Andrew Lawrence-King introduces the RENAISSANCE IRISH HARP

Celebrating World Harp Day... Ancient Irish legends and early medieval texts about metal-strung instruments refer to lyres, rather than triangular harps. The instrument we now know as the Irish harp, with a massive sound-box and thick brass wires, appears - together with its Gaelic name cláirseach (Irish) or clàrsach (Scottish) - in the late 14th century, probably brought from Scandinavia. The earliest surviving Irish harps are late 15th-century - the “Trinity College harp“ in Ireland and the “Queen Mary harp“ in Scotland. In this video, Andrew Lawrence-King plays a modern replica of the Queen Mary harp.