Nyckelharpa, what's that?

"What's that?", an often heard question when you're playing nyckelharpa. Like most people, I consider the nyckelharpa as a traditional Swedish musical instrument. The Grove Music Online defines the nyckelharpa as: "A bowed chordophone with a key mechanism, formerly known in England as ‘keyed fiddle’. Like the Hurdy-gurdy, the strings are stopped by tangents held in keys placed at right-angles to the neck and pressed by the fingers; they are played with a short hand-held bow, however, not with a rosined wheel."

Three different types of nyckelharpor:
Chromatic Nyckelharpa, Silverbasharpa and Moraharpa

History

The nyckelharpa has an intriguing background. Several hypothesises exist about its origin: is it brought from Germany, or perhaps from Belgium? Or is it truly a genuine Swedish 'invention'?

This page is still under construction!








Nyckelharpa in different languages:

Nyckelharpa – Sleutelviool – Keyed Fiddle – Nøkkelharpe – Никельхарпа – Schlësselharf – Avainviulu – 니켈하르파  – Schlüsselfiedel – Nøgleharpe – ニッケルハルパ – Viola de teclas