Caroline Phillips cranks out tunes on a seldom-heard folk instrument: the hurdy-gurdy, a.k.a. the wheel fiddle. A searching, Basque melody follows her fun lesson on its unique anatomy and 1,000-year history.
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Thanks for this. I'd often heard the term "hurdy-gurdy", but I never really knew what it meant until now.
I've been waiting for this since 1968, when I first heard Donovan's "Hurdy Gurdy Man". It's been 42 years. So? I'm a patient man.
Thank you for posting this; I've heard a fair amount of Basque music, but I don't think I've heard any on the hurdy-gurdy.
You can also hear a hurdy-gurdy in some of Loreena McKennitt's songs.
An unusual instrument, unique to Basque music, is the txalaparta. It's the thing that looks like a giant xylophone being played by two guys.
Another for hurdy gurdy fans:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04cKuOZo1jc
It starts off rather slowly, but then really demonstrates what the instrument is capable of. Unfortunately, the camera is in a fixed position.
I hope it is alright to promote also other less familiar but great sounding ancient instruments.
Here is a great piece of modern ethno/folk using hurdy gurdy from the Swedish band Hedningarna (pagans), a kind of modern samanistic experience:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzpOJiYR1tA&feature=related
The instrument in the left was a Swedish nyckelharpa (keyed violin). More on that from the Finnish folk/ethno/pop/jazz/whatever super group Värttinä, a nice nyckelharpa solo at the middle:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jCn8uswRXg&feature=related
Ok - now that you were also introduced to Finnish Kantele you want to hear more (I hope):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EdlF0GcGT8&feature=related
Back to a little older incarnation of Hedningarna, when the Swedish guys were accompanied by two Finnish ladies - and a really primitive violin like Finnish instrument Jouhikko, great sound:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2QaDFwEx9A