The Harp: No Tango Tourist | Creating an Authentic Tango Harp Voice
(2018)
author(s): Julie Rokseth
published in: Codarts
My Boldest Artistic Decision was to break convention and play the classical harp down the Tango line at Codarts. It was the nurturing at Codarts that let me to focus my Artistic Research on injecting the harp into Tango and discovering whether, and how the harp could sing with an authentic tango voice while also being able to give some of its own uniqueness upon the tradition. To make sure that the harp can become a real and organic tango instrument rather than being a “tango tourist”– a borrowed classical instrument that sometimes sits like a lovely guest but doesn’t actually belong.
This Artistic Research project has allowed me to show that the harp can sing with a voice that DOES belong in tango. The Harp: no tango tourist.