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MUSIC: Harpist has many projects A MUSICIAN
hopes to unite Peterborough's ethnic communities
with the sweet sound of music.
City harpist Andy Lowings is planning a concert of
traditional Kurdish music, which will be played on a
replica of the Bull Harp of Ur.
Mr Lowings is co-ordinating a project to produce the
copy of the 4,750-year-old harp, which was destroyed
by looters in the Iraqi Museum in Baghdad.
The project came close to failure last year when a
row broke out over the guardianship of the replica,
which was built with wood flown from Iraq by the
RAF.
Attempts are being made to reclaim the harp after
one of those working on the project, Iraqi Mohamed
Al Janabi, refused to hand it back to Mr Lowings,
claiming work done on it was unsatisfactory, a claim
which Mr Lowings denies.
In the meantime, work has started on a second
replica, which will be played at concerts throughout
the country.
London musician Tara Jaff, an Iraqi Kurd who
is from the Iraqi city of Hallabjah, has agreed to
play at the concert of Kurdish music, which is
expected to take place in August.
Mr Lowings, who lives in North Street, Northborough,
near Peterborough, said musicians have already
created a CD of Kurdish music, which was played on a
plainer, working copy of the Bull Harp.
Mr Lowings is currently applying for a lottery grant
to enable him to expand the project.
He hopes to produce a series of information packs
plotting
the story of the harp in Arabic and English, with a
CD of music played on the replica, paintings from
the ancient civilisation of Sumeria, which produced
the harp and calligraphy tools.
http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk
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