Cool YouTube Video Reviews

Geamparalele Romania mouthharp

I didn't even know this instrument existed until I stumbled across it while searching for recordings of Romanian Geamparalele, which is a type of Romanian Dance in 7/8.

In this video, Trio Polifonic play a Geamparalele on 3 moutharps - a traditional sized chromatic one (i.e one that plays in more than one key), a Bsss Harmonica and what looks like a Contra-bass Harmonica.

The resulting sound is pretty amazing, with a very unexpected mellow tone to the instruments. As with many Romanian traditional musicians, the playing is of an extremely high standard - these pieces are hard to play at the best of times.

A bit of research shows that there are only a few makers of this instrument - Hohner and Huang being the main ones.

This video is worth having a look at just for the sheer novelty value of it!

And if you're interested in finding out more about Bass Harmonica, check out the Danny Wilsons Bass Harp 101 page here.