The Vollenweider - Harp

This instrument only exists once in the world! It has been created and modified by Andreas and is taylor made for his own way of performing with his personal sound.

The man with the harp!

For many years Andreas was a multi-instrumentalist. His passion was to collect instruments over the world and develop music from them as sounds floating in between these worlds. During one of those wanderings, he discovered a small harp and this became the basis for his typical music. It took some time however, until the instrument was developed sufficiently to suit the demands of the performer.

1980, with help from his long-standing soundengineer and technician Hanspeter Ehrsam, a special miniature microphone system was invented and gradually perfected. With these mics, each string of the harp was individually picked up and woven into the sound. The system which continues to being used to the present day, has proven to be most reliable. Furthermore Andreas worked meticulously on a damper, which enabled him to play short and percussive notes as well as create his typical groove patterns. This was was a decisive factor for the rhythmically accentuated music. “…if the element of 'grooving' would have been missing, the harp would have never become my most important companion…” says Andreas. Currently Hanspeter Ehrsam is collaborating with AVAF's long-standing technician Philipp Scheidegger on a new instrument, which is based on the same harp model “Daphne”, by manufacturer SALVI. This will be developed on the well-tried and reliable version in use.

More details about Andreas' harp as also his array of exotic instruments will appear at a later stage with fotos and videos.

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