10 Weird Instruments Actually Played – Part I
Harpolyre
In the 19th century a lot of experimentation was going on around guitar design: be it the number of strings, the decorations or the shape of the instrument, many different and unique guitar-ish instruments were born. Most of them never left its embrionary stage, but some, as the harpolyre, did, even if just for some time. Invented around 1820, this 21 string beast sounds more like if a harp, a guitar and a bass were merged together, and despite the odd looks, listening to the works of Sor or Carcassi (written specifically to be played with a harpolyre) is really thrilling.
One of the most well-known guitarists currently embracing the harpolyre is John Doan. Check his website: http://www.johndoan.com/ for more information regarding this piece of art.
Theremin
In the beginning of the twentieth century, and with the advent of a civil war, Russian researchers invented some sort of proximity detector. It was basically a device with an antennae surrounded by a magnetic field; whenever the natural electric charge of the human body crossed that field, audible frequencies were produced. And electronic music was born.
Nowadays, this eerie, haunting sound is very appreciated and en vogue among contemporary musicians, in various genres. Besides its regular usage in classical music compositions, more mainstream bands like Portishead, Air, Beach Boys, Radiohead or Rage Against The Machine often used this magical instrument in their songs. Recently, Lera Auerbach's The Little Mermaid put the theremin to a very interesting usage, with its sound being the mermaid's voice all through the piece.
You can find several good videos of Theremin playing, but this cover of Gnarls Barkley "Crazy" is just outstanding and a true example of what can be achieved with it.
Hang Drum
Probably one of the youngest instruments around, the hang drum was invented in the year 2000, and merged concepts from ancient percussion instruments such as the ghatam or the steelpan. The result is a beautiful, glowing sound, something in-between gongs and a metallophone. As the harmonies sound pretty intensely, it became a great instrument both for solo and group playing.
In recent years, the hang drum went through major exposure due to the internet video boom (also known as the youtube years), and its demand increased exponentially, but finding or buying one is quite hard, mostly because the company that manufactures them doesn't even have a website. According to various sources such as this one, if you can't make it to Switzerland with $500+ in your pockets, you won't be able to buy one.
Glass Harmonica
The glass harmonica was invented in 1761 by Benjamin Franklin (yes, that one). The basic principle of this instrument is pretty much the same as when you run the tip of your (previously wet) finger in a glass or a cup: the friction will make a sound, and the size of the echo chamber (the emptiness within the glass) will determine the pitch of the note. Putting that together with a pedal-driven mechanism similar to old sewing machines, Benjamin was able to devise an instrument with a nice, comforting feel to it, something that produces a fulfilling background to any piece.
Oddly enough, rumors had it that playing glass harmonica was getting yourself a curse, back in the days. Apparently, the glasses' material - lead glass - slowly penetrated the player's skin, which eventually would poison him. Because of these rumors and deaths, the instrument's popularity decreased, and composers stopped writing pieces to be played with it. Only in the middle of the twentieth century the glass harmonica had its revival, being reinvented by Gerhard B. Finkenbeiner. Nowadays, it's usage is relatively common in avant garde contemporary music.
Stay tuned for part two, where more oddities will arise!
Emulation
The Red Special has always been one of my musical fetishes. The only thing that kept me from buying one was the fear that it would not be versatile enough - it seems to possess a clear (hard) rock register, and to inevitably make everything you play sound like Queen. The only guitar player I know who regularly uses one is Felix Rodriguez from The Sounds (I've seen them live recently - definitely not my cup of tea), and, in spite of the long chain of effects that he often employs, the Red Special timbre is still clearly noticeable. This brings me to this guy:
It's amazing how close to a certain guitar player you can sound, just by employing the same kind of gear. Of course the technique is even more important, and this guy does it really well; but just listen to the first chord - doesn't it really sound like "Tie your mother down" from the beginning? For certain much more than this guy:
He's playing it correctly, but the final result sounds much... paler than the original.
And, finally, the coup de grâce - a much more obscure piece of music, called "Brighton Rock Solo", a live version of the "wall of guitars" technique, that overlays different notes in a canon-like way. The result will never sound as good with any other guitar:
Unique, no?
:papercutz at CCVF (Guimaraes, Portugal)
Led by Bruno Miguel, this experimental electronic pop band got to my ears very recently, and, out of the blue, I got a chance to see their act live yesterday. Their very interesting sonority and depth has been noticed by Myspace and Vodafone's "Ones to watch" event in the past year, and the presence in the alternatively famous South By Southwest festival increased their fan base to some extent. So, I was quite curious to see if they would be able to bring the mood of Lylac - their debut album - to the (small) stage.
The act was set up by the usual live crew: Bruno Miguel behind the keyboards, samplers and effects and acting as a back voice, Marcela Freitas as the lead singer and Bruno R. playing classical guitar, bass, xylophone and handling some synthesizers. There was some lack of organization within the whole set list display, probably due to the understandable stress and lack of experience. Also, they had some real trouble with the overall sound - most of the times the bass was so pumped up it felt like a lousy trance festival, and at some point they even opted to repeat a song. But these were the bad parts, which I can't blame the band itself for: one can't expect to have a U2-like show on a low budget / few years of live experience, right?
Now for the good things. They really have something good going there. After the first songs (and the first problems) I remember thinking something like Let's just hope they can make it to the second or third album and this will be huge and throughout the show the songs just kept on getting better. Marcela's voice was almost pitch perfect in every song, and it seemed like she really was enjoying the whole thing, bringing happiness to the hard-to-please audience; Bruno seemed a bit worried as the sound issues became clearer but showed he was able to handle the leading role; Bruno's guitar and bass playing were quite impressive (I'm wondering if he has some background as a classical musician, as the technique he displayed was far from the obvious self-taught player). "Do Outro Lado Do Espelho" and "Ultravioleta" were the most beautiful moments of the night, combining Portuguese lyrics with a Lamb-like ambiance and a beautifully crafted set of vocals.
So, to sum it up, Bruno's work entertains, allows us to drift and is setting a new high on many fields in the Portuguese music scene. It's almost impossible not to find Lylac a very attractive album, and I'm quite certain that the charisma, attitude and boldness of their live displays will be boosted with time. I'm hoping to see them in a year and check that!
:papercutz's myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/papercutzed
:papercutz's Lylac first single, "Ultravioleta": http://vimeo.com/1143816
