Visiting harpist a wandering minstrel

Press, 27 September 1988, Page 6

Visiting harpist a wandering minstrel

By

KAY FORRESTER

At home he is the village chimney sweep, guest housekeeper and occasional carpenter. On tour he is a wandering minstrel. Malcolm Wood packs his Celtic harp and his collection of songs and compositions when he travels. His home is Buckfastleigh in Britain’s Devon, but his music has taken him to Europe, Canada and New Zealand. The tall, bearded Englishman is in Christchurch at the beginning of a tour of upper South Island towns. He knows well the harp he plays — he made it. The instrument, made of cherry wood, is a copy of a thirteenth century Irish and Scottish instrument. It has semi tone tops, an addition dating from sixteenth century Austria, which allows Wood to change the harp’s key. The strings of the harp are made from nylon, the same strings that classical harpists use for orchestra instruments. Wood says he is not a classical musician. He prefers the label, early musician. He plays “in the Bardic tradition,” combining traditional Celtic tunes and those he has himself.

He had some lessons from a classical harpist when he began playing the instrument but really taught himself ' about harps by making them. The one he has brought to New Zealand is about the twentieth he has made. One or two ended up as firewood because the balance was not right. The rest he has sold. It takes about a month to make a harp on commission, although he took three months on the one he has with him. It bears a carving of a Celtic symbol. The harps are a “nice portable size,” about 1.2 m tall at the tallest point, and he plays his using a small stool stand, sitting down. Wood is also a singer and has been a member of King Stag and the Monarchs and A Rare Spread, two music groups. As well as the harp, he plays the guitar. The “semi-professional” musician last visited New Zealand in 1974. Oh this latest trip, to such places as Ohoka, Takaka and Bullock Creek, he will play his own music and that of Robert Burns and the eighteenth century Irish harper, Turlough O’Carolan. On Sunday he will play at the Summgr Times “Spring’s Here" concert in tae Botanic Gardens.