with Johannes Geworkian Hellman, who demonstrates his own techniques and compositions on this unusual instrument. Visit: www.johannesgew... for more of Johannes' music. Find us on facebook: / thestringdom Recorded: Stockholm, May 2017.
I cant believe in my 70th year I discover yet another jaw drop instrument.Like a lot of my generation I new the name Hurdy Gurdy from Donavon but my loss, I didn't search it out, Never to late.Thank you so much for posting this.Beautiful
Many Legs thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it! Im trying to strike a balance between the nuts-and-bolts of the instrument and then some interesting history and performance. Usually I keep it to around 15 mins but I'm sure you'll agree Johannes' performance was so awesome I just couldn't cut it. Thanks for watching!
Your instrument is the best version I have seen and heard so far. You play so beautifully. Thank you for giving me such a great example of what this instrument can do.
@@mosart7025 It was a big hit record. It's probably the major reason anybody is here in the first place. Too bad he can't even spell Donovan correctly.
i always loved the hurdy gurdy since i was a child, and we used to go to festivals and that one particular instrument would catch my ears, and i would escape my mom's side and go have a listen, and my mom tried to get one for me, but her and my brother searched the world over for a piece of music on tape for me, they found the band donovan which had that song "the hurdy gurdy man" and a few other songs which i only played that one song over and over my whole life, and i was hooked, as i grew up the money got more and more tighter for me to think about getting one, so i never got the chance, and always searched for videos that instrument
I'm not even gonna guess how much his hurdy gurdy must have cost. If I ever win the lotery, I'll probably buy one similar to his (the special wheel actions are pretty nice).
Hurdy Gurdy is a fantastic instrument. And you got one of my fav players for this Video. Johannes plays with so much love and has a fascinating technic. Last year I saw him live and it was very wonderful. 😍
I have never seen a hurdy gurdy played in person. I would not even know about this instrument if it weren't for Donovan's "Hurdy Gurdy Man" which, ironically, has no hurdy gurdy in it. What a bizarre and interesting instrument. I'm curious though, how could a peasant or common person of the era even afford such an instrument? It looks like a lot of time, skill, and knowledge goes into making one.
even a sword that cost the equivalent of a car was very common in medieval times due to the number of blacksmiths cranking them out. there were a lot of people making instruments so there was a lot of basic models and a lot of used ones that even a peasant could get. plus the instruments would have been passed down in the players family. it was the ones that were engraved or made from certain woods for the players that entertained nobles or the player was a noble that cost a fortune. what makes even a basic hurdy gurdy cost 1300 bucks today is there are very few makers in the world and even with mass production techniques they do not make enough to flood the market ones turning up on the used market.
That's off the chain. A million rappers with a million producers in a million studios with a million dollars couldn't manufacture 5 seconds worth of music of equal quality to this hurdy gurdy mayne.
First time that I ever heard of one of these it was mentioned in captains courageous played by the character that befriends a young boy on a fishing boat. It was called a whirley gig in the book though.
You're killing me! I just sold my floor loom & dropped a goodly amount on a double strung folk harp. I've got to find one of these! (Probably find someone ELSE who has purchased a hurdy gurdy! I don't think I can afford TWO expensive folk instruments... Esp. As I haven't learned how to play, yet!
Nice Interview i like it , i love this instrument and i hope that i can play it one day , by the way i love the song that you have played Johannes , really a good job
Really versatile instrument in the right hands, it seems! Amazing how much a stringed instrument can sound like pipes (uillean pipes specifically, to my ear) How does he achieve such precise rhythmic buzzing at speed? Is it really just altering the speed of cranking the handle? It seems impossible if that's the case. When he brought his voice in, playing his song, it really reminded me of Tigran Hamasyan. I wonder if he's a fan...
Hello! Thanks for your comment. Of course I am a big fan of Tigran.. And I am also half-armenian (armenian just as Tigran) - and really like the influences from the armenian traditional music. He is an incredible musician.. All the buzzing rythms are made with the right hand touch the crank, as you wrote. All the best to you!
@@JohannesGeworkianHellman Thanks for the reply! Wow, to know that the buzzing comes solely from the crank speed makes your playing all the more impressive! I'm lucky I saw your comment! RU-vid didn't show me I had a reply, I just happened to return to this video to listen again :) Thanks for your wonderful music!
You gotta be if you want to play one, they're such fussy technical instruments even the tiniest adjustment can alter the sound. They're beautiful instruments and the people who play them are so passionate about them~
A wonderful musician and a teacher... just discovered Hurdy Gurdy recently and could not have found a better introduction. Thank you Johannes and Stringdom - please keep teaching and sharing!
Bowed instruments were introduced in to Europe about 1000 years ago from the Middle East. The hurdy gurdy followed soon after. The muslims got violin like instruments from the khans who in turn got them from China.
Way more complex and earthy than what most stringed instruments provide...I'm going to Guitar Center in my town to point and laugh at the locals chunking out their garbage on electric guitar...
Paul Puljic Well, at Guitar Center you are not likely to hear much virtuosity, or even musical nuance of any kind, but don’t condemn the incredible instrument that is the electric guitar. Right instrument, wrong venue.
Such a beautiful, complex instrument. I fell in love with the hurdy gurdy the first moment I was introduced to it!!! So now I have two favorite instruments, bag pipes and hurdy gurdy!!! And each individual hurdy gurdy that I've seen has been different, from any others I've seen and each a beautiful work of art!!!
What a fascinating instrument! So many layers to it! I'm overwhelmed by all the plethora of sounds you can make with a single instrument - a creative person's dream - the possibilities are limitless.....
Wolfgang Weichselbaumer's instruments (as seen here) are a lot more innovative and elaborate than most hurdy gurdies. Most of the older instruments, which can still be excellent, don't have that many strings and often lack the capos. Also alto and tenor instruments are a 21st century development.
What an insane trompette technique, people who never held a Gurdy don't realize how hard it is to get the buzzing to sound so consistent e perfectly timed
História da música vai muito longe, é importantes os moldes de instrumentos a seus criadores é músicos ,Tem perfeitas novidades que surpreende os sons.
The buzzing is based on the speed the crank is turned, above a certain speed, the notes buzz. Normal playing turns the crank at just below that threshold, so that even the slightest twitch of the fingers on the crank-turning hand puts the string over the threshold and starts the buzzing. What baffles me is how somebody in medieval times came up with such a novel mechanism.
Johannes explains it from 7:05 onward. The wooden bridges are not fixed on the instruments and they move when you add an impulse while turning. So you basically lift them a bit and then they slam down on their support, which creates the buzzing.
If you still don't really understand the buzzing, Patty Gurdy (also here on youtube) has one video about it. Check it out! She explains the buzzing in more detail than here.
Hurdy gurdies are not mass produced, you have to buy them from a luthier. Names of luthiers to look up would be Sebastian Hillsman, Walter Simons, Barneby Walters, Helmut Gotschy/Alexandra Betz, Claire Dugue, Wolfgang Weichselbaumer, Denis Siorat, Philippe Mousnier, Jaime Rebollo.
Finns det någonstans i Stockholm där man kan få prova på vevlira? Jag är väldigt intresserad, har bara erfarenhet av kinesiska instrument men är fascinerad av vevliran.
violinist and guitarists spend years mastering technique to coax the best sound out of their instrument. hurdy gurdy players tinker and modify things to perfect their sound.
Hehe.. Yes.. Regarding hurdy-gurdy it is a combination of both of course. Would some times be really nice to play an instrument that did not demand so much adjustments to have the "best" sound out of it.. But thats the game with hurdy-gurdy more or less. All the best!
So is this where the term "organ grinder" came from or is that some other instrument? Anyway, it is a very strange one indeed and it looks extremely complicated. Sounds pretty neat in the right hands of course.
Yeah, I've been watching a number of hurdy gurdy videos and I'm amazed. I've only heard what I'll call "european" music and heavy metal, but I'm convinced any genre at all can be played on the hurdy gurdy.
