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44 albums · 1945–2023

The harp, from the concert hall and jazz to Ireland, Wales and the plains of South America

· 1 min read · by 1001 Albums

The Trinity College harp, a small dark wooden harp with a curved neck and a carved forepillar, in a glass case in the Long Room
Ismael Ledesma in a dark suit standing beside his Paraguayan harp on a stageA gilded pedal harp by Érard standing on a carpet in a library, plates on the shelves behind
The Trinity College harp, made in the fourteenth or fifteenth century, in the Old Library of Trinity College, Dublin. Photo: JackGavin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. · Ismael Ledesma and his Paraguayan harp, 2015. Photo: Lety Peralta, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. · A pedal harp Sébastien Érard's firm made in 1845, in the library of Lotherton Hall, Leeds. Photo: Richard Avery, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The harp has many forms. The pedal harp of the orchestra took its modern shape when Sébastien Érard patented the double action in Paris in 1810. The harps of Ireland, Wales and Brittany are smaller and have no pedals, and the harp brought to South America became the Paraguayan harp and the arpa llanera of Venezuela and Colombia.

In the concert hall the list has Lily Laskine, Nicanor Zabaleta, Osian Ellis, Xavier de Maistre and Catrin Finch. Dorothy Ashby played bebop and soul jazz on the harp, Alice Coltrane played it on Journey in Satchidananda, and Joanna Newsom sang to hers on Ys. Alan Stivell began the revival of the Celtic harp in Brittany in 1971; Félix Pérez Cardozo and Luis Bordón play the harp of Paraguay, and Juan Vicente Torrealba and Hugo Blanco the arpa llanera.

The list has 44 records from 1945 to 2023; some concert records are later collections, dated by the years the catalogues give them. The kora and the harmonica have lists of their own, and records where a harp plays in the orchestra or behind a singer are left out. About 38 hours of music, 4 days of a few records each.

What it sounds like

Marinera cusqueña, on the harp of CuscoAlejandro Huaman Quispe, harp, recorded in 2024

Recording: WBDelgadoL, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

By genre

World 42%Classical 16%Jazz 8%Other 34%
  • World 42%
  • Classical 16%
  • Jazz 8%
  • Other 34%

The genres named most: harp, classical, jazz, folk, paraguayan, joropo.

The colours of the covers

A stripe for each cover, in the colour Tidal picks from it, sorted by hue; the greys at the end.

Where the music comes from

Music from 15 countries: United States 10, United Kingdom 8, France 6, Paraguay 4, Venezuela 3 and 10 more. The deeper the colour, the more albums: one, two to four, five to nine, ten and more.

The 1940s

The 1950s

The 1960s

The 1970s

The 1980s

The 1990s

The 2000s

The 2010s

The 2020s

More lists

Lists of Instruments first, then others; all of them on the blog. The blog.

29 albums · 1976–2024

The kora of Mali, the harp-lute of the jeli

· 1 min read

The kora is the harp-lute of the jeli, the griots of Mali, Guinea, Senegal and the Gambia: 21 strings over a large calabash covered in cowhide, played with the thumbs and forefingers of both hands.

World 89%Blues 3%Classical 3%Other 5%
  • World 89%
  • Blues 3%
  • Classical 3%
  • Other 5%

Read and see the list