Instruments
Medieval harp
Jon has played small harps since a childhood spent in
Wales. His present instrument is a Gothic harp by Simon
Capp, which he plays with early music groups such as Sirinu
and the Dufay Collective and also in a contemporary context
with the Jocelyn Pook Ensemble. He has also played it as a
reincarnation of the ancient Persian chang in
concerts with traditional Iranian musicians.
Click for sample:
Santur (also known as the dulcimer/cymbalom)
A chance encounter with a folk dulcimer in the 1990s
sparked off a fascination with playing and recreating
medieval styles for it that in turn led to an exploration
of the Eastern tradition. Jon currently plays instruments
from France and Iran and also a santuri from Athens, which
is a fully chromatic instrument and (almost) portable
version of the cymbalom, which he plays with the Burning
Bush and on film recordings, and which he has carried
across the United States with the Globe Theatre.
Qanun
The sound of the qanun - the Middle Eastern zither -
immediately evokes the Middle Eastern region, where it is
one of the principal classical instruments, even though it
is comparatively rare in Britain. Jon plays a qanun brought
back from Syria and also a Turkish kanun bought while on
tour in Turkey with Sirinu in 1993, and has made an
extensive study of the Eastern maqam system of modes and
their characteristic microtonal intervals. Jon plays the
qanun with The Burning Bush, the Jocelyn Pook Ensemble and
Mawwal; in 2004 he was a featured soloist with members of
the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in a London concert of
contemporary Turkish compositions.
Others
Having a murky past as a jazz keyboard player, Jon is an
accomplished accordionist, which he plays
for the Burning Bush and the Globe Theatre. He plays the
gittern and early guitars
and can be persuaded to play early brass
instruments like the serpent and
sackbut.