Music on the walls and in the ears

My most excited musical moment of the trip so far came on Sunday when I spotted a harpist playing last Sunday. Propped up on two metal poles extending from its base, with its levers coming out vertically from the top of the harp, the body was roughly the size of the lever harp I’d come to call Iona back home while I was borrowing her from Mike Parker in London.  The lad playing her was young, probably in his twenties and his style of plucking strings was different to the traditional Celtic way back home.  The strings looked looser strung and the sound had a slightly different quality.  He must have been playing local tunes, for the number of folk that were humming or singing along.

I was yearning to chat to the lad and ask him questions about where he and his harp were from but he was so good that he was continually surrounded by a crowd and never paused in his playing.   I've since been updated by Mike that this is a Paraguayan harp with the neck in two parts and the strings running up the middle ... thank's Mike! :-)

Luckily I also picked up the lad's card so know his name is Guillermo Rodriguez Morales, and this is the link to his myspace page.

Many painted musicians feature in the murals of Valparaíso, mirroring the many musicians like Guillermo, whose beautiful music fills the air as they busk the streets. 

What a brilliant city!

:-)