I enjoy playing harps in a variety of styles. I love music from the earliest to the latest, drawing from Asian and Western sources. Moreover, I perform on instruments ranging from the concert harp to the Angular Harp (called Kugo in Japan), a very ancient type of harp.
The kugo has an L-shaped body but no front pillar. It arose in Mesopotamia around 1900 BC and soon spread to other regions of the Near East, eventually becoming a favorite instrument in local Islamic cultures where it survived until 1700 AD. Meanwhile, it entered the Silk Road and reached China around 500 AD. Korea and Japan came next, but it disappeared from the Far East by 1100. Egypt adopted it 1400 BC. Wherever it went, artists, poets, and musicians loved its beautiful shape and admired its soft and subtle sound. But angular harps hardly penetrated into Europe, which instead launched its own harp –the frame harp– although at a very late date, 800 AD. Slowly Frame harps spread over the world.