with carving and crystals and gold and silver ornaments.
Because harpers were the carriers of legends and stories, and thus the Irish culture and nationalism, the British immediately started to persecute the harpers. Harps were burnt and harpers executed. During the Confederate War Cromwell ordered the destruction of harps and organs in both Catholic and Protestant churches. Over 500 harps were burnt in Dublin City alone.
At the end of the eighteenth century there was nearly a harper left in Ireland. Together with the harpers the music was almost disappeared. When the church organist Edward Bunting organised the Belfast Harp Meeting in 1790 only ten harpers showed up and only the oldest, Denis Hempson, with the honourable age of 97, played the harp the old fashion way which is with the fingernails instead of the fingertips. Thanks to Bunting and the old man we know how the Irish harp was played.
One of the tunes recorded by Bunting is named Aisling an Ógfhir, or The Young Man's Dream. This tune is almost identical to the Londonderry Air, which is used for Danny Boy.
The harp as instrument disappeared in oblivion, but remained alive as symbol of the Irish culture.
Symbol
Brian Boru or Trinity College Harp
(source:
Living Myths)
Since the sixteenth century the arms of Ireland is a gold coloured harp on a blue field. Centuries later the instrument became a prominent element of the Green Flag, also known as the Érin go Brách, which is widely used by nationalists since the United Irishmen Rebellion in 1798.
The depiction's of the harp you can see these days on coins and labels of beer bottles are not based on Daurdabla, the mythological harp, but on the seventeenth (or fourteenth) century Brian Boru, or the Trinity College Harp. Because Brain Boru died at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014 it is impossible that the harp with his name was actually his. Apart from that the instrument appears to be made from three different harps.
There are several songs in which a harp or a harper plays the leading role (The Bard Of Armagh, The Harp That Once Through Tara's Hall and The Minstrel Boy) or acts as a national symbol (The Dying Rebel and The Orange And The Green).
The revival of the Irish harp started at the end of the twentieth century, when it became possible to industrialise parts of the production which resulted in an affordable price.
Call us sentimental, but if you have ever heard the unique sound of a brass stringed harp in lushy green hills near the sea you are done!