Where the Hurdy Gurdy Led
I heard hurdy gurdy music from the middle ages a couple of days ago. It was primal, passionate and invoked ancient body memories that provoked and seared the present moment with its power. I’ve searched the play lists online at WABE Public Radio, Atlanta, but haven’t yet found the piece of music I heard. I THOUGHT A HURDY GURDY WAS A BARREL ORGAN with a handle the organ grinder turned while his monkey passed the hat. It turns out this instrument was called a hurdy gurdy during the 18th century. The hurdy gurdy I was searching for is a different instrument. It’s sometimes called a wheel fiddle, is at least 800 years old and is having a resurgence. If you don’t know the instrument, you can see and hear it at this video link . The music is nicely rendered, but lacks the intensity of the performance I heard several days ago. My youtube search for hurdy gurdys took me to Eluveitie’s Inis Mona video . Inis means “island” in Gaelic. The island I saw in the video was familiar and the song emit...