Join us ONLINE, Sunday 15 December, 4–6 pm, Irish time for our Harpers' Gathering community social time, hosted by HHSI volunteer, Barbara Karlik. Come and enjoy harp-related talk, share your projects and progress, and try out tunes you want to play in front of a small, very supportive audience.
From 5–6 pm, enjoy an informal interview with traditional Burmese harpists Htike Aung Kyaw and Ko Ko Naing (Koon), who will join us live from Bangkok, Thailand. They are performers on the saung gauk, the Burmese harp, a courtly high status instrument with a continuous tradition spanning at least 1500 years. Htike and Koon studied the saung gauk at Yangon National University of Arts and Culture under U Win Kyaw, a leading harpist in Myanmar today. They perform in traditional ceremonies, present school outreach activities, and were assistant teachers at Yangon National University. They have also given presentations on the saung gauk for World Harp Day, and for Acadamh na gCláirseach – Academy of Early Irish Harp.
Currently based in Bangkok, Htike and Koon run an online academy offering saung gauk tuition. In Myanmar, they founded a music school teaching saung gauk and other traditional instruments, and ran a free-of-charge community program called 'Happy Harpies', which introduced children to Burmese music and culture to encourage them to love and value cultural diversity, especially music, culture and art.
Watch a video of Koon and Htike performing on the saung gauk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEbA6mdaoxU
Follow this link to register for this FREE event:
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUpc-mopjIjH9PWy0n3jb5L_3iGR3o5d2fk
When you register, you will receive a personalized Zoom link to join.