Part 1: Janet Harbison - Music Telling the Story of Our History

moonoverthetrees.com https://www.janetharbisonharp.com/Janet Harbison is one of the most well respected celebrators of the Irish Harp and Traditional Irish Music. She has had a profound influence on the harp and trad community teaching some of the most well known harp players in the tradition like Grainne Hambly, Michael Rooney, and Laoise Kelly.Her new solo album, “By Strangford Water” is a collection of Janet’s compositions. The one you are hearing in the background is the title track from the album. A meditation on the country and landscape of Northern Ireland. There is also a companion book of the compositions on this album available on Janet’s website. Janet and I covered quite a bit of information in our chat so I decided to break this interview into two parts. In this episode we discuss her new album, her development of courses to train teachers of traditional Irish music, Northern Ireland during Brexit and COVID, the history of the Belfast harp Orchestra as well as her involvement in the peace process in Northern Ireland. In Part 2 of this interview we’ll get into her relationship with Camac harps and the story behind the making of the Camac “Janet” harp and other interesting topics.