Once upon a time there was no music at all. Not a single note could be heard. All people could think about was food. A lot of food. Therefore it was necessary to hunt. By everyone. But there was one little hunter, Fransje, who didn’t want to hunt at all. It was no surprise at all that he was terrible at hunting. He always missed. Or maybe he missed on purpose, since he loved animals. But everytime he shot his bow, it made an amazing sound. So he put more and more strings on his bow. And when everyone was out hunting, Fransje sat on a rock and started plucking his strings. He made music. He started to drift away and all the animals in the woods came out to hear Fransje play. They lay on the floor in a huge circle, surrounding him. All the other hunters couldn’t find a single animal to hunt. That arrow and bow with strings, was the very first harp. That’s how the instrument came to be.
The Amsterdam based Stichting Leerorkest gives children, who normally aren’t given the option to do so, the opportunity to learn how to play musical instruments and perform together during school hours. In cooperation with artistic leader Remy van Kesteren and Dutch Harp Festival a new harp for the young harpists was designed by Joris Beets. The instrument will be presented by these youngsters during the festival.
