(headline image: Camac 34 string Telenn harp)
Harp history reaches back to the earliest urban cultures and continues to evolve in the present day. Visual depictions in Sumer and Ancient Egypt around the fourth millennium BCE show arched and angular forms that set the template for later regional types. These early instruments lacked a forepillar and used a few strings; nonetheless, they establish the harp as one of humanity’s oldest chordophones.
Organologists typically distinguish open or arched harps, angular harps, and frame harps, with further divisions by string layout (single, double, or triple courses) and pitch-altering mechanisms. The modern orchestral frame harp crystallized in Europe when makers added foot-operated pedals to raise pitch; Sébastien Érard’s early-19th-century double-action system enabled full chromaticism and became the orchestral standard.
Harp construction always balances resonance against string tension. Europe’s concert instruments employ soundboards of spruce or similar resonant woods, gut/nylon/fluorocarbon treble strings, and metal-wound basses. Historical Irish instruments used brass strings and a robust, curved neck and pillar to withstand high tension. Many African harps use calabash or carved wood resonators covered with skin, with necks of hardwood and strings of gut, plant fiber, or modern materials.
Africa: Arched Harps And Harp-Lutes
Sub-Saharan Africa maintains especially rich harp traditions. West Africa’s kora, often classified as a “harp-lute” because a notched bridge and a calabash body are combined with harp-style right/left-hand stringing, features 21 strings and is emblematic of Mande jeliya performance.
In Mauritania, women musician-storytellers play the ardin, an angular harp with calabash body and 10–16 strings; in Central Africa, peoples such as the Mangbetu maintain open harps with distinctive carved forms.
Europe: From Court To Conservatory
Medieval and early modern Europe cultivated diatonic frame harps in many sizes. The Irish/Scottish cláirseach employed dozens of brass strings and was played with fingernails for a bell-like attack. Later, pedal mechanisms expanded harmonic resources; Érard’s double-action design (patented in the 1810s) allowed performance in all keys and set the foundation for the symphonic harp’s six-plus-octave range.
The Celtic harp returned to the foreground in the 1970s. Its revival moved outward from Ireland and Scotland, then crossed the water to Brittany (France) and Galicia (Spain), where distinct scenes shaped its modern character.
In Brittany, Alan Stivell became the catalyst. He treated the harp as a lead voice, using arrangements that fused Breton folk with progressive rock and broader global currents.
Galicia took a complementary course through Emilio Cao and Rodrigo Romaní (Milladoiro). Cao reintroduced the harp to local repertoire, pairing traditional forms with precise technique.
The Americas: Regional Harps And New Idioms
Colonial-era migrations carried Spanish harp types to Latin America, where they became central to folk and regional styles. The arpa paraguaya (Paraguayan harp) developed a lighter frame and brighter response; its core repertories include polca paraguaya, polca galopa, and guarania.
In the Orinoco plains, the arpa llanera of Venezuela and Colombia supports dance genres alongside cuatro and maracas. These instruments circulate between rural festivities, concert stages, and diasporic scenes, with technical innovations by virtuosi who adapted repertoire and technique for modern audiences.
East And Inner Asia: Disappearance And Revival
China’s historical konghou encompassed several types, arched and angular forms in antiquity and, in recent decades, a modernized concert konghou created through reconstruction and new manufacture. Japan’s related kugo vanished from gagaku ensembles by the Heian period but has been revived through research, instrument building, and contemporary composition.
Variants
The Welsh triple harp and historical double and chromatic harps solved chromaticism with multiple string rows. The aeolian harp, a wind-driven box zither, shares playing techniques with none of the above yet remains a canonical “harp” in name and acoustic concept. More recently, hybrid forms appeared, such as the guitarra arpa and amplified/electric harps.
Materials
A wide range of wood types is used in the crafting of a harp:
- Spruce (soundboards: Sitka, Engelmann, European)
- Maple (necks, pillars, bodies)
- Beech (frames, pedals on some European makes)
- Birch (laminates and internal bracing)
- Walnut (bodies, necks)
- Cherry (bodies, necks)
- Mahogany (bodies, necks)
- Poplar (linings, internal parts)
- Ash (frames on some folk/lever models)
- Oak (historical frames)
- Cedar/Red Cedar (some soundboards on folk harps)
- Willow (historical Gaelic soundboxes)
Harp Types And Regional Names
- Pedal Harp / Concert Grand Harp
- Lever Harp / Celtic Harp
- cláirseach (Historical Gaelic Wire-Strung Harp)
- Welsh Triple Harp (telyn deires)
- Chromatic Harp / Cross-Strung Harp
- arpa llanera (Venezuela/Colombia)
- arpa paraguaya (Paraguay)
- arpa jarocha (Veracruz, Mexico)
- Andean Harp (Peru, Ecuador, Colombia)
- kora (West African Harp-Lute)
- ardin (Mauritania)
- konghou (China, ancient and modern revivals)
- kugo (Japan, revived ancient angular harp)
- bolon (Mande region, West Africa)
- ennanga (Uganda)
Noted Harp Players (Across Traditions)
Significant harp players who are no longer with us: Carlos Salzedo (France), Marcel Grandjany (France), Nicanor Zabaleta (Spain), Ignacio Ventura Figueredo (Venezuela), Juan Vicente Torrealba Pérez (Venezuela), Emilio Cao (Spain), Benjamín Díaz (Venezuela), Félix Pérez Cardozo (Paraguay), Lily Laskine (France).
The following artists are distinguished for their virtuosic performance, compositional innovation, and/or their pivotal roles in adapting the harp to diverse musical traditions, as well as for their contributions to cross-cultural collaborations
Western Classical/Early Music:
Yolanda Kondonassis (USA), Isabelle Moretti (France), Xavier de Maistre (France), Anna Lelkes (Hungary), Alice Giles (Australia), María Rosa Calvo-Manzano (Spain), Marielle Nordmann (France), Emmanuel Ceysson (France), Cristina Montes (Spain), Andrew Lawrence-King (UK), Sivan Magen (Israel), Maeve Gilchrist (UK), Bridget Kibbey (USA), Arianna Savall (Spain), Remy van Kesteren (The Netherlands), Gwyneth Wentink (The Netherlands), Savourna Stevenson (UK), Silke Aichhorn (Germany), Judy Loman (USA), Sylvain Blassel (France), Valeria Clarke (born Valeria Kurbatova, Russia), Gabriella Dall’Olio (Italy), Keziah Thomas (UK), Angharad Wyn Jones (UK), Harriet Adie (UK), Elisabeth Remy Johnson (USA), Sarah Schuster Ericsson (USA), Skaila Kanga (India), Cristina Braga (Brazil), Sara Águeda (Spain), Ana María Reyes Rojas (Spain), Susana Cermeño (Spain), Mercedes Villarino Ponce (Spain), Marta Ayuso Íñigo (Spain).
Celtic (Irish/Scottish/Breton/Galician)/World Music:
Alan Stivell (France), Catrin Finch (Wales), Michael Rooney (Ireland), Máire Ní Chathasaigh (Ireland), Laoise Kelly (Ireland), Myrdhin (France), Gráinne Hambly (Ireland), Anne-Marie O’Farrell (Ireland), William Jackson (Scotland), Michelle Mulcah (Ireland), Rodrigo Romaní (Spain), Alannah Thornburgh (Ireland), Aryeh Frankfurter (USA), Violaine Mayor (France), Cécile Corbel (France), Gwenaël Kerléo (France), Eleanor Turner (UK), Tristan Le Govic (France), Cristine Merienne (France).
Flamenco
Ana Crismán (Spain), pioneer of the arpa flamenca.
Greek Music
Elisa Vellia (Greece).
Jazz & Rock:
Park Stickney (USA), Deborah Henson-Conant (USA), Hyejin Kim (South Korea), Jakez François (France), Laura Perrudin (France).
Arpa jarocha:
Alberto De la Rosa (Mexico), César Secundino (Mexico), Octavio Vega Hernández (Mexico), Salvador Peña (Mexico), Alicia Navarrete Landa (Mexico), Cristy de la Rosa (Mexico).
Arpa llanera:
Edmar Castañeda (Colombia), Leonard Jacome (Venezuela), Hildo Ariel Aguirre Daza (Colombia), Eduardo Betancourt (Venezuela).
Arpa paraguaya:
Ursulina Arias, Walter Papi Basaldúa, Desiderio Larrosa, César Daniel López Vera and Cipriano Riveros Cardozo, Ismael Ledesma, Larissa Ledesma.
Kora:
Please visit our kora page.
New Age/Contemporary Instrumental:
Andreas Vollenweider
Experimental:
Zenna Parkins (USA)
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.
