Wedding Trumpets
Wedding Trumpets of Ireland and Nepal
In 2011, Ancient Music Ireland were invited to present a series of lectures in the Music Department of the University of Kathmandu. Interviews with players and makers alongside footage of a traditional Nepalese wedding band, reveals living musical traditions that aid research into the possible uses for the Irish/Welsh Iron Age trumpets. Was making circles in the air with pairs of trumpets to celebrate a royal wedding a common event in Iron Age Ireland and Wales? This 30 minute segment by musician and music-archaeologist Simon O’Dwyer, presents a convincing theory! The university which was situated in the historic town of Bhaktapur was devastated by the earthquake and flooding in 2015. We met makers and musicians of the Nepalese traditional instruments. The Narsinga, and karnal were of particular interest, though the entire collection of instruments in the pancai and naumati baja (five different instruments or nine or more different instruments) were all highly impressive. This research trip to Nepal opened up viable reasons for the ‘S’ shape and semi-circular aspects of the Iron Age ‘trumpa créda’ and ‘trumpa mór’.
The instrument was completed by the makers in Nepal and shipped to Ireland in 2013.
