Well - actually it's called "Quiero ser tu sombra" (wanna be your shadow), apparently by Hector Quattromanos and Zulema Alcayaga. I first heard this piece on the web, and learned it from there, complete with the wrong title! Anyway, apologies to Hector and Zulema! It's such a great piece - I love the slinkiness of it (if that's not a word, it is now). The Paraguayan harp is amazing - the sound on this recording is just noise-reduced, no other audio treatment - you can hear the sparkly treble and deep bass. The harp has guitar-type tuners (machine heads) which can be a bit fiddly near the middle of the harp, where it curves inwards. You hardly have to touch the strings to make it work - and when you play loud, the strings have the characteristic "twang" which you can use for special effects. I bought it at the Stamford Harp Festival and there's a rolled-up banknote in the end of the harp at the top - I can't get it out so who knows what it's worth! Apparently people would put banknotes in between the strings or into the top, as a tip. If you're a harpist, you might spot that the strings don't follow the conventional colours because Paraguayan harps have the C string in blue, and the F string in red, the reverse of other harps.
I'm playing it in my annex, which was a bakery serving the local houses, built around 1790 - that's the bread oven in the stone wall behind me. This is another of my late-night recordings, and it's the first complete take - so there's the odd rough bit.
The arrangement and video is my copyright. You are welcome to learn and play the arrangement if you like it - but please credit me if you play it in public. If you like it, I'll post more music.
The video was recorded using a 3-CCD camera direct to hard disk, and I used Cool Edit Pro to noise reduce the audio and Adobe Premiere Pro for picture correction. If you want a higher-quality file to download and put on your computer, leave me a message and I'll send you the link.
Tags: Partida Venezuela Venezuelan Paraguayan Harp Music
