Interview with Eluveitie's Anna Murphy

[Samantha Riffle]

Hello fellow hurdy-gurdy enthusiasts!

Since I know at least a handful of you on here are folk metal fans, I thought I would share some of the hurdy-gurdy related info from an interview I recently conducted with Anna Murphy, the hurdy-gurdy player in the Swiss folk metal band Eluveitie. I talked to her for about half an hour, which resulted in about 3,000 words of written interview text - unfortunately, for very sensible editorial reasons, the published version of the interview is only 1,000 words, and most of the hurdy-gurdy details got cut. If you're interested in the streamlined version (minus the juicy hurdy-gurdy details), you can read it here: http://metal-exposure.com/?page_id=10921

For those of you just interested in the specific hurdy-gurdy related information, I'm cutting and pasting it from the unedited interview here:

Interviewer: Tell me about your first hurdy-gurdy. Who was the maker, and what sort of features did it 

have?

Anna Murphy: My very first one was rented from the Schola Cantorum, the school for early music, in 

Basel, Switzerland. It was a really old and very, very traditional instrument. It had four 

strings, and it sounded like shit. It was terrible, but it was very authentic, so it was good for 

learning how the instrument works and deciding whether or not I really wanted to play it.

  

I: How long did you have that instrument?

AM: About six months, until my current instrument was finished being built [by luthier 

Helmut Gotschy].  

I: So now you have a custom Gotschy Novello Classico and a Weichselbaumer Alto. Can you 

tell me a little bit about the features of each of those instruments? 

AM: Well, the Gotschy has four melody strings in octaves of G and C. I have to tune the Cs 

up to Ds sometimes, which is obviously not great, but it’s worked OK so far. It also has three 

drone strings, in C, G, and a higher C, plus two trumpet strings with three capos so the strings 

can be played in C, D, E, A, and G. The Weichselbaumer has three melody strings in C, D, 

and G, and the drones and trumpets are the same as the Gotschy. For our “party” songs – like 

Inis Mona and Thousandfold – I usually play on two melody strings tuned an octave apart, but 

when I’m just accompanying, I only use one low melody string.

 

I: Have you ever had a hurdy-gurdy emergency on stage or during a tour where you had to do 

something really crazy or last-minute to fix it?

AM: I actually had the most epic hurdy-gurdy fail ever! I was playing both hurdies on tour 

once – so for some songs I’d play the Weichselbaumer and some I’d play the Gotschy – and 

while I was playing the Gotschy, the handle fell off. And I thought, shit, what the fuck is 

happening? So I started playing my other one, and the exact same thing happened! So both 

handles were just gone, and I was standing there on stage like a moron. Luckily, our tech 

came up with an emergency solution: He taped the handle of a screwdriver on so I could 

finish playing the show. It was actually seems pretty funny now…!

I: Do you ever have trouble finding supplies for your hurdy-gurdy? Or have you ever had 

trouble getting your instrument to sound the way you want it to before a show? 

AM: Yeah, I usually use liquid rosin, and either it works really well, or it doesn’t work at all. 

And when it doesn’t work, the instrument just squeaks and makes terrible noises. I think with 

the hurdy-gurdy, you basically have a 50/50 chance of everything working properly. It’s like 

taking a dive into the unknown; either it’s going to sound wonderful, or horrible. And I 

always lose my rosin, too – but luckily it’s easy to find in stores, and of course, [Eluveitie fiddle player]

Meri always has hers. 

I: You mentioned that you went to the Schola Cantorum in Basel. Who was your teacher 

there? And have you worked with any other hurdy-gurdy virtuosos since?

AM: Carmen Ehinger was my teacher, but I haven’t worked with any other experts since then. 

I basically just taught myself by playing Eluveitie songs. I don’t play the instrument 

traditionally anyway, so that seemed like the best way to do it. 

I: Do you have any special exercises that you do to improve your finger speed or dexterity? 

AM: Not really. I mean, to be honest, learning new Eluveitie stuff is like an exercise; it makes 

me better. With every album [Eluveitie frontman] Chrigel writes, it just gets faster and harder, and some things are 

just fucking impossible! And when I start practicing certain tunes, I only play at about 70 or 

80 bpm, and I think, I’m NEVER going to be able to play this at full speed! But then, over the 

course of a couple of weeks, I always manage somehow – the song “Home,” for instance, was 

a great exercise for me.

I: Since you do a lot of sound engineering and are recording your own stuff, have you 

considered playing around with sound effects or pedals with the hurdy-gurdy for Eluveitie?

AM: Yeah, I actually have – I really wanted to, but it just never happened. I would have to 

take the time to go to the store and see what works, but I really want to do more 

experimenting with that. I think I’m actually going to check out some pedals in the US, 

because they’re cheaper there.

So there you have it! And in case any of you are actually hardcore Eluveitie fans and want to read the entire unedited interview, you can find it here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/6r528us9oj0e6w2/Interview%20with%20Anna%20Murphy.pdf.

Hope you find it both informative and entertaining! ;)

Cheers from Berlin,

Sam