In the last days I met a great musician in a street of my town Genoa, he plays an instrument which name is 'Hammered Dulcimer', it is like a 'cembalo', but not the instrument with the piano like keys, he plays a more ancient model in wich the metal strings have to be 'hammered' using wood stiks, it is the ancestor of the medieval or renaissence 'cembalo' and of the modern Piano.
I bought two CD from him and they are totally worth the € expenditure. The music of Vince Conaway is built on ancient Italian medieval musical themes and Celtic themes, I find his instrument, his work and his music absolutely astonishing!
I'm very honoured to have came to know him and his music, he reminded me how beautiful were the Ancient Italian Romance Sounds!
Here some videos and the link to his site, please dear friend try to explore it, this man is a great musician, an educated man with a great knowledge about ancient Romance Music, and his instrument is really magnificent!!!
Here Mr.Conaway in Rome (2009 now Vincent knows how to pronounce the sweet Italian 'C' of the word 'Cembalo' ):
Here in my town Genoa (2008):
St Louis Renaissence Fair (2007):
Maryland Renaiisence Festival (2007):
Wow! nice! I use to play the Dulcimer (yangqin The Chinese one) until I moved down to Florida. Maintaining this instrument was a little annoying with the strings breaking once in the while and having to replace them and fixing up all that stuff/ tuning it again so it sounds good. These videos are really interesting to me due to all the different types of dulcimers.
Anyways, maybe the team can use some Medieval 1 Total War Music + Viking Invasion?
Good luck to the Devs!
Last edited by BroskiDerpman; September 27, 2012 at 03:23 PM.
Well dear friends, following my drawing activity on Deviant about Langobard and Merovingian world, I'm living a phase of great revaluation of the Germanic Civilization before and after the so called Fall of the West, so, because the ancient godess called Fortuna frequently helps the honest spirits, yesterday in the late night I discoverd on TV, the Swedish and Finnish Folk Music and a magnificent universe of beautiful sounds opened its gates to me.......so today, after a quick search on the Net, I've found a good link, it's a site of a man who produces and plays these wonderful instruments: 'Kate & Corwen Homepage' here some youtube videos:
Bowed Lyre ~ Finnish Jouhikko."The Jouhikko is the name given to a distinctively Finnish type of bowed lyre, though it resembles in some ways types of Baltic Psaltery from further east such as the Slav Gusli, and types of psaltery/lyre hybrids found in the archaeological record from Novgorod, Opole etc. It may be descended from these instruments rather than from the Round Lyre, strictly speaking this would make it a bowed psaltery rather than a bowed lyre, but whether a psaltery with a hand hole should be re-categorised as a lyre is a matter for musicologists..."
Trossingen Lyre (Alamannic VI century Lyre)."Alamannic Warrior Lyre. Based on the recent find of a sixth century lyre in a warrior's grave in Trossingen, Germany. This is a practical and surprisingly loud accompanying instrument which can be strummed with a plectrum (blocking the strings one doesn't want to hear in the manner of an Autoharp) or picked harp style. The deep opening for the hands allows both the octave and fifth harmonics to be reached."
Bowed Lyre ~ Shetland Gue. "It seems that the bowed lyre spread from Scandinavia with Viking colonists, and was taken to the Scottish Islands, many of which were until comparitively recently culturally much more Nordic than Celtic. The bowed lyre survived longest on Shetland, where it was known as late as the 1800s as the Gue. Eventually it was rendered obsolete by the fiddle, and fell out of use. No physical examples survive but written accounts describe it as being played upright between the knees (in the manner of the Baltic Lyres), as having two horse-hair strings, and as being played for weddings and other celebrations."
Baltic Psalteries
"The Finnish Kantele and its relatives (Estonian Kannel, Latvian Kankle, Lithuanian Kokle, Slav Gusli) are ancient members of the zither family. Archeologists have found examples basically identical to modern instruments in deposits dated to around a thousand years ago, though this type of instrument is believed by many experts to be significantly older than that, and may even date back to the Bronze Age. There are written references to the Gusli from the 6th century AD. It may be relat4ed to similar instruments played by other Finno-Ugric peoples such as the Khanty-Mansi instrument known as a Nares-Juh. If this is the case then since these language groups diverged more than 2000 years ago the instrument may be very ancient indeed.
These psalteries have been strung variously with horsehair, gut, sinew or metal. The Novgorod Gusli's were found in association with metal wire, whilst the pegs of some early instruments from elsewhere show little signs of wear, suggesting gut or horsehair was used. Ancient Finnish poetry recounts how the first wooden Kantele was strung with tailhair from the God Hiisi's stallion. Horsehair is the traditional Finnish string material. I tend to string kantele with steel and guslis with nylgut, though I can use red brass or horsehair on request. The horsehair strung kantele in particular is a very useful instrument with a rich bass tone when played amplified. Baltic Psaltery ~ Kantele Finland and Estonia are close neighbours, with linguistic and cultural links. Their national instruments are similar too, with only minor differences between the Kantele and the Kannel (basically the number of strings, usually 5 in Finland and 6 in Estonia, though more strings is common even in old instruments in both countries). In ancient Finland and Estonia each household had an instrument. The Kantele was believed to have magical properties, and it was played for the ill, for its healing powers. It was said that no-one would die in a house while someone was playing. Before nightfall a Kantele would be carried around the outside of the house, or held up before each door and window , since its very presence was a powerful force against evil. It was considered best to make a new instrument just after the death of a loved one, as something of their soul would come to inhabit it and give it power."
Bone Flutes
"The bone flute is the most common musical instrument found in Viking and Anglo-Saxon archaeological contexts."
Prillar Horn "This is a cow horn trumpet with 3 fingerholes, a traditional instrument from Scandinavia. Horns with fingerholes date back to at least the 9th century. They are also know as Vallhorn."
Viking Panpipe "Archaeologists have now found several examples, from diverse periods and locations, of panpipes made from drilling out blocks of wood, rather than the more familiar construction of cane. Two of these instruments dated from the first century CE and were found in Switzerland and Germany. The third was found in the Viking layer of old York, in England. These boxwood Viking panpipes have become known as the Jorvik Panpipes, after the old name for York, Jorvik. This design of panpipe is still in use in Spain where they are associated with itinerant knife sharpeners"
You'll find much more on the fantastic site of Kate & Corwen - Ancient Music Ancient Instruments, here the site, please visit it it's very interesting:
Last silly comment by Diocle: The meeting between these sounds and the Greek-Roman sounds, it's not only the example of the clash of two different worlds and civilizations but IMHO it's much more........it's the Birth of our common European Culture as we know it.
Re: Mod Music
Originally Posted by Diocle
In the last days I met a great musician in a street of my town Genoa, he plays an instrument which name is 'Hammered Dulcimer', it is like a 'cembalo', but not the instrument with the piano like keys, he plays a more ancient model in wich the metal strings have to be 'hammered' using wood stiks, it is the ancestor of the medieval or renaissence 'cembalo' and of the modern Piano.):
These videos are really interesting to me due to all the different types of dulcimers.
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