An Anglo Saxon Lyre

Here is a video of an unusual instrument. This lyre is a copy of the Sutton Hoo Lyre.

Here is some more information about Anglo Saxon Lyres.

Allemande de Robert de Visée (Performed by Rafael Andia on Baroque Guitar)

Icelandic Langspil

The langspil is a simple bowed dulcimer from Iceland. It only has two or three strings and is relatively easy to play.

A Cool Theorbo Video, Daniel Zapica Plays Kapsberger

Viola da Gamba Piece by Abel (Performed by Nima Ben David)

Chitarra Battente

See also this Wikipedia article about the Chitarra Battente.

Melancholy Galliard-Renaissance Lute

Mount Hekla on Hurdy Gurdy

Johann Sebastian Bach-Prelude for Lute in D Minor

The Harpolyre (music by Fernando Sor, played by John Doan)

Two Viola da Gamba Videos

Chanty by Thomas Mace

Sonata by Carl Friedrich Abel

Medieval Harp Troubadour

See also Harp Spectrum.

The Baryton

La Quinte Estampie Royal (Medieval Music)

John Dowland-Melancholy Galliard-Renaissance Lute

Medieval Music-The Sandsacks in Moritzburg

The Charango Plays Early Music

The charango is a delightful South American instrument. I hope to discuss it in greater detail in future posts as I'm very fond of it and play it occasionally. For now, I wanted to share a video of a man playing early music on the charango. (You may also enjoy visiting his blog, Early Music Charango)

Echo la Primavera (Played on charango)

Well, this video prompted me to do some more research and I found out about the group La Volta. Here are three of their videos. It might seem that the South American charango would be a little out of place in a Swiss group playing early European music, but I think it works very well.

Canarios-Gasper Sanz

Ballo & Saltarello-Simone Molinaro

La Follia - Anonymous, Italy (18th Century)

UNT Baroque Trumpet Ensemble

The baroque trumpet is a kind of trumpet without valves. They can be very difficult to play, so I was especially impressed with this performance.

University of North Texas Baroque Trumpet Ensemble

Sample Videos From the Robert Garfias Collection

I recently discovered a web site that is full of documentary music videos filmed by Robert Garfias. It features rare and exotic instruments from around the world. I am pleased to be able to share two of them with you here. If these wet your appetite, you can go to his web site for a veritable feast.

Tao Chu-Shen-Guqin

Hamza el Din-Ud

Hurdygurdy at Olympic Musical Instruments