PROFILES IN GREATNESS: EDMAR CASTANEDA
October 26, 2009
Harp Virtuoso Edmar Castaneda
Once in a while, someone comes along who seems to be born with strings attached to their hands… not because they are a marionnette, but because they have a unique gift for playing the harp.
Edmar Casteneda, born in Bogota, Columbia, started playing the harp at age 13. Today, he is one hot item in the music scene. Castaneda has become one of the world’s biggest “jazz assets” and is really putting the harp on the map in the jazz world. If only I liked jazz! Strange that even though I don’t really care for jazz music, I still enjoy listening to Edmar play. How can I help it? He is astonishing. He plays that thing like nobody’s business.
I commented on him having “strings attached to his hands,” because Edmar has a pronounced damping technique that fascinates me. In the video below you can see some of this extraordinary technique. I can’t help thinking that his style of playing could lend itself to some really hot pop rock music. If he wanted to “stoop” to that level, he could blow the top off some nice rock band, hehe! Watch the video below and just imagine it for a second!
Another thing that interests me is why all this innovative harp stuff is coming out of South America. Perhaps it has something to do with the Paraguayan harps having more of a tradition of ensemble playing, whereas the pedal harp, which doesn’t lend itself as well to playing with others due to transportation hassles, is more prevalent in the north. Just a theory. Someone can correct me, naturally.
Here’s another thing that gets my goat. Why should a kinda bad version of a rock song played on the harp get 450,000 hits on YouTube, and Edmar only gets 46,000? See, if he played rock music, I think all that would change. I’m only half kidding… I suppose there is more general interest in “pop” music on the part of the masses. But that’s why I’d love to see what Edmar could do in that realm. A little pop connection could bring a whole new world of listeners into his realm of appreciation.
But for now, he is a preeminent, much loved jazz harpist and his musical preferences are not likely to change.
So in the meantime, check out another example of his amazing jazz chops:
And if you like that, see his new album, read his biography, and check out sample recordings here.
Wow.
