Dick's remarks about a temporary resurgence of the harp after 1820 led by Protestant United Irishmen based in Ulster is interesting as I had assumed that they were no longer an influence after the abortive rebellion of 1798. But obviously it wasn't enough to re-establish the harp in its traditional role, which seems to have been more or less confined to private performances for wealthy 18th-19th C gentry.

I find myself wondering what the harpists of the late 18th C played. Some of their repertoire was definitely airs for songs, but perhaps the Baroque had a lingering influence. Bunting collected many of the airs played at the 1792 festival and published 66 of them four years later, "practically very one of them distinguished for beauty and elegance" says O'Sullivan, so these at least should be somewhere in the public record. They were mainly melodies for songs, because later he was able to find the texts in Munster. Did the old men come to Belfast to play their music from the south of Ireland, I wonder? Or were they common currency throughout Ireland?

Bunting went on to publish another 77 tunes in 1809, and in 1840 143 tunes collected from singers and harpers in his youth, but O'Sullivan is not clear as to whether this last book had new material. Between 1927 and 1939 the Irish Folk Song society of London published Bunting's first two volumes as six books of songs in Irish with English translations and notes. Perhaps Comhaltas has copies.

The good news is that while the Irish harp is not played as much as it was 200 years ago, we still have the Bonny Shaljean and Maire ni Chathasigh (damn! Still can't do those accents) to carry on the tradition, and I'm sure there are many others.

Julia's comments on the keyboard are I think very pertinent, and perhaps after looking at the various reasons offered we can now say that neither Elizabeth I nor Cromwell killed off the Irish harp. But I have to say too ... where the hell is that Alt Gr button every else has?