Comments on: bwaaangg-boing-boing

bwaaangg-boing-boing

flapjax at midnite — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 08:16:54 -0800

genggong, khomus, guimbarde, trumpi... Not ringing a bell? How about Jew's Harp? Though neither a harp nor associated with Jewish tradition, that's the name that stuck in the New World. Call it what you will, this ingenious little instrument is played all over the planet. It's the focus of at least one yearly festival, and there's no shortage of great players out there twanging and boinging away. The instrument has a looong history stretching from antiquity to house music. In certain parts of the world its playing is the province of women only, and yes, they've been known to make the camels cry. Unsurprisingly, they've found their way onto the beloved YouTube in extreme close-up glory. BOINNNNGGG!! (Note: some links go direct to bwaaaang-y audio or video)

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 08:26:25 -0800

I used to carry one around just so I could make a BOOIINNGG noise when needed. Great instrument. I need to buy another one.

By: thanotopsis

thanotopsis — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 08:32:55 -0800

As a kid, some of my best TV memories were of watching Snoopy play this while riding on a bus.

By: ijoshua

ijoshua — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 08:35:42 -0800

I always thought it was a "juice harp." They sure are fun to play, though. When you get the resonance just right, it vibrates your entire skull.

By: dersins

dersins — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 08:41:21 -0800

These guys had about half a dozen different juice harps that they played when I saw them in 1999. Pretty damn amazing, especially in conjunction with throat-singing.

By: hortense

hortense — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 09:05:58 -0800

obligatory link to Clayton Bailey and his fantastic collection

By: Ekim Neems

Ekim Neems — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 09:36:35 -0800

I helped train myself the Tuvan/Mongolian art of throat singing with a Jew's Harp.

By: QuietDesperation

QuietDesperation — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 09:44:49 -0800

via Boing Boing?

By: leapfrog

leapfrog — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 10:03:15 -0800

No mention of the Jew's harp is complete without bringing up J.M. Nasim's Psychedelic Jew's Harp project.

By: pax digita

pax digita — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 11:58:48 -0800

The local pawn shop that specializes in musical instruments is run by a Jewish couple, and I'm wondering if there's some other name by which I can ask for one of these?

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 12:39:11 -0800

Fun post flapjax at midnite. Amused by juice harp. Had no idea the link between the Jews Harp and throat singing. Enjoyed the Psychedelic Jew's Harp music by Nasim, thanks leapfrog.

By: 8 Bit

8 Bit — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 12:49:04 -0800

great post. love the jew's harp. there is a de la soul song that has a jew's harp sample, i believe on "stakes is high." i'd like to know how often the jew's harp comes into play in hip hop.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 12:55:49 -0800

The local pawn shop that specializes in musical instruments is run by a Jewish couple, and I'm wondering if there's some other name by which I can ask for one of these? Don't worry. It's no more offensive than the plant that's called the wandering jew. It's not like the instrument is called a sheeny harp.

By: redteam

redteam — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 14:04:21 -0800

Yay! I love my jew's harp. A nice big "BOOOOIIIIINNNGG" on the phone is a sure-fire way to get the person on the other line to say "WTF". It's also great to have around when a soundsystem turns off. I call it my acoustic 303.

By: zoinks

zoinks — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 14:25:11 -0800

Daniel Higgs - Magic Alphabet

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 16:52:16 -0800

"No mention of the Jew's harp is complete without bringing up J.M. Nasim's Psychedelic Jew's Harp project." No mention of the Jew's harp is complete, period. There's such an enormous amount of traditions, styles and players out there! As it happens, I did know about Nasim: I think his stuff is cool. Thanks for posting the link to him! I was assuming that there'd be lots of links included in comments on this thread, which is half the fun of maing comments! Thanks to everyone so far for posting additional jaw harp links. I'm hoping for more! Well, here's one to a fantastic player from India, Bharadwaj.

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 23:12:34 -0800

Oh wow flapjax, amazing jews harp music from Bharadwaj! AMAZING. More Nasim. Cute little video of a girl playing a jew's harp. Jew's harp accessories.Sound clip of a Kalahari mouth bow.

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 23:28:03 -0800

Another neat site, Aspiration, with some cool sound clips.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 00:14:30 -0800

"amazing jews harp music from Bharadwaj! AMAZING." ISN'T HE?! I mean, damn! Gotta get that CD of his. And lucky for us we get to hear so much of him on his site. And yeah, the mouth bow, you know, I was thinking of throwing some bow links onto my jaw harp post, since it's obviously related and all, and I'm a big fan of the instrument, but it would've gotten insane, what with the number of links. I'm thinking about doing a mouthbow post sometime, though. Speaking of bows, last time I was in the states I bought one, a really nice sounding, resonant, tunable one. From these folks. Actually, I got in touch with the guy making them and ordered one that's a bit shorter than the usual model, for easier portability. It sounds really good. Hey, and thanks for all the other links!

By: hoskala

hoskala — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 00:47:25 -0800

Hungarian jew's harps, very good quality and value for money. Buy a good harp, a real instrument, if you are interested in playing because most of the music stores sell only shitty toys capable of producing only a "BOINNNGG" without sustain or the harmonics that make this instrument truly interesting. (I've got about 20 of their harps.) Here is some Finnish "munniharppu"-music played by Tapani Varis.

By: hoskala

hoskala — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 01:04:21 -0800

Some Norwegian munnharpa playing. The oddest jews's harp record I've heard lately was made by Harvey Matusow of McCarthy-era "fame". (via WFMU)

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 18:50:40 -0800

Glad you liked the links flapjax. :) Thanks for your excellent additional links.Great to have the luxury of a long stretch of Bharadwaj music on his site. The Reeded MouthBow by Wayland Harman is both a beautiful, musical instrument to look at and good music. I like his playing at the 2000 Jew Harp Festival. Cool info hoskala!