During a trip to Ireland, I came across a street performer playing the harp and I fell hopelessly in love with the instrument, which I felt was flamenco. When I heard it for the first time, I felt the same impact I feel when I hear a great voice. I felt that the harp was a flamenco instrument too.

My vacation ended and I returned to Spain. I continued my work as a teacher, but something had changed: I couldn’t get the harp out of my mind.

As the months passed and the idea of the Flamenco Harp remained a constant within me, I finally decided to spend all my savings on buying a harp. Without ever having played one, without any knowledge about the instrument or how to tune it, or the care it requires… with no teacher to guide me, not even knowing if the mechanics of the instrument would allow me to find the musical scales needed to play flamenco, and without knowing if I could resell it if things didn’t work out. I found no information about the use of the harp in flamenco anywhere. I searched and found no reference point to begin with. No one to imitate, no guide.

In total solitude, I began to exercise my fingers over the harp strings. Fingers that didn’t know where to move or what positions to take. A huge pegbox full of levers with a million possible combinations…

Gradually, after countless hours spent alone with my harp, I began to find flamenco in the instrument: tientos, tangos, seguiriyas, soleá, bulerías, alegrías… bit by bit I found all the palos of this music. Without taking a single lesson, I began to understand the function, mechanics, tuning, and characteristics of the harp… And I started to build a language that had never been heard on it before. Granaínas, seguiriyas, soleá, bulerías, tientos, tangos, alegrías, zambras… are some of the many flamenco styles I now bring to life on the harp.

I found traditional falsetas on my harp, but it never quite suited my hands. I remember once being asked on TV to play Entre dos aguas by Paco de Lucía. This piece was composed to be played on a guitar, not on a harp. The hand can’t play those notes comfortably on this instrument. That’s when I began composing.

I realized the need to create a specific repertoire for this instrument.

Just like my search for the Flamenco Harp. That is, the instrument itself: not using a Celtic harp or a classical harp to play flamenco — each presented its own particular set of challenges.

The Flamenco Harp, from every perspective, led me into a creative process through which I ended up leaving everything behind, both professionally and personally.

And it left me with the great message, that a well-lived life is one centered in the present, while doing what we love most.

Sincerely

Ana Crismán