Radio host Marianne MacDonald and Gráinne Hambly

By Jeff Meade

It’s hard to find the Cooper River Yacht Club in the dark. It was worth looking for Saturday night.

Outside, the river was splashing over its banks—parts of the lot were under water—and the sailboats bobbed like toys. Inside the small club, county Mayo harper Gráinne (GRAWN-ya) Hambly Inside the small club, county Mayo harper Gráinne (GRAWN-ya) Hambly played for a small gathering of friends as she rolled out her new CD, “The Thorn Tree.”

Kathy DeAngelo

Gráinne’s harp was set up in a glass-block alcove. About 20 fans, most of them harpers themselves, sipped coffee and ate cake as Gráinne breezed through a set of tunes from the new release.

It’s hard to believe one small woman can fill a room with such a big sound. Her fingers fly across the strings, and if you close your eyes it sounds like at least two harpers are playing.

Gráinne dedicated one tune—Carolan’s Quarrel with the Landlady—to her touring partner, William “Billy” Jackson. Not that Jackson has any problems along those lines, she said, but it happens to be one of his favorite tunes.

Her interpretation of a slow air, Port Na Pucai—the tune of the fairies—sounded like someone had lifted the lid of a music box. And she blasted through a set of reels, Jim Coleman’s and The Mason’s Apron.

And she did it all so effortlessly.

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