Ortiz, A R: Llanos

The concert harp familiar to today's audiences has a long and fascinating history, and in this album Susann McDonald gives the listener a sense of the instrument's continuity. The harp goes as far back, in documented history, as 3000 B.C., in Mesopotamia and Egypt. The first European harps appeared in Ireland, where the harp is still considered the national instrument. The Irish harp, popular throughout the ages, was so easily portable that it became a favorite of bards in the courts of Europe. Among South American harps, the Paraguayan harp is the most sophisticated, standardized and popular. It is the official national instrument of Paraguay.