Joyful-Harps-Christmas-Museum---12-12

Surrounded by the relics of civil war, the Joyful Harps rang out the joyous sounds of the carols of the Prince of Peace this past Friday night at the South Carolina 16th Regiment Museum.

An audience of well over 100 came to the museum to enjoy light refreshments, fellowship and a concert of Celtic harp music from the sisters Raquelle and Heather Sheen, who make up the Joyful Harps duet.

The sisters, attired in Civil War-period hoopskirts, played such Christmas favorites as Silent Night, What Child is This?, O Holy Night, Joy to the World and The Coventry Carol, to name a few.

They interspersed their carols with several hauntingly beautiful Civil War songs such as All Quiet on the Potomac, When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again, and Lorena.

They also provided commentary on some of the songs, including the latter, which they said the generals banned from being played because it made men so homesick that many of them deserted to return to their beloved.

About a dozen of those in attendance in the standing room-only crowd also wore period costume. One very tall officer sported a beard longer than that of Stonewall Jackson.

Speaking of Jackson, portraits of him, Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, as well as other Confederate leaders, peered down, no doubt approvingly, upon the scene below them. Dozens of Confederate muskets, sabers, pistols and bayonets, as well as flags and other reminders of a period of brotherly fratricide hung on the walls of the museum while the Sheens played carols exalting the One Who came to bring brotherly love.

On some of the songs the sisters exchanged playing the lead, a transition made so seamless by their years of playing that it could only be noticed by observing their individual hand movements. To have merely listened with the ear and not watched with the eye, the distinction would have escaped detection.

The Sheens also expertly and humorously explained the various techniques they employed in making the unique sounds that can only emanate from the Celtic harp. The sisters played every song note-perfect, even when asked to perform the Coventry Carol, which they admitted they hadn’t played in three years.

The Sheens have made several recordings, two of them with a Christmas theme, one of them featuring Civil War-era songs, one of hymns, one containing songs from days gone by and another featuring an eclectic mix of some of their favorite airs.

Go to www.joyfulharps.com for more information.

 

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