The Gibraltar Historical Association's October 11th "Gibraltar Talks" program will focus on harps and history. The program will be held at 7:00 p.m. at the Old Town Hall in Fish Creek at the corner of Maple and Spruce streets near the waterfront. The presenter for the evening will be Celtic Harper Jeff Pockat.
Since 1984, Pockat has performed on the ancient Gaelic Harp, an incredibly beautiful musical instrument that has been around for over a thousand years. Pockat will tell stories about the harp, the music, the players and the times in which they lived. He is constantly researching historic music, harpers, and instruments of the Celtic people.
Jeff is a central Wisconsin native who was born and raised in the Clintonville-Marion area.
"I fell in love with the harp ... I started out with a nylon-string Celtic harp and I got that from Gilmore Brothers in Appleton," says Pockat. "At that point, I had also been listening to Alan Styvall and Patrick Ball. I fell in love with the more ancient harp."
Today the self-taught Pockat plays an authentic wire-string harp. He will be playing traditional and original pieces that soothe the mind, soul, body and spirit.
The public is invited to "Gibraltar Talks ...Harps and History." Programs are free, but donations are appreciated to help GHA arrange other history related programming.
