THE PARAGUAYAN HARP
(El Arpa Paraguaya)
by: Carlos Raúl González Alborno
Por Carlos Raúl Gonzáles Alborno
(Nota: Este artículo fue publicado en Folk Harp Journal No.59, página 27,
invierno de l987)
Utilizado con autorización de
Carlos Raúl González Alborno
y
Bernardo Garcete Saldivar,
www.musicaparaguaya.org.py
#23 "The Paraguayan Harp"
It is good to remember the great contribution made by Jesuit priests in the Parana Basin. Among
those priests, I would like to mention in chronological orden, a priest from Belgium named Juan Vaseo, a music master teacher from Rudolph
II´s court, who came to the Paraguayan missions in 1610 and remained here until his death in 1623.
I must mention father Antonio Sepp, a very cultured man, who taught Guarani indians how to play the citara, organ, flute, trumpet,
guitar and the harp. Father Sepp built, in the Candelaria region, the first Paraguayan organ. In Yapeyú he built the First Paraguayan harps
now known throughout the world as the best sounding harp. The handcrafting was done with local wood entirely, copying the models brought
from Europe. Father Sepp was a German missionary born in Tirol in 1655, and after missioning for 41 years he died in San Juan, in 1733 (No
wonder a century and a half later in the same city of San Juan, Agustín Barrios Mangoré, the best Paraguayan guitar composer/player, was
born and started his marvelous career).
That was how everything started for us, Paraguayan harpists. Since then the harp became the
national instrument in Paraguay. Of course, the models changed year after year until the first half of our century, when the Paraguayan harp
got its particular shape and design. I understand that it is the only harp with strings coming out from the middle of the neck. Félix
Pérez Cardozo is responsible for this invention and for adding two more strings to the harp, now with 36 strings normally. Abel Sánchez
Jiménez raised it to 38 strings and added little "taquitos"(wooden rods) to make sharps by pressing strings against them. He also
built double-strung harps of 74 strings with naturals at one side and sharp notes at the other. Some harpists use 43 strings. Other harpists
use special devices to produce sharps. Nicolás Caballero plays sharps by pressing the string at the right place with the metal tuning key
and with a metal ring for fast chromatic scales. To play Paraguayan harps requires unique and specific techniques.
Paraguayan harps are tuned five halftones higher than classical harps thus having red strings as F
note and blue strings as B flat. (Sometimes C). There still is controversy on this issue, but I think we should go back to the international
set with red Cs and blue Fs.
Nowadays, different models by many makers are sent all over the world and I must say that the
Paraguayan harp is probably the most widely used internationally by players from all over the world. It has loud shiny sound used by many
Paraguayan groups "conjuntos" touring the world. I can name a lot of them, but this is probably a matter for other articles. The
truth is that not only Paraguayans play the Paraguayan harp. Kings, princesses, famous actors, etc. have started learning to play it. We now
have many Japanese, French, Dutch and German harpists who play professionally. One American harpist using a Paraguayan harp is Miss America
1985, Sharlene Wells, a beautiful girl from Utah who studied paraguayan harp since childhood and played and sang live for millions of
viewers at the Miss America Beauty Pageant, and won the contest. Paraguayans really scored by having such a wonderful woman play our
national instrument. We were very proud and we gave her a great reception when she came to Asunción shortly after she became Miss America.
Harpists, singers, famous composers, authorities, friends, etc., cheered her at her arrival.
That´s all for now. I hope I can send you more articles in the near future about the Paraguayan
harp, harpists, music, typical groups, and everything related to us.
For now, SO LONG and ROHAIHU.
Ver Carrito de Compras (CCNow)
