Mush Harps

“This Mother Tree was the central hub that the saplings and seedlings nested around, with threads of different fungal species, of different colors and weights, linking them, layer upon layer, in a strong, complex web” Suzanne Simard

The Musharp are a very old invention. It is believed they were used since long before speech began. Today only a handful of people still make them by hand. The story goes like this: Inventor One made the first Musharp with two strings. She called it monomush. For many years everyone played her new kind of music until another inventor named Two came up with the musharp which was more complex and with three strings. This was followed shortly by investor Three - who did not design a new form of Musharp but rather a family of percussion instruments which would compliment them. Things such as a mush cymbals and mush bells (which you also see in this space). Then, inventor Four added electronic devices which allowed her to produce complex sounds that could change over time.

When Mother Trees die they pass their wisdom to their kin. In death they share their knowledge of the ever changing world. A mother maple is here with us in the mushroom grove. Through the intervention of human kind she found herself cut down, and yet now her afterlife is a cycle of decay and renewal. Her body has become the core to the Musharps, and her wood shavings have become food for mushrooms. And with this her wisdom is carried on carrying also the stories which she has wittinessed from her many  years watching over earth.

The Musharps have been built with greatly valued guidance from the luthiers Robin Jousson, and David Matos.