Carolan in the 21st Century
I’m making a series of harp recordings honoring the work of Carolan.
Turlough O’Carolan was a blind harpist living in Ireland between 1670 and 1738 or so, travelling the country and writing and playing music in return for board and lodging. Hundreds of his tunes survive.
I find myself intrigued by his life-story. He didn’t just go on the odd tour, he spent his entire life on tour; his compositions are full of individuality although he was influenced by the Italian baroque music which he encountered on his journey. Some of his pieces were humourous while others were highly political; sometimes they have a very clear structure and sometimes they meander.
Had it not been for a gathering of his contemporaries in Dublin, many of the pieces would not have survived - and those that do only survive in melody form or with the barest harmonies. To this day, we know very little about how he performed his music. We can only guess that his performances and arrangements were adapted to each occasion.
I’m creating a series of videos of his music in appropriate locations. Because the tunes survive as melodies only, I’ve made my own arrangements based on living with the melodies for many years. My first video is of a piece called “Si Bheag Si Mhor, a legend about a battle between two fairy armies in the mountains. The location is a wood which I drive past on the way into my village. For two weeks of the year, bluebells coat the ground in a magical blue haze. It’s a rare opportunity and the flowers are perfect as a visual representation of the bell-like sounds I’ve worked into the piece.