The sounds of khomus* in Amsterdam

V International Jew's-harp Congress took place in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on July 27-31, 2006. Yakutia was represented by Ivan Alexeev, Spiridon Shishigin , Albina Digtyareva's Ayarkhaan , young khomus players Kim Borisov and Anna Zhirkova.

The congress gathered 200 performers from about 30 countries of Europe, Asia, Africa and America . New stars rose out of China, Indonesia, and India. A remarkable fact. Before middle-aged men and elders tended to have a fancy for jew's-harps, now young players are engaged as well. Chinese and Vietnamese boys with an English girl made congress guests happy by their first-rate performance.

For three days and three nights, Amsterdam Jew's-harp Center hosted concerts, masterclasses, and the assembly of International Jew's-harp Association.

Amsterdam Jew's-harp Center is the pride of Dutchmen. To be sure! Today it is the biggest one in the world. A real palace! Within the precincts of the center, Mozart's compositions sounded in combination with electronic jew's-harp music. There is even such experimental practice. However, new-fashioned ideas didn't come to all Europeans' liking. Norwegians and Yakutians preferred to keep displaying century traditions.

By the way, about traditions. In the course of the congress, there was a special seminar arranged for jew's-harp producers. A young Dutch Stephen Stuup led that session. Then he invited Yakutian friends to visit his private workshop at home.

Jew's-harp music followers meet each other not only at festivals and congresses. They pay a friendly visit to each other and manage to make a documentary at the same time. For instance, in Amsterdam a Swiss musician Anton Bruhin demonstrated a film about voyages to the places of his Yakutian and Japanese colleagues. And Herd Conrad, head of the German affiliate of International Jew's-harp Center, presented two documentaries: ‘Spiridon Shishigin and His Friends' and ‘Ivan Alexeev and Spiridon Shishigin in Berlin '.

Previous International Jew's-harp Congresses took place in USA (1984), Russia ( Yakutsk , 1991), and Norway (2002). Next ones will be held in Hungary (2009) and Russia ( Yakutsk , 2012).

*Khomus is a Yakutian Jew's-harp

// 11.08.2006

Written by Kyuney Eremeeva.
Translated by YakutiaToday.Com