No strings attached

The galleria area of Bahrain City Centre has been turned into a giant harp and passersby have the opportunity to try their hand at the amazing instrument.

The Earth Harp is among a group of weird and wonderful music making apparatus taking the stage at the mall until tomorrow with Los Angles-based group Mass Ensemble for a series of performances aimed at drawing attention to the beauty of architecture through music.

The Earth Harp, known as the world's largest stringed instrument, is in the ground floor galleria area with its stings attached on high spanning out around 40ft over the audience.

Other curious instruments include a drum orb, a kind of circular frame with several drums fixed into it which spins and the aquatar which features a bass guitar, sitar and guitar all in one piece.

The group has been performing three 20 minute shows each day, with the last one taking place tomorrow, with shoppers getting the chance to try out the instruments and even have their pictures taken with them.

Andrew Cohen, business manager of Mass Ensemble, said: "Mass stands for music, architecture and sonic structure. It started with William Close the artistic director who came up with the idea of integrating architecture and sculpture into music.

"I think for Bahrain this is a new type of experience that has never been seen here before.

The people were pretty amazed and were trying to figure out how the harp worked."

The harp is one of the many instruments designed and created by William Close. The giant sculpture provides a landscape in which the artists, musicians and choreographers perform.

William said: "I invented the harp back in 2000 and tried it out by mounting one side of the harp to a valley and the strings were 1,000 feet across to the other side. I turned the earth into an instrument.

"The goal with the harp is to have people think of instruments on a different scale. This is a symbol of music, culture and the earth

"Mass is made up of two teams with a total of 16 people and currently we have eight performers in the kingdom along with the harp and a bunch of other instruments.

"The community of Bahrain seems really into it as we have noticed that the mall is really packed whenever we perform. They gather on all floors to watch. It really is great being here."

To play the harp the performers wear gloves with rosin on the fingertips and the strings are stroked rather then plucked or bowed.

The sound quality of all the instruments is astounding and just one instrument is similar to a whole symphonic string section.

Tony Bergamo plays on the guitar, keyboard and sitar. He said: "This is my first gig with the band and I love Bahrain and the people. The few people I have spoken to are simply warm, generous and informative. This is a great experience for me."

Fellow band member Sarah Llewellyn, vocalist and harpist, said: "I love instruments, how they work and also creating new things and making it more exciting. Performing is so energising and I absolutely love it.

"I love the way the audience interacts with the group when we perform and we feed off of their energy."

Catch one of Mass Ensemble's final performances today or tomorrow at 6.45pm, 7.50pm and 9pm.