(på svenska)

The main purposes of the Nordic Harp Meeting are:

1. to meet other string musicians from other countries, to teach each other new tunes, make use of each other’s knowledge, repertoire and experience, and generate new ideas from the synergistic effects of many different traditions and creative impulses.

2. to discover the diversity of “harps” / harp-related instruments of Northern Europe: Norwegian folk harp, Finnish kantele, Estonian kannel, Norwegian langeleik, Icelandic langspil, Swedish hummel, Finnish bowed lyre (jouhikko), Swedish bowed lyre (stråkharpa), Norwegian plucked-or-strummed lyre, Swedish keyed fiddle (nyckelharpa), various historical harps and psalteries, and their respective traditions and sound possibilities.

3. to enrich your repertoire with traditional tunes from other countries, ranging from historical tunes to recent folk music, and to experiment with ancient and new methods of playing harp-related string instruments.

4. to transfer traditional tunes from the kantele, lyre, langleik and other traditions to the harp and vice versa, thus creating new sounds in Nordic folk music.

5. to discuss and encourage free and open-minded debate on matters relating to these instruments, their history and distribution.

Logo designed by Jana Šouflová,
kantele added by Yrjänä Ermala